The Issue Of Enforced Disappearance From The Perspective Of International Human Rights Law

Enforced disappearance means the act of arrest,detention,abduction,or any other form of deprivation of liberty by a national agent or an individual or organization authorized,supported or acquiesced by the State,and it refuses to acknowledge the facts of deprivation of liberty and to conceal the disappeared person,the fate or whereabouts of the missing person,and prevented the disappeared person from being protected by the law.In summing up the above definition,it can be concluded that enforced disappearance contains three necessary elements,namely,the deprivation of liberty,the concealment of the disappearing facts,and implemented by the state actor.Enforced disappearance is,by its nature,a continuing crime committed by a public authority and constitutes a serious violation of many human rights.At the same time,several international conventions have also confirmed that in some cases,such as "systematic" and "large-scale" implementation of enforced disappearance also constitute crimes against humanity.The earliest official enforced disappearance was the “fog and night decree” promulgated by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.Later,with the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War,enforced disappearances broke out in Latin America on a large scale.At that period,enforced disappearance is defined as "state terrorism." The purpose is to suppress opposition political opponents.However,since then,the pattern,nature,and motivation of enforced disappearance have undergone significant "evolution" with changes in the international and regional political environment.In areas where armed conflicts erupt,enforced disappearances are used as a means of war.At the same time,improper handling of prisoners of war during wartime may also constitute indirect enforced disappearances.In some developing countries,in consideration of the national or city image,when faced with major international events or celebrations,enforced disappearances are also used as a means of short-term detention of homeless people.Of course,enforced disappearance is not exclusive to authoritarian countries.In some advanced rule of law countries such as South Korea,India,and Switzerland,due to national security considerations,the domestic criminal procedure law also grants relevant public authorities to relevant suspects.The power to conduct long-term secret detentions or arrests,in accordance with the above definition,undoubtedly constitutes an enforced disappearance.It can thus be seen that enforced disappearance is currently a global political and legal issue.The prevention and relief of this issue requires the parallel implementation of domestic and international law mechanisms.Enforced disappearances constitute violations of a number of basic human rights,including: the right to life,freedom,immunity to inhuman treatment,the recognition of legal personality,the right to know the truth,and family rights.With reference to the three elements of enforced disappearance described above,we can find that the act of enforced disappearance directly infringes upon the right to freedom,the recognition of legal personality,family rights and the right to know the truth.At the same time,enforced disappearance is often a path way of other crimes.Therefore,enforced disappearances are accompanied by arbitrariness of killings and torture,which in turn constitute an infringement of the right to life and freedom from inhuman treatment.If it is said that the discussion of the crimes of enforced disappearance against specific human rights is mainly for prevention purposes,it is to serve beforehand,then the discussion of enforced disappearances is mainly aimed at the remedy of the crimes that have already occurred and is to serve afterwards.The right of remedy of victims of enforced disappearances is also a complex and multi-layered process,which includes four sub-levels: compensation,redress,punitive damages,and repayment and guarantee that they will no longer be committed.Among them,the repayment includes nine relatively definite sub-levels,namely: 1.Stop the infringement;2.Recognize the fact of infringement and expose the truth;3.Search for the body and bury the victim;4.The official verdict or judicial trial;Apologies;6.Administrative or judicial sanctions on infringers;7.Commemorating and mourning victims;8.Human rights-related education and training;9.Preventing repeated violations of infringement.