Redress for Enforced Disappearance

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Enforced disappearance is an international crime and gross human rights violation that strikes at the very identity of individuals, the fabric of families, and the structure and institutions of societies. The fall-out of enforced disappearance is deep and long-lasting both for the individuals directly affected and for the societies in which it takes place. A number of states that have seen large numbers of enforced disappearances have responded to calls for justice by setting up financial compensation or relief schemes for victims: providing only financial compensation without other forms of reparation, truth and accountability. However, experience shows that, while money is important to help rebuild victims’ lives, it does not adequately address the effects that the enforced disappearance has had, and it does not satisfy victims’ overriding concerns. In a number of contexts, the provision of compensation has been seen by some as designed precisely to evade responsibilities to investigate and prosecute such crimes. International law requires that states and individuals responsible for enforced disappearances provide redress to victims — both those disappeared and their family members. Both international human rights law and, more recently, international criminal law, reflect the reality that financial compensation alone will not remedy enforced disappearance. Instead, a comprehensive and holistic approach is needed — a process requiring interlinked components: truth, holistic reparation and criminal accountability and other measures to ensure non-repetition. While the primary forum for delivery of reparations to victims is at the domestic level, the mechanisms of international human rights law and international criminal law can reinforce each other and provide important impetus to states and individuals to meet their obligations to victims, as well as an alternative forum of redress.