Enforced disappearance has
frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The
feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close
relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as
a whole.
Enforced disappearance has become a global problem and
is not restricted to a specific region of the world. Once largely the product
of military dictatorships, enforced disappearances can nowadays be perpetrated
in complex situations of internal conflict, especially as a means of political
repression of opponents. Of particular concern are:
·
the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders,
relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of
enforced disappearance;
·
the use by States of counter-terrorist activities as
an excuse for breaching their obligations;
·
and the still widespread impunity for enforced
disappearance.
Special attention must also be paid
to specific groups of especially vulnerable people, like children and people
with disabilities. On 21 December 2010, by its resolution 65/209 the UN General Assembly
expressed its deep concern, in particular, by the increase in enforced or
involuntary disappearances in various regions of the world, including arrest,
detention and abduction, when these are part of or amount to enforced
disappearances, and by the growing number of reports concerning harassment,
ill-treatment and intimidation of witnesses of disappearances or relatives of
persons who have disappeared.
By the same resolution the Assembly
welcomed the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance, and decided to declare 30 August the
International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, to be observed beginning
in 2011.
