Domestic Mechanisms Database
The Domestic Mechanisms Database includes mechanisms from around the world that have been put in place at national levels to address the crime of enforced disappearances. It includes criminal, constitutional and civil legislation, truth and reconciliation bodies, search and forensic mechanisms, reparation among other domestic frameworks. Users can search the source bank through a filter-based or key-term search and access text in English, Spanish, Russian and French.
Search the PDF content in documents uploaded to the Enforced Disappearance Legal Database.
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Law on the definition of genocide, enforced disappearance, enforced displacement and torture
Article 1 of the Law defines enforced disappearance as follows: The individual belonging to an armed group outside the law, the public servant, or the individual acting under the determination or acquiescence of a public servant, who subjects another person to deprivation of their freedom in any form, followed by their concealment and the refusal to recognise such deprivation or to give information about their whereabouts, removing them from the protection of the law.
Keywords: Criminal offence of enforced disappearance | State/non-State actors
National Registry of Disappeared People
The National Registry of Missing People is designed by the Government and coordinated by the National Institute of Legal Medicine. It contains data on: a) the identity of missing persons; b) the place and date of the events; c) the list of corpses or remains of unidentified people, with the indication of the place and date of discovery, conditions, characteristics, evidence, results of analyses and any other data that leads to their identification. In the course of judicial investigations, the Prosecutor or the Attorney General's Office shall send victims' data to the Registry requesting the necessary information to locate them.
Keywords: Search
Urgent Search Mechanism to Locate Missing Persons
In cases where the whereabouts of a person are unknown, any judicial authority may be requested, by third parties and without the need for any mandate, to immediately carry out an urgent search. In cases where the search must be carried out in places falling outside its jurisdiction, the judicial authority requests the collaboration of other judges or prosecutors through a mandate communicated immediately by telephone, so that physical receipt of the documents is not necessary for such authorities to begin the search. If a person whose whereabouts are located was deprived of their liberty by a public servant, the ...click to read more
Keywords: Urgent measures | Search | Deprivation of liberty
Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act
Article 2(k) of the Law defines enforced disappearance as follows: Act of enforced disappearance means any of the following acts: a) not to produce before the adjudicating authority a person who is apprehended, detained or taken in custody in any other manner by the person or security personnel authorised to apprehend or make investigations or enforce the law, or not to allow the concerned persons to visit such a person even after lapse of the deadline to produce them before the adjudicating authority, or not to give information to the concerned persons as to where, how and under which condition ...click to read more
Keywords: Criminal offence of enforced disappearance | State/non-State actors
Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons
The Commission, established by the Government, has the following functions: a) investigates incidents of enforced disappearance with the aim of finding the truth and making it public; b) establishes the identity of victims and perpetrators; c) endeavors to bring about reconciliation; d) makes recommendations on reparations and on legal action to be taken against perpetrators; and e) provides the victims with identity cards. It may investigate into an incident if a complaint is filed by the victim or any person on their behalf, if it is informed of an incident from any source, and in any other case it deems ...click to read more
Keywords: Reparation | Duty to Investigate | Search | Legal status | Reconciliation
Definition of Enforced Disappearance
The Law defines enforced disappearance as follows: The term enforced disappearance relates to illegal arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by an agent of the State or by a person or group of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by the concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places such a person outside the protection of the law. Whoever illegally and without lawful authority commits, orders, solicits or induces the commission, attempts to commit, is ...click to read more
Keywords: Criminal offence of enforced disappearance
Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act
The Law provides that all persons detained or confined shall be placed in officially recognised and controlled places of detention or confinement, where an official up- to-date register of such persons is maintained. Relatives, lawyers, judges, official bodies and all persons who have a legitimate interest in the whereabouts and condition of the persons deprived of liberty shall have free access to such register. The register shall contain the following details: a) the identity or name, description and address of the person deprived of liberty; b) the date, time and location where the person was deprived of liberty and the ...click to read more
Keywords: Deprivation of liberty | Protection of witnesses/victims | Satisfaction | Reparation | Penalties | Duty to Investigate | Compensation | Criminal offence of enforced disappearance | Sanctions and mitigations | Criminal responsibility | Rehabilitation
Official Register of All Detained or Confined Persons
The Law provides that all persons detained or confined shall be placed in officially recognised and controlled places of detention or confinement, where an official up- to-date register of such persons is maintained. Relatives, lawyers, judges, official bodies and all persons who have a legitimate interest in the whereabouts and condition of the persons deprived of liberty shall have free access to such register. The register shall contain the following details: a) the identity or name, description and address of the person deprived of liberty; b) the date, time and location where the person was deprived of liberty and the ...click to read more
Keywords: Deprivation of liberty
Committee on the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance
The Committee on the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance is composed of members of the Government, other institutions, human rights experts and medical doctors. Its functions include: a) formulating policies, plans, and measures to prevent and suppress enforced disappearance; b) formulating comprehensive policies and measures on physical and mental rehabilitation to ensure the best possible restoration of an affected person; c) setting forth rules and procedures for assisting an affected person, both financially and mentally, including long-term medical rehabilitation with the approval of the Ministry of Finance; d) establishing measures to prevent the recommission of the offence ...click to read more
Keywords: Rehabilitation | Deprivation of liberty
Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act
The Law defines enforced disappearance as follows: Any public official who detains or abducts a person, and denies committing such act or conceals the fate or whereabouts of such person, resulting in the exclusion of the latter from legal protection. It also provides that the crime of enforced disappearance is a continuous offence until the fate of the disappeared person can be established, and that it cannot be considered a political offence for the purposes of extradition and international cooperation in criminal matters. The crime is aggravated and results in a higher penalty when it led to the victim’s serious ...click to read more
Keywords: Crimes against humanity | Non-derogation | Statute of limitations | Urgent measures | Extradition | Penalties | Duty to Investigate | State/non-State actors | Criminal offence of enforced disappearance