Forced Disappearance Research Articles

Problem issues of criminal responsibility for forced disappearance

Problem issues of criminal responsibility for forced disappearance

Antígona González

The purpose of this text is to explore Antígona González's poem as an alternative form of creative writing that, using the technique coined as appropriation by Cristina Rivera Garza, establishes a communality of voices that share the same traumatic experience of losing a beloved one to the enforced disappearances that the War on Drugs caused on Mexico. Incorporating a pastiche of various sources, as well as utilizing the mythical figure of Antigone as an avatar for anyone searching for a corpse, Sara Uribe points to a phenomenon that does not occur accidentally or individually, but rather a systematic crisis caused by a negligent neoliberal state that affects everyone. Likewise, the use of appropriation and patchwork allows for the division of the pain of sharing these traumatic experiences and provides a technique to oppose the very nature of this voracious capitalism through a gesture that rejects the idea of ​​writing as an individual act. Finally, the poem itself represents a site to bury and materialize these bodies that the state disappears.

Layered localization of international human rights law: Signaling and contestation in the context of Thailand

To make international human rights enforceable on the ground, they must be localized. In the process, domestic stakeholders may attempt to contest or reshape the rights. Although norm localization has received much scholarly attention, prior publications have failed to explain which elements of a human rights treaty might be contested and why. Based on signaling theory, this article starts from the assumption that governments’ commitments to human rights treaties raise corresponding expectations on the part of other states. Consequently, contestation is relatively more likely when a government considers the audience costs for backtracking on its commitments to be lower. The article goes on to suggest that expected audience costs vary for different treaty elements—primary, secondary, and tertiary—which in turn affects the relative likelihood of contestation. The article develops a novel approach to norm localization and applies it to the making of a treaty-transposing law against torture and enforced disappearance in Thailand. The case study largely confirms the model but also demonstrates the significance of local specifics, such as a history of impunity. The findings allow theoretical and practical conclusions for the legislative localization of international human rights law.

Measuring absence: Narrative obstacles to counting contemporary enforced disappearances in Latin America

Statistics hold the potential to lend political urgency to otherwise seemingly isolated human rights abuses. Yet, despite the persistence of the problem, statistics on enforced disappearances in contemporary non-civil war Latin American democracies are rare. This article examines the available statistics found in the annual human rights reports of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the US State Department and assesses the narratives that accompany them. The article argues that the reports’ narrative frames present three key obstacles to the statistical visibility of enforced disappearances in contemporary Latin America that pertain to the definition of problem, whose information is included (voice), and the narrative’s clarity and consistency. These obstacles affect case counts and, consequently, the political urgency attributed to the need for accountability and policy change.

The legal regulation of the crime of enforced disappearance in Iraqi law

Iraq occupies an advanced position in the list of countries that suffer from widespread cases of enforced disappearance, but its penal legislation is still devoid of punishment for the crime of enforced disappearance, despite the fact that it is one of the first countries to accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance of 2006 based on Act No. (17) of 2010 which raises the question of how criminal accountability for the perpetrators is based on national legislation, especially the Penal Code No. (111) of 1969 and the Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court Act No. (10) of 2005. To exclude the legislative shortcomings in the punitive legislation regarding the criminalization and punishment of enforced disappearance, the efforts of the Iraqi legislator in recent years have culminated in the introduction of the draft law against enforced disappearance of 2018, as well as the draft penal code of 2021, which constitutes a significant step towards Iraq’s fulfillment of its international obligations stemming from the international convention For the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance of 2006. The research is devoted to studying Penal Code No. (111) of 1969 and the Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court Act No. 10 of 2005 to examine the possibility of their application to cases of enforced disappearance. It also includes an explanation of the mechanisms for the enforcement of international conventions, especially the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance of 2006, in Iraqi legislation, as well as an analysis of the texts of the draft law against enforced disappearance of 2018 and the draft Penal Code of 2021 to present appropriate recommendations regarding the criminalization and punishment of enforced disappearance in them.

Victim Agency, Relational Autonomy and Transitional Justice: Experience of Saturday Mothers

ABSTRACT∞ This article explores the political agency of victims and proposes a new concept for understanding complex political victims in violent political contexts. To do so, it first challenges the problematic dichotomy of victim-perpetrator identities in transitional justice, drawing on interdisciplinary studies of agency, victim mobilization and the phenomenon of enforced disappearance. I (re)conceptualize victims’ agency by applying the concept of ‘relational autonomy’ which considers the role of social relations in the agency-building process and highlights relational values that are under-appreciated in the liberal concept of agency. I examine the case of the Saturday Mothers, a victim movement in Turkey, to show how their agency has been re-established through their interaction within this social network, and how this shapes the sense of justice they imagine and practice in this social space.

Missing persons and infrastructures of search and identification

People go missing all over the world, but the reasons for disappearances are enormously diverse. Some people are intentionally disappeared by the state: totalitarian and military governments as well as various paramilitary and criminal organizations have used enforced disappearances as a tactic to control the population and create submissive citizens or subjects though fear and insecurity. Both civilians and soldiers disappear invariably in the chaotic circumstances of war and armed conflict. Some people disappear in natural catastrophes or fatal accidents; some disappear of their own free will. Whatever the reason for disappearance, it disturbs the everyday flow of life in families and communities, and in many places, it creates anomalies for modern state bureaucracies. Unaccounted-for absences give rise to search practices, but the circumstances of search are radically different in different places and different contexts of disappearance. One way to approach these differences is to analyse the infrastructures of search in each site. I am especially interested in the entanglement of the local with the global, and of the spatial reach of search infrastructures . Moreover, I consider the significance of the material affordances of some infrastructural forms, especially of the DNA as the key tool for identification. I make some observations on how the entanglements of local and transnational investment and the material affordances of the techniques allow some of the disappeared to be found and identified, while others stay more ‘disappearable’ (Laakkonen 2022).

Peculiarities of conducting investigative (search) actions during the investigation of the enforced disappearance of a person

The article outlines the tactical principles of conducting such investigative (search) actions: inspection (last known whereabouts of the victim, her place of residence, probable place of the incident, vehicle owned or used by the person, things and documents); interrogation (of witnesses); search.
 On the basis of studied criminal proceedings, taking into account the specifics of committing illegal acts related to the enforced disappearance of a person, such investigative (search) actions are divided according to the territorial principle, in particular, when: a person disappeared on the territory controlled by Ukraine; the person disappeared in the territory not controlled by Ukraine. The peculiarities of the tactics of conducting investigative (search) actions - examination, questioning of the applicant and other eyewitnesses about the sources of the reported information and the known circumstances of the person’s disappearance are highlighted.
 It has been established that the purpose of conducting an inspection of the scene of the incident during the investigation of the enforced disappearance of a person is to: identify and record material evidence, traces, objects that are important for criminal proceedings; verification of testimony of witnesses about the circumstances of a criminal offense; clarification of the situation and circumstances of the criminal offense under investigation. Also, an important investigative (search) action during the investigation of crimes based on the fact of the enforced disappearance of a person is the questioning of a witness. First of all, we are talking about the questioning as a witness of the applicant who reported the disappearance of the person. During the interrogation of the witnesses, it is necessary to find out all the circumstances of the event known to them: time, place of the crime; circumstances preceding the commission of the crime; identity of the victim and possible kidnappers; if these persons are unknown to them - signs of their appearance, etc. The exact time the person left the last place of stay, the possible direction and route of movement, mobile phone number and IMEI of the subscriber, data on registration in social networks and e-mail inbox are subject to establishment. The specifics of the relationship between the applicant and the victim are clarified.

Human rights protection during armed conflicts: Problem aspects

The purpose of the article is a comprehensive analysis of problematic aspects of legal responsibility for human rights violations during armed conflicts. To achieve the goal, the following methods were used: systematic, logical and semantic, formal legal, comparative legal, formal logical, formal dogmatic, analysis. The article argues the approach according to which armed conflicts are characterized by a total violation of rights, among which the following fundamental rights are the most violated: the right to life, the right not to be subjected to torture, inhuman treatment, enforced disappearance and the right to a trial. It was concluded that these rights are the "immutable core of human rights" that cannot be violated, the characteristic features of which are: fundamentality, inalienability, inalienability and objective necessity. The development of additional regulatory and institutional guarantees for the protection of these rights and effective ways to bring perpetrators to criminal and international responsibility requires coordinated work of various institutions. Combating and counteracting human rights violations in time of armed conflict requires the united efforts of nations to eradicate aggressive warfare and the use of weapons.

Living ghosts and the Laapata: the episode of genocide continuum in Pakistani art

ABSTRACT The systematic disappearance of individuals is very much a global phenomenon. In Pakistan, this phenomenon re-emerged after Pakistan decided to get involved in the U.S.-led ‘war on terror’ in the wake of 9/11. This paper exposes the politics of necropolitics in Pakistan through art, as death plays a significant role in setting up a political change. I contend that Ramla Fatima’s artworks put a human face to death and speak truth to power, to draw on Foucault, interlinking death with politics to expose the hiding and camouflaging of death in Pakistan. Fatima’s artworks represent another episode of the genocide continuum in Pakistan – the unending enforced disappearances and the sufferings of the families of the laapata – the disappeared. By painting necropolitics, she transgresses the silencing culture, a legacy of enforced disappearances. Through art, she illustrates how victims and their families are condemned to a state of subalternity and ambiguity – ambiguous loss, slow violence and torture, and psychological scars. Her artworks also draw attention to the role of expressive art in evoking awareness of human rights violations and establishing the fact that the laapata’s lives matter.

Management of the maximum level of debt in female heads of family whoare victims of forced disappearance in Caquetá

Introducción: el presente artículo hace parte de una investigación que aborda la gestión del endeudamiento formal e informal y el impacto en la salud mental de un grupo de mujeres víctimas del conflicto armado quienes pertenecen a la asociación FAVIDESC en la ciudad de Florencia, Caquetá. En tal sentido, la salud mental involucra sus niveles de estrés, ansiedad y depresión producto de la toma de decisiones financiera. Metodología: La investigación por tanto se caracteriza por ser de tipo descriptiva – trasversal y enfoque mixto (cuantitativo y cualitativo) que toma como población objetivo a 27 mujeres víctimas de desaparición forzada a quienes se aplicarán instrumentos como el cuestionario estructural tetradimensional para la depresión CETDE y la Escala de depresión, ansiedad y estrés (DASS-21); muestra producto de la aplicación de un muestreo no probabilístico de tipo juicio cuyo criterio de inclusión es ser madres cabeza de familia como único criterio de inclusión del estudio. Resultados: se obtuvo que, hay una tendencia determinada a padecer depresión por el grupo de 20 personas que presentan dificultad económica.

The Resurgence of Enforced Disappearances in the Aftermath of the July 15, 2016 Failed Coup Attempt in Turkey: A Systematic Analysis of Human Rights Violations

After the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, Turkey rapidly adjusted its national security strategies to align with the principles of a security state, resulting in a notable increase in human rights violations during the declared State of Emergency. Enforced disappearances, previously used by the State against Kurdish dissidents in the 1990s, resurfaced as a brutal method in the name of “State survival” following the failed coup attempt. This research examined the systematic and organized nature of these enforced disappearances, their prevalence, specific targets, and the human rights abuses resulting from this practice. Twenty cases of enforced disappearances that occurred after July 15, 2016, were analyzed to achieve this. Three main themes emerged from the analysis: (1) enforced disappearance methods, (2) ineffective investigation, (3) torture. The examination revealed that enforced disappearances followed a systematic and widespread pattern. The narratives highlighted commonalities in the methods of disappearances, a preference for individuals affiliated with the Gülen Movement, and the subjecting of victims to severe violations, including torture. Fundamental human rights should have remained non-derogable even during the State of Emergency, as international human rights treaties to which the Turkish State is a signatory protect them.

After account bombing: Chinese digital feminists haunt platform censorship as cyber living ghosts

ABSTRACT Account bombing, in which social media accounts are enforced and permanently suspended by platforms, has become widespread as Internet censorship has escalated in recent years. This article examines the phenomenon of Chinese digital feminists’ accounts being bombed out on Weibo. We conceptualize the bombed feminists as cyber “living ghosts”, aiming to investigate how these censored feminists navigate their enforced disappearance and how they haunt a digital patriarchal authoritarian regime. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, we found three distinct coping tactics, that is: a) ghostly gaze, reflectivity, and visibility-manipulation; b) the undying practices of negation; and c) ghostly wanderings beyond Weibo. The spectralization of feminists enables the formation of in-betweenness of (dis)embodiment, position, and space. Through observing in the (in)visibility, defying the platform censor rules, and transcending in online-offline nexus, they develop an alternative and flexible worldmaking practice that is decentralized and ever-changing in an increasingly restrictive, unsupported, and authoritarian context.

The Ayotzinapa case (Mexico) and the role of the European Parliament as a moral tribune to promote human rights worldwide

ABSTRACT This paper examines the role of the European Parliament as an international moral tribune for the promotion of human rights through a qualitative case-study design. It focuses on the emblematic Ayotzinapa case, which involved the enforced disappearance of 43 young rural students and the killing of other six civilians in Mexico in September 2014. The paper innovatively analyses the parliamentary diplomacy activity of four Members and their respective political groups: Franziska ‘Ska’ Keller (Greens/EFA, Germany), Josep-Maria Terricabras i Nogueras (Greens/EFA, Spain), Estefanía Torres Martínez (GUE/NGL, Spain) and Teresa Jiménez-Becerril Barrio (EPP, Spain), during the 8th parliamentary term (2014–2019). It addresses: How does the European Parliament, acting as an international moral tribune, exercise its role in promoting human rights in practice? Importantly, how do individual members and their political groups contribute to fulfilling this role? The research findings reveal that the phenomenon of parliamentary diplomacy on human rights is highly complex, challenging the mainstream notion that the European Parliament is a monolithic player acting as a moral tribune in international relations. Results also provide important insight for understanding the (micro-)processes of parliamentary diplomacy and their relevance for human rights advocacy within the European Union’s external relations and its Member States’.

Monitoring of simulated clandestine graves of victims using UAVs, GPR, electrical tomography and conductivity over 4-8 years post-burial to aid forensic search investigators in Colombia, South America

In Colombia there are estimated to be over 121,000 missing people and victims of forced disappearances. Forensic investigators therefore need assistance in determining optimal detection techniques for buried victims, to give victims’ families closure and for the wider community to see that justice is being served. Previous research has created 12 controlled simulated clandestine graves of typical Colombian murder victim scenarios at 0.5 m – 1.2 m depths in savannah and rainforest sites in Colombia. The 0–3 years of geophysical monitoring results of were published, with this paper reporting on 4–8 years monitoring of both UAV drone results and geophysical data. The UAV results from the year 8 survey, published for first time from Colombia, showed that the simulated graves could still be located using NDVI and NIR multi-spectral data, but not using optical or other multi-spectral data. The 0–3 years of geophysical data found the simulated clandestine graves could be detected with electrical resistivity and GPR methods, with the 4–8 year surveys evidencing that they could still be detected using bulk ground conductivity surveys, GPR horizontal time slice datasets and 2D ERT profiles. Research implications suggest initial use of UAV remote sensing technology to pinpoint likely search areas, before subsequent ground reconnaissance, geophysical surveys and their interpretation, before intrusive investigation methods are employed for detecting missing and disappeared persons in Colombia.

New technologies and enforced disappearances: opportunities and challenges for the protection of human rights

New technologies and enforced disappearances have been part of thematic study included in the annual report of the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) published in August 2023. Enforced disappearances present flagrant human rights violation where the families of disappeared person are not familiar with the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared relatives. The use of new technologies in cases of enforced disappearances may enhance the human rights protection, facilitate the search for disappeared persons and obtain evidence. However, new technologies can be used to prevent further investigations and obtain evidence especially in cases where torture is committed by state actors and cases of enforced disappearances in transnational context. This paper will analyze the positive and negative effects from the use of new technologies in enforced disappearances and will emphasize the importance to conduct an effective investigation and to acknowledge the right to truth in these cases.

Appraisal of Boko Haram Insurgency and Human Rights Violations by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in North-East Nigeria.

Human rights are the foundation of human existence. One of the greatest objective of the post-independence Nigerian Constitution is the protection of human rights. The 1999 Constitution (as amended), set the tone by dedicating itself to promote good governance and welfare of all persons on the principles of freedom, equality and justice. Despite the fortification of human rights by the 1999 Constitution and the International and regional instruments, Nigeria still faces widespread of human rights violations, particularly by the JTF in the North-East Nigeria, which ranged from extra-judicial killings, torture and forms of ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, rape and unlawful detention. The aim of the paper, is to examine the extent to which the JTF engaged in human rights violations. To achieve this, the paper adopted doctrinal methodology otherwise known as theoretical method consisting of consultation od statutory legislation, case laws, books, journal conference papers, magazine as well as internet materials both in printed form and electronic means. The findings revealed that the JTF engaged in serious human rights violations of the citizens. The paper recommends that the investigative penal report constituted by government to investigate and identify perpetrates of human rights violations among the JTF be made public and the perpetrates be brought to face justice.

Chemical bonding within AIIIBVI materials under uniaxial compression.

The work provides a comprehensive explanation of the nature of chemical bonding through quantum chemical topology for multilayers of AIIIBVI compounds, such as GaSe, InSe, and GaTe, spanning pressures from 0 GPa to 30 GPa. These compounds are subjected to pressure orthogonal to the multilayers. Quantum chemical topological indices indicate that uniaxial pressure induces changes in hybridisation, leading to the disappearance of interlayer van der Waals forces. The distinct nature of the elements within the compounds results in different pressures at which van der Waals interactions disappear, as revealed by non-covalent interaction analysis. The presence or absence of chemical bonding is assessed by quantum topological indices as Espinosa indices, charge density distribution difference, and crystal orbital Hamilton populations. The varying changes in hybridisation, as indicated by topological indices, are corroborated by variations in the population of the electronic projected density of states. Ultimately, the type of chemical bonding is identified through the Espinosa indices in the field of Bader theory. This analysis confirms the existence of shared shell bonds between AIII and BVI atoms in vacuum that goes to an intermediate bond between shared and closed shells called the transition zone with increasing pressure. The implications and importance of this work extend beyond the presented results. It suggests that many other classes of two-dimensional materials may undergo phase transitions under uniaxial stress, leading to the formation of new phases with potentially interesting electronic properties.

Tactical features of the interrogation of witnesses during the investigation of the forced disappearance of a person

The scientific article is devoted to the development of forensic provisions and practical recommendations aimed at improving the organization and tactics of witness interrogation during the investigation of the enforced disappearance of a person. It is emphasized that the achievement of a positive result in the detection and investigation of crimes provided for in Art. 146-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, depends on the establishment of an effective mechanism of interaction between the investigator and operative units, the organization of an intensive search for the victim, complex and operational application, along with obtaining statements, other investigative (search) actions and covert investigative (search) actions. It was concluded that in criminal proceedings of the specified category, the following must first be established: eyewitnesses to the crime; persons who were seen near the scene of the crime shortly before the crime was committed or in the company of the missing person; acquaintances of the victim and (or) criminal (close relatives and family members, friends, roommates), who are aware of his lifestyle, daily routine, intentions, connections, conflicts and problems; neighbors of the victim; persons who saw the victim shortly before the disappearance and can explain the specific circumstances of his behavior, the possible direction and path of movement, signs of the appearance of those probably involved in the abduction; persons who were present at the transfer of redemption; eyewitnesses who observed the circumstances of the release of the abducted person; employees of law enforcement agencies. The organizational and tactical principles of the interrogation of the relevant category of witnesses at the initial stage of the investigation have been determined.

How Do Perpetrators Become Visible? Photographs and Visibility <em>Dispositifs</em> in the Identification of a Perpetrator During the Argentine Dictatorship

This article examines the connections between forced disappearances in Argentina, the public visibility of perpetrators, and the role of photographic images. It focuses on Alfredo Astiz, who was identified during the dictatorship for his involvement in two internationally renowned abduction cases: the disappearance of the Swedish teenager Dagmar Hagelin and the abduction of the French nuns Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet, who were taken to the Navy Mechanics School or ESMA (Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada). By analysing two series of photographs of Astiz that were published during the dictatorship, along with the accompanying texts and paratexts circulating at the time, and within the contexts, settings, and media that facilitated the identification and visibility of this perpetrator, this article sheds light on the dynamics, limitations, tensions, and opportunities presented by images of the figure of the perpetrator. The article proposes to understand visibility dispositifs as specific tools for investigating the visual representation of perpetrators and the complex processes involved in constructing meanings around perpetration over time. In the more specific field of forced disappearance studies, this text aims to discuss the role of images in making perpetrators visible, thus shifting the research focus away from the photographs of victims, which have been extensively examined in previous work. Its uniqueness also lies in considering this issue within a dictatorial rather than a transitional or post-conflict context.