State Responsibility
The large number of persons missing for involuntary reasons globally is a stark reminder of persistent failures to safeguard Human Rights and to implement the rule of law in a comprehensive way.
The circumstances in which people go missing vary, but often involve multiple human rights violations and abuses in respect of the missing person and their family.
Concerning the missing person, these violations and abuses can breach the right to security and liberty, as well as dignity of the person; the right to life; the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; the right to a family life, and the right to recognition as a person before the law.
The international and regional legal framework applicable to missing persons includes:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and regional human rights conventions such as the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950), the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981)
- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)
- The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2002)
- The Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998)
- The Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons (1994)
- The Geneva Conventions (1949) their Additional Protocols (1977)
Many States are party to these legal instruments. However, compliance with international obligations is often incomplete and requires implementing legislation under domestic law. Examples of domestic law specific to the issue of missing persons include:
- The Law on Missing Persons (2004) (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- The Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration, and Discharge of Functions) Act, No. 14 (2016) (Sri Lanka)
- The Decree establishing the Search Unit for Missing Persons in Colombia (2017)
- The Law on the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons, Law 105 (2018) (Lebanon)
