Enforced Disappearance Legal Database

International Criminal Law


Legal Instrument

Control Council Law No. 10, Article II

Entry into Force: 20 December, 1945
Ratification Status: N/A
Link: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/ffda62/ (in English)

Relevant provisions:

Article II

Each of the following acts is recognized as a crime:

(…)

Crimes against Humanity. Atrocities and offenses, including but not limited to murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, or other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds whether or not in violation of the domestic laws of the country where perpetrated.

(…)

Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Entry into Force: 25 May, 1993
Ratification Status: N/A
Link: https://www.icty.org/en/documents/statute-tribunal (in English)

Relevant provisions:

Article 5 – Crimes against humanity

The International Tribunal shall have the power to prosecute persons responsible for the following crimes when committed in armed conflict, whether international or internal in character, and directed against any civilian population:

(…)

(i) other inhumane acts.

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Entry into Force: 1 July, 2002
Ratification Status: 123
Link: https://www.icc-cpi.int/resource-library/core-legal-texts (in English)

Relevant provisions:

Article 7 – Crimes against humanity

For the purpose of this Statute, “crime against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

(…)

Enforced disappearance of persons;

(…)

For the purpose of paragraph 1:

(…)

“Enforced disappearance of persons” means the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.

Laws on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed During the Period of Democratic Kampuchea

Entry into Force: 27 October, 2004
Ratification Status: N/A
Link: https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/document/legal/law-on-eccc (in English)

Relevant provisions:

Article 5

Crimes against humanity, which have no statute of limitations, are any acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, on national, political, ethnical, racial or religious grounds, such as:

(…)

• other inhumane acts.

Statute of the Extraordinary African Chambers within the courts of Senegal created to prosecute international crimes committed in Chad between 7 June 1982 and 1 December 1990

Entry into Force: 8 February, 2013
Ratification Status: N/A
Link: http://www.chambresafricaines.org/pdf/Accord%20UA-Senegal%20Chambres%20africaines%20extra%20Aout%202012.pdf (in French)
Link: https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/09/02/statute-extraordinary-african-chambers (unofficial translation, in English)

Relevant provisions:

Article 6 – Crimes Against Humanity

For the purpose of this Statute, “crime against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population:

(…)

f) The enslavement or massive and systematic practice of summary executions, kidnapping of persons followed by their enforced disappearance;

(…)

Enforcement Mechanisms

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