Every year, on August 30th, the world meets to observe the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance. This solemn occasion serves as a reminder of the grave injustices inflicted upon those who have been forcibly disappeared.

The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010. It is a day dedicated to remembering individuals who have been abducted or imprisoned against their will, often in political or social conflicts, and whose fate remains concealed from their loved ones. Enforced disappearance is a gross violation of human rights that inflicts immeasurable suffering on the disappeared individuals and their families.

International organizations denounce these atrocities and demand that the governments of the nations where they take place prosecute and punish those responsible. Intending to eradicate the enforced disappearance of people, international organizations took measures that lightened the situations across the globe:

First of all, the establishment in 1980 of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, whose work highlighted the gravity and magnitude of this issue and encouraged the international community to support the formation of a new international instrument. Resolutions on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances were passed by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council in this regard.

Second, the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance was adopted in 1992 by the UN General Assembly.

Third, the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 7) classifies enforced disappearances amid frequent and organized attacks against civilians as crimes against humanity. The Hague Court may, therefore, have jurisdiction over forcible disappearances;

Finally, The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, created on a joint initiative of France and Argentina, approved on December 20, 2006, by the UN General Assembly entered into force on December 23, 2010.

As per the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the General Assembly through resolution 47/133 on 18 December 1992 as a set of principles applicable to all nations, enforced disappearance takes place when:

“Persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law”.

This phenomenon of enforced disappearances, an affront to human dignity, is intrinsically tied to the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The UDHR, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, proclaims the inalienable rights to which every human being is entitled, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.

Several articles within the UDHR are directly relevant to the phenomenon of enforced disappearances:

• Article 3: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person”. Enforced disappearances violate the most basic human rights of the disappeared, depriving them of their right to life, liberty, and security.
• Article 5: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment”. The conditions under which victims of enforced disappearances are often held can amount to torture or other forms of cruel and inhuman treatment.
• Article 6: “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law”. Enforced disappearances, by their nature, deny this right by removing individuals from the protection of the law.
• Article 9: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile”. The secret abduction or imprisonment characteristic of enforced disappearances is a blatant violation of this principle.
• Article 10: Right to a Fair Trial. Those who disappeared are denied any form of judicial process, from having their detention reviewed to getting a fair trial.
• Article 12:  No Arbitrary Interference with Privacy. Forced disappearances are the ultimate form of interference, robbing individuals not only of their liberty but also of their presence within their families and communities.

The observance of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on August 30th serves as a poignant reminder of the profound violation of human rights that this crime represents. Enforced disappearance undermines the principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and inflicts immeasurable pain on individuals and their families. 

As we reflect on this day, governments, civil society organizations, and individuals must unite to end enforced disappearances and uphold the fundamental principles of human dignity and justice.

Dilnoza Rakhmatjonova,

Leading Specialist,

National Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights