The Right not to Be Subjected to Enforced Disappearance: Concept, Content and Scope

✍ Scribed by Ioanna Pervou

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 222
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book offers a distinctive approach to the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance. Over the last decade, the entry into force of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance has brought to the forefront of legal discussion the need to effectively address the practice of disappearance. Yet, there are still obstacles to combatting it, which are in part due to a limited understanding of the right’s underlying concept, content and scope.
This book examines the phenomenon and definition of enforced disappearance and sheds new light on the right against disappearance. Presenting a doctrinal appraisal of the norm’s legal value, it suggests that the right against enforced disappearance holds a customary value, while also arguing that it has since attained a jus cogens status. Lastly, it examines in detail the rights to truth and reparation and how regional and national courts have interpreted these norms. It assesses the UN Convention’s dynamics and considers whether the lack of a right against disappearance embedded in regional human rights systems affects individuals’ protection.
The book provides an overview of key jurisprudence on disappearances, making it of benefit to both practitioners and theorists of international law.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Introduction: The Concept of Enforced Disappearance
1.1 Enforced Disappearances in Antiquity: Between Myths and Widespread Practice
1.2 Enforced Disappearances in Modern Times: The “Night and Fog Decree”
1.3 The Prevalence of Enforced Disappearances in the Americas During the Cold War
1.3.1 Chile and the Pinochet Regime
1.3.2 Argentina and Indiscriminate Disappearances
1.3.3 Guatemala and State Terrorism
1.3.4 El Salvador and Children’s Enforced Disappearances
1.4 Enforced Disappearances as a Widespread Phenomenon: An Overview
1.5 International Legal Responses to Enforced Disappearances
1.5.1 The Creation of the UNWGEID: The Background
1.5.2 The HRC’s Views: Setting the Foundations for Individuals’ Protection
1.5.3 The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR): A Leading Authority in Disappearances
1.5.4 The 1992 UN Declaration and the OAS Convention
1.5.5 The ECtHR: The Fluctuation of Its Jurisprudence
1.6 Background of the UN Convention’s Adoption
Jurisprudence
IACtHR
ECtHR
UN Documentation
UN Security Council
UN General Assembly
ECOSOC
HRC
Miscellaneous
OAS Documentation
CoE Documentation
Online Material
References
Books
Articles
Book Chapters
Chapter 2: The Content of Enforced Disappearance
2.1 Early Attempts at a Definition
2.1.1 The UN Definition
2.2 The Convention’s Definition: A Thorough Analysis of Its Elements
2.2.1 The First Element: Deprivation of Liberty
2.2.2 The Third Element: Concealment of the Victim’s Fate or Whereabouts
2.2.3 The Second Element: The Identity of the Perpetrators
2.2.4 The Third and a Half Element of the Definition
2.3 Definitional Challenges for Enforced Disappearances
2.3.1 Enforced Disappearances Within the Anti-Terrorist Spectrum
2.3.1.1 Disappearances After 9/11: A Brief Account of Events
2.3.1.2 Incommunicado Detentions
2.3.1.3 Extraordinary Renditions
2.3.1.4 Unacknowledged Administrative Detention
2.3.1.5 Terrorism and the ‘Duty to Prevent’
2.3.1.6 Unacknowledged Detentions: Male Detentus ad Infinitum
2.3.1.7 Secret Administrative Detentions
2.3.1.8 The Convention’s Application in Incommunicado Detentions and Extraordinary Renditions
2.3.2 Widespread and Systematic Practice of Enforced Disappearances
2.3.2.1 Redefining the “Widespread” and “Systematic” Elements
2.3.2.2 Massive Disappearances and the Concept of Massacre
2.3.2.3 The Intercontinental Dialogue Regarding Massive Disappearances
2.3.3 Enforced Disappearances and the Refugee Crisis
Jurisprudence
ICJ
ICTY
IACtHR
ECtHR
American Courts
International Treaties
National Legislation
UN Documentation
UNGA
ECOSOC
HRC
Miscellaneous
CoE Documentation
OAS Documentation
Online Material
References
Books
Articles
Book Chapters
Chapter 3: The Scope of the Right Not to Be Subjected to Enforced Disappearance
3.1 The Right Against Enforced Disappearance as a Latecomer
3.1.1 Art. 1(1): The Genetics of the Right
3.1.2 Dignitarian Aspects of Enforced Disappearance
3.1.3 Political Aspects of Enforced Disappearance
3.1.4 Enforced Disappearance as a Civil Right Violation
3.2 Art. 1(2): The Prohibition of Derogation
3.2.1 Jurisprudential Affirmations of Non-derogability
3.2.2 The Legal Aftermath of the Right’s Non-derogable Character
3.2.3 Non-derogability and Hierarchical Supremacy
3.3 Art. 1: Foundational, But Non-inclusive
3.4 The Sources of Human Rights and the Right Against Enforced Disappearance: “New Wine into Fresh Wineskins […] Both Preserved”
3.4.1 Human Rights and the Repositioning of Treaty Law and Custom
3.4.1.1 Preliminary Observations on Customary Law
3.4.1.2 Customary Human Rights: A Deductive Process
3.4.1.3 The Customary Rule of Enforced Disappearance
3.4.1.4 The Content of Customary Enforced Disappearance
3.4.2 On Peremptory Human Rights
3.4.2.1 A Peremptory Enforced Disappearance
3.4.2.2 A Peremptory Enforced Disappearance?
Jurisprudence
ICJ
ICTY
IACtHR
ECtHR
ACHPR
National Courts
UN Documentation
UNGA
ECOSOC
HRC
Miscellaneous
OAS Documentation
National Documentation
Online Sources
References
Books
Articles
Book Chapters
Chapter 4: The Scope of Truth and Reparation
4.1 The Right to the Truth: A Key Aspect of the CPED
4.1.1 On the Notion of Truth
4.1.2 An International Entitlement to the Truth
4.1.3 Intermediate Conclusions
4.1.4 The Right to the Truth and Enforced Disappearance: Pre-CPED Aspects
4.1.5 The CPED’s Right to the Truth and the Victim Status
4.2 The Right to Reparation: Correcting the Ills of Enforced Disappearance
4.2.1 The Right to Reparation Between Justice and Impunity
4.2.2 The UN Right to Reparation for Gross Human Rights Violations
4.2.3 The CPED’s Right to Reparation: Successes and Shortcomings
4.2.3.1 The Right to Obtain Compensation: CPED Art. 24(4)
4.2.3.2 The Right to Restitution: CPED Art. 24(5)(a)
4.2.3.3 The Right to Rehabilitation: CPED Art. 24(5)(b)
4.2.3.4 The Right to Satisfaction (Restoration of Dignity and Reputation): CPED Art. 24(5)(c)
4.2.3.5 Guarantees of Non-repetition: CPED Art. 24(5)(d)
4.2.4 Enforced Disappearance and the Right to Obtain Reparation: Issues of Implementation
4.3 The CPED’s System of Human Rights: An Appraisal
Jurisprudence
PCIJ
ICJ
ICC
IACtHR
ECtHR
Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia & Herzegovina
UN Documentation
UNGA
ECOSOC
HRC
Miscellaneous
CoE Documentation
OAS Documentation
Online Material
References
Books
Articles
Book Chapters
Chapter 5: Conclusions
5.1 The Right Against Enforced Disappearance: CPED’s Contribution
5.2 The Right Against Enforced Disappearance: Its Legal Isolation
5.3 What Future for the Protection of Enforced Disappearances
References: UN Documentation
UN Security Council
UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner
Online Material