General Comment on the right to the truth in relation to enforced disappearance

Key Judgment

Legal Relevance

Keywords: Jus Cogens | Right to Know the Truth

Themes: Justice and Truth

The right to know the truth is recognised under various provisions of international law. This entails the right to know about the progress of the investigation, the fate of a disappeared person, the circumstances of the act of disappearance, and the identity of perpetrators. States have an obligation to provide full access to information about the whereabouts of the disappeared person and the investigation procedure to any interested party, primarily to family and relatives. Yet the latter is subject to a limitation - findings of the investigation are not communicated in cases when the ongoing criminal investigation might be jeopardised. This limitation must be interpreted narrowly, be proportionate to the only legitimate aim and is not applicable when the enforced disappearance amounts to a crime against humanity. The relatives do not fall under this limitation.