UN iTED NATIONS
ECONOMIC
AND
SOCIAL COUNCIL
V t 2 / -
U' ) /
Distr.
GENERAL
E/CN.4/1984/21
9 December 1983
Origin 1: ENGLISH
rH_
- - - -
CO 1ISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fortieth Session
Item 10(b) of the provisional agenda
QUESTION OF THE HUnAN RIGHTS OF ALL PERSONS SUBJECTED TO ANY
FORN OF LJETENTION OR INPRISONMENT, IN PARTICUISR:
OUESTION OF ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES
Report of the Woridng Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances
.. —
CE.34—15QO -
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 41
. . III. INFORMATION. CONCERNING ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES
. IN SOUTH AFRICA AND NAMIBIA :
109. In its three previous reports, the Working Group has informed ‘the”
Commission about enforced or involuntary disappearances in South Africa and
Namibia, the cases transmitted to the Government of South Africa and the South
African legislation on the matter.!' . . ; . .
. . . A. Cases transmitted to thd Government of South Africa .
South Africa , . : ..
110. Since the extension of its mandate in 1983, the Working Group has
transmitted, by a letter dated 16 December 1983, one case of an enforced or
involuntary disappearance which reportedly occurred in South Africa to the
Government, together with a request for any ii formation the Government might
wish to send. The case concerns a student and member of the Congress of South
African Students .(COSAS) who was detained for ffiv'e months after he had been
‘ arrested during demons;r.ations in Port Elizabeth in 1981. U on his release from
detention, he was admitted ; to a hospital. Adcording to the information received. .
by the. Group on this case, medical tests at th hospital showed that he had ‘been
poisoned.. OEe student then tiled charges againIIt the Minister of Law ‘and. Otderj
together with a demand for compensation regarding the ill—treaSent to which'he
had'beensubjected while in.detention. After he returned to the h'o' pital, ‘ . C
accompanied by a friend, both men reportedly disappeared. . . . .
Ill. Prior to the present extension of its mandate, the Working Group
transmitted to the Government of South Africa reports regarding three
disappearances. in that country. A non—government organization in consultative
status w .th the Economic ?x d, oc .al Council provided details obtaihed from
relatives' on these three instances qf enforced or involuntary disappear nceS in
South Africa which occurred in 1976; 1977 and 1978. Three ‘nIIn were arrested' by
the South African authorities on th ' basis of the various ri tional security . .
provisions referred.to below. OEeir'families were told that they had been
releas d”b' the authorities; but the three men were”never”seen .again..afte'r._their
arrests. Despite repeated requests by the Group for information on these cases,
no response from the Government has been received.
Namibia , . . . .
112. Since the extension of its mandate the Working Group has transmitted one . ‘
report of an enforced or involuntary disappearance which allegedly occurred in
Namib'ia. A non—governmental organization in cohsult tive status with the ‘‘
Economic and Social Council reported that the person was one of 25 arrested' . ,
together in August, 1980 by security forces. because they were suspected of' ‘
assisting SWAPO guerrillas. The report contained thII further information ‘that ‘ .
relatives had initiated legal action bef re th Windh'oek Supreme Court in order
1/ E/CN.4/l435, paras. 175—183; E/CN.4/1492, paras. 158—163;
E/CN.4/198a/14, paras. 96—100.
E / CN. 4/19 84 / 21
page 42
to clarify the pers.o..n'.S.tate. According to information they had received from
the police, one person had been abducted or killed by the gu r'rillas. A
witness, however, stated that•.,the person had died under torture while in
detention. .. . ,. . : . . . ‘‘
113. In its earlier repdrts, the Working Group re ie,w d the i iforpdtion
received in connection with the adjournment of a h'earing'OEy th Wi'ndh6ek'Su'Preme :
Court with respect to the.applicationbY the . i s'of, three men about the fate
of their husbands whom they claimed had been detained by South African farces.
That information was transmitted to the Government of South Africa in a letter
da d,21.'December 1980 with the Group's request for any information which the
Government might wish to supply. Despite the renewal of' that reqqest in 1981
and 1982, no response has been received. .
114. In ;its,ear).i reports, the Working Group also dealt with infprmation to
the effect. that, the South Afripan ‘authorities had detained person r in ‘ .
,,. , neighbouring: ,c6un rie:s , transported them to Namibia and, by refusirrg;.tO , .
acknowledge the detentions, effectively caused those persons to dis pear. The ‘
particular case mentioned 9 oncerned about 120 people detained at,Kassiflg .iI' . ‘‘
Southern ngo1a during a raid.3n May 1973 by South African forces; t. isc'tho ght
that'they..are being hel4 at a camp,, near Hardap. Darn in Namibia. According' no ‘ ‘
information available to the Grou these persoos were held under the So uth We t
Africa Administrator General's,(Pr9 lamati0t Act AG9, although it only allows
detention without charge for 30 days. Again, no response has been rec iv d from
the South African Government. . . ‘ ,
: B. Legal ProvisionS . . ‘
115. In chapter IV of the Working Group”s fi st report,1' anr. ttemPt was made ‘
to set out those parts,.of re1 vant statute's wh i'ah led to the,cqr cluSiOfl that ‘
South Africa's law prov.i,ded for “a persoji to b detained by th po,lice'aga&flSt .
his uill not only incommunicado, but without his relatives being entitled to arty
information at all “ The Group's analysts of the legislation then n force was
published and the South African. Government has been persistently invited _to
comment on,whethe,'r that analysis and those conclusionII” were accurate and
comprehensive. ‘ ‘ . .
• 116. In the meantime, the Commission on Security Legislation, under the
chairmahslt'Lp of Chief Justice Rabie, has made its report. A new statute.-d'n_ ‘.
internal security entitled the Internal Security Act (No 74 of 1982), has since
been introduced and repeats much of the earlier legislation referred to in the
Grou ' first report, however, the definiton of “terrorism” in section 2 of the
Terrorism Act (No 83 of 1967) quoted in paragraph 176 of the Group's report is
n&t reproduced; ‘The new Act contaihs' ew'IIndextensiv 4efi tion! ‘df terms''
such as “communism” on the basis of which criminal offences are formulated and
freedom of association circumscribed; these are, however, of no eievande :to the
Working Group's mandate. What concerns the Group is the extent to ‘which it' t i's
still possible for persons to be secretly detained by virtue of laws adopted
foltowing strictly Parliamentary procedures.
2/ E/CN.4/1435, paras. 175—177.
E/CN.4/1984/21
page 43
I ; . ,‘ ., -‘ .- ‘ ; -:.- . . .
117. The new Act has the affect of' repeating much of the earlie provisions but
with amendments which are significant in the present context. First, persons
identified by the executive as being of a subversive character may be restricted.
so that they must rem in in, or must not go to, certain specified places .
(sectiort l9) - Second;;. certain peisons maybe detained in pr.fsdn on the. , .
authority of the executive'if'iL- is -boa idered that-such detention will .p e,yenr . .
the comniission of certain offence-s or the endangeidng of the sacurityof the
Stat -or the maintenance of law and-order (section 28). . . . . .‘ .‘ .J .
118 ‘Furtherr ore access, to the res.tricted or detained petsons is prohibited :
and no-one is entitled to receive official information.relating to or .obtained :
from such'a-persoffi. ‘--There is a statutory board of review, independent of.
Governineat and at present composed -of ..a retired Supreme Court-Judge, a retired ,.•
Regional Court Magistrate.;- and a. pract.ising attorney, which has substantial', . . ,,
powers of intervention-- on behalf of- persons subject to, sections. - p ,28., The
provisos to sections 19(1) and 28(8) also grant stat-utory..assurance of;acceas. tq
the person concerned by his Legal representative (provided that. the Legal ‘
representative is not--also ‘on -the -list”).- -The .Group -.unders-tands t.hi to mean
that - pe}s-on subject- to-these measifres may at ].aas- se theae provisos t ... ,
inform his family of his detention, or restriction, and of-his whereabouts
119;- Twb subse uent sections, however,- ‘enable per ons. to be, d:etained h3o'rder .
of the executive, apparently with greater possibility of being held
ineoinmuriicado. Section 29 allows .for.che 4eten io.n of personp;.for ixiterrogation - -
for a period bf 3O days- initially and subsequen .tly.fQr.succe .iy period ” ‘, . .
without limit. Section 31 deals similarly with potential witnesses to the
commission of certain specified security offences, although there is a limit on ,
such detention, which is determined by the conclusion of the criminal .:, “ - -
prod diffigs toncerning- the principal accused person, or the, failure to charge
that person within six months During oetention, however, the person under
interrogation-or the witness may only be visited by;,an Inspector.of Detainees ‘
and tnkist be seen once a fortnight. in private by a magistrate. and a district ,,. ‘ -
surgeon; the courts are expressly deprived of jurisdic ionto orderth F a?
of either ‘category. of person. . -:-‘ : -- .. - - , - ,. .- - . - - -
120 The 1982 Act does not LnCicate the e.ctenL (if any) to which persons
,- detained brrestricted.-under -the four,- seflio i,s,men ipi ed. above maybe bIe ‘to
) inform their r 1atives of their whereabouts. Whilst the, legal representatiy& .
may, unde sections 19-and. 28,, he able to- convey.at least, this minimum-of -- -
essential information-, sections-. 29 and 31- are silent, on the point. , . . . .
valuable for the Working Group to have information about the 1982 Act ‘ ‘
unfortunately the material, has-arrived -too late for the full implications,
rel'eva t to'the Group's mandate, to ba-properly explored. Nor has it been
possible to investigate the extent to which the Police amendment Act, 19b0, ‘as
well as other legislation, effectively precludes relatives from knowing t hat has
happened to persons arrested for subversive activities.
E/CN.4/1984/2 1
page 44
. . . I V. OTHER REPORTS OF ENFORCED OR INVOLIOETARY DISAPPEARANCES
DEALT WITH IN VARIOUS WAYS bY THE WORKING GROUP
Angola
121. During its eleventh session the Working Group reviewed reports received
from relatives and a non—governmental organization concerning five persons who
allegedly disappeared in Angola in mid—I977. The occupations of the missitk
persons were that of administrator, electrical engineer and government official,
political leader, physician and Protestant priest. Their nationalifles were
either &n olan or Portuguese. Family members reported that the arrests of their
relatives were made by the Popular Defence Organization (P 1 ) 0) and the Angolan
Information and Security Services (DISA). One person was reportedly arrested at
home and the family of another had contact with him ihprisOn. Various sources
reported to the relatives that some of the m had been taken to specified police
stations or detention centres, others were reported to have been transferred
from prison to a labour camp or an unknown destination.
/ ,. . .
122. In accordan e with established practice the Chairman wrote to the
Government of Angola on 28 October 1983 informing it of the Group's mandate and
humanitarian purpose. In a letter of 31 6&ober 1983 •the Chairman, pursuant to
the Group's decision, transmitted the information on the cases described above
to the Government, with a request for any inforinat 0n the Government might wish.
to submit. The.Government of Angola was in ited to end a representative to the
twelfth session of the Working Group and to provide any information it wished at..
that session. To date no response has been received from the Government.
Brazil . .
123. In 1981, the Working Group transmitted to the Government of Wrazil reports:-.
received from relatives concerning seven cases of disappearances which allegedly
occurred in Brazil between 1970 and 1974.!” Three of the missing persons..were
students; the others were a teacher, a computer programmer, a puolic employee,
and a member of the Navy.. Some reports included information from former
prisoners or unofficial confirmations ihdicating that the missing person was
held by the authorities. The Government reported that three of the missing
C pers r s had been tried in their absence by I Iilit ry courts and t.hat with regard
to thedthars, no criminal records had b en di c9vered. The Gaverninent also
stated th:at in o t t case the State had been f und respoiisible. fo the
disappearance by- the court of first instance, that the relatives' right to
compensation had been recognized and that the judgement had been appealed. . . .
124. Since the extension of its mandate the Working Group has renewedits
request for any further information which might b cdme available; in particular
with regard to those reports which contained specific statements that a person
it E/CN.4/l98 3 /l 4 , paras. 102-104-
E/CN.4/1984/21 .
page 45
had been detained in certain localities, the Group requested information on any
progress which might have been made in following up those statements. In a
letter dated 3 June 1983, the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United
Nations at Geneva stated that it had not yet been possible to determine the
whereabouts of the persons reported missing in Brazil. Nevertheless, the
elements provided by the Working Group concerning those persons continued to be
taken into account by the Brazilian Government and any information which might
result from the ongoing research would be duly communicated to the Jorking Group.
125. In' a letter dated 10 November 1983 the PerIIanent Representative of Brazil'' '
to the United 1 ti'on Office at Geneva reported that there had been no new
developments in th situation and that the appeal made against the judgement
mentioned above was IItill pending in court. ‘ . ‘ ‘:
Chile . . . .‘ ‘
126. In 1981, ‘the Working Group brought to the attention of the Government of
Chile r pb t t}i t t wd' Chilean nationals who were preparing to enter Chile with
false docWnent' ti-ow badt ‘beeti a rest d oi , 19 February 1981 on the .
Chilean—Argentinebo rder.V No re pon e has been received from the Government
on these cases. : - . . ‘
127. The Working Group has been concerned since its first session with the
protection of persons ho submit information on enforced or involuntary
disappearances to it. In that connection, the Chairman of the Working Group
addressed a letter to th Permanent RepresentatiVe of Chile to the: United
Nations Office at Geneva,'on 12 August 1983, in which he referred to teports
received by the Working Group that Ms. Cecilia Rodrfguez, a member of the
Executive Committee of the Latin American Federation of Associations for
Relatives of Disappeared—Detainees (FEDEFA1I), had been arrested on 2 February
1983 as she was boarding a flight to Europe. The Chairman pointed out that
FEDEFAN had provided the Working Group with information about enforced or
involuntary disappearances and that the Group had been-'informed' that one of the
purp6 es bf Ms. Rodriguez 1 trip was to see that further information was --received--
by the Group. OEe Chairman expressed the Working Group' concern about the
matter and said that the Group would be grateful for ati iriform ion the
Government might wish to send. ‘ ‘ .
128. In a: Iette* dated 20 September 1983 the Petmanent Representative of Chile
to the -Uhited Natiohs Office t Geneva acknowledged receipt of the
above mehtioned letter and stated that the competent national authotities had
taken due note- of its contents. The P rmanent Representative informed the
Group's Chairman that Ms. Rodriguez had been unconditionally released by the
Court of Appeals and that she was at liberty. -
2/ E/CN.4/1492, paras. 63—64.
E/CN.41l984 12l
page 46
RevolutionarY. People's Republic of Guinea
129- Since its est bflshment,: the Wprking GrQup has transmit ed to the. : ‘
Government of' the Revolutionary Peppie- s Republic of Guinea infortnatip-t. rec eive4 .
from relatives conc rning the di appearan e.Of eight.persons.in . ,
missing person -s iere arrested at homes at military premises, at their work place
or at a. police-border control station; iu- same cases the arrest was witnessed by...
one. or more persons. . :. , .
in.: In 1982 -thaWorking' Group whs informed..: that? the, relatives h. 4 received a
statement from the Europe-an Parliament- -to the effect tha;t the Qovernrn nt . .
Guinea'had- repbr-ted that seven of the missing persons had..be n;eX.ec CL ,g 0ne
had escaped. The relatives pointed out that this in p natioti, was vag/i,e, go ,
exact dates were given, and that three of the persons were reportedly executed
prior to the date of their arrest. The relatives also reported that the :-
Government of France had received different information on these cases from the
. -,Government of Guinea: from that given-to the date of
.. execution was different in four cases and in nne .a ..the . Go.vernrr nt of Guine
had reported that the person had escaped from.?ti.scp in, 1971. . in tact,, that
person had -been' Hea.d.'of the Private. Office (Chef de Cabin t) of. the tnniste .f.o
Foreign Affairs throughout 1971 and up to August 1972. - :
131. OEe Wbrkif' Group has repeatecily• on acted the Government of the ‘ , . , ,
Revolutionary People's Republic of Guirte and .re'q s. ed con iri atiOn and. , . , -...
clarification of the.'information reportedly •gjven,-to the European Par Liamen ., and.
the Government of France. The Working Group has also written to the re1a .ive .of
the missing persons to determine whether. they have received any further , : ,
informatio n -. , - ‘ : . . . - ‘ . ‘
Islamic -Republic of Iran . . : - ‘ -- .. . ‘ ‘ . : . -
132. OEe Working Group -stated,. in its eport.t9 th thirty—eighth session of. ..,‘.
-‘ pmmission on Human Right.s, ' thac it had c. ansm tt d. 16 ca e qf raported...
disappearances to the Iranian Governtrent. in 1982, a nong them the cases of two
girls who were allegedly taken.;away ap.thor.i.tes ir .
(OEl981. Eleven of the 16 persons were eta .,Lva oii i. ..
Teheran on 21 August 1980, one other person reporteuly disappeared iq l9 O and
two in 1979. At its eighth session in 1982, the Working Group met he Cha g 6 ‘ ‘
d'affaires a -i. of the-.P rrnanen. i.s5iofl of the Islamic d4ep.u..bl..i,,c fa, wh0
stated that the information transmitted to his Governmep -wa$ not sufficiently
detailed and that more information should be 2 btained ir his Government was t9
carry out an effettive investigation.;. S iph information has, been sought f orn the
source of. the reports. . . : . . . .
133. Since the extension of its mandate, the Working Group has received further
reports regarding enforced or involuntary disappearances of persons, including
children, in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In connection with certain of those
3/ E/CN.4/1983/l4, paras. 112—115. . ‘ . . -. :
4/ E/CN.4/l492, paras. 114—1.17.
E/CN.4/1984J21 '
page 47
reports the Working Group decided to ask for more information from the source,
while, with regard to others, the Group was of the view that they did not a pear
to fall within its, mandate. . . .. . . . . . .
Morocco . . . . . . , . . , . . . . . . -. .
-, . :. . , . ,
134. In its .report to the Commission atits hirty—ninh session,. the Workiflg,.. . ‘
Group stated ‘that it-had, transmitted to the Government of Morocco ‘information. it
had received from relatives about seven perspns reported to .have disappeared in
the years 1972 to 1974; three of the persons (brothers) were reportedly arrested
at their .home-on,the same date in 1973, and the other four persons concerned :.
were reported to have disappeared from prison.J . . - . . - - . . - - . -
135. In.a.,Letter dated 20 June 1983, the Government of Morocco informed the
Workin Grovp:of the results of its investigations. With regard to the reported
disap.pearance'of three-brothers who were said to have been arrested on the same .
day at the.iz home, the..Gevernm nt stated .that-the.records of. the courts, the
Ministry of,,Jus.ti:eand.the.pris,ons had been searched, but that ,no.record of
criminal •ch rges :. or.' qf any.ot1 r,judicia1:proceduresregar ing the brothers had,
been found.- --In--the G&yernxnent's' view, -they should be sought outside the. .
country. . The .Covernment stated -that two other persons had been sentenced by..the
courts to 20 years' imprisonment for- oLfences against the security of the State;
another person h-ad .been-seritence to death in .absentia;and -was. still being . . .
sought. Final1y, the.seventh person had.h en. acquitted by -verdict in L973... -tn
accordance with established procedure this information was brought to the
attezition o.f:the-Telatives of the.miss.ingp.e-rsons.. -r , , ‘ , . .. .-. . . :
l36 . Since the, extension-of its- mandate, the, Workir g rqu? ha rec.eived reports
of three disappearances in Morocco transmitted by re.1ativ s of -the individuals
coneern.ed. -One-person was a tudent..union leader who was allegedly. arrested in..
the presence.of witnesses upon bis return.to Morocco from,a ho1 day-in June. . -
1981; two weeks after the-incident.,. a-Moroccan newspaper reportedly confirmed ;
the details of the day and place.of hi arrest.- The lati.ves report having
t eive4 information on the ..plac•eswhere he was subsequently detained.'. Two
other stud nts were:repo.rtedly arrested.in.l933, one in January- .andthe other in -
Februar-y -..tb.e first was -allegedly arrestedin front of -witt esses, at. a :friend's
home together with a person who was sub.seque-ptly released; -his-family reported ..
that prior to the arrest they had been questioned about his alleged . -
participation in a student strike and demonstrations. OEe second student was
reportedly arrested at home in the.- presence of witnesses by judicial polioe who
showed-credentials (the name of one was provided as well as the licence number
of thecar used); the relative reports having received information on the place.
of the-person's detention from February--to April -1983... Pursuant-to established ,
practice, .these'.reports ‘were transmit.ted to the Government of Morocco with the
Working--Gtoup's request to-receive any- -information it.might wish to send.
5/ E/CN.4/l983/14, .paras .- l22 l23
E/CN.4/l984/2 1 . ..
page 48 , .
Paraguay . . . - . . ‘rfl. .
137. In its report to the thirty—seventh session of the Commission o.n,J-ILi,nan
Rights, the Working Group stated that it had been informed of many cases of
enforced or involuntary disappearances in which members of the security forces
of more than one country were alleged to have been involved.. ! Among those
cases., the Working Group mentioned a report concerning a Uruguayan citizen-i .
allegedly abducted in Paraguay, taken to Argentina; in an Argentine mi li-tary- - -
aircraft and eventually transferred to Uruguay ‘: ‘ ‘ -‘ .
138. During 1983, the Working Group transmitted ‘to th . Government-of Paraguay-
five reports of enforced or involuntary disappearances.'.. ‘Oif the ‘fiv ‘ ‘;
disappearances, four reportedly occurred in Asuncidn, Paraguay and one in
Argentina. In the latter casey the person was reported to have.Paragtxayan .
nationality nd to have'i be h transfetred from Argentina to Paragi ay; ‘he' was
reportedly seen by -a witness -at “an Army detention centre in ‘Pat gu' y aad.'then.
transferred- to an -uitlctibwn destination Further, with regard.rt'o ,this ,:c e
‘ . .. ‘ relatives of'-the-mi'ssing per. o&:r'eport having been arrested-in :Pa ragu y. a few
daysafter: the miSsing person's arrest in Argentina; they -state:-that:the y were
held in official and secret detention centres in Paraguay and we e interrogated
on the missing person's activities. Ofthe four cases alleged t'o;have” occurred
in Paraguay, one. of the disappeared persons is a uru ayII:.n-atio'n-a-i-'and the
other three are ‘Argentine nationals; all four were rep.art.ediy rtran ferred to . ‘
their respective cduntries after a period of detent .oni-fl'.Parag11ay -. ‘ , . ‘ .- :
139. In connection with the above—mentioned cases:offour per sons arrested,,in .
Paraguay, the Working Group also transmitted to the Government of that country a
report from two persons who state ‘that they,were-de'Si'ned 'at the invest.iga'Pion-
police -headquarters in Asunci6n, Paraguay, where they Shaired- a cell -with thec
four missing persons. Accordihg to the authors of this report, the,fbur. persons
were transferred to their resTxective countries (one to Urug xa-y and three to
Argeat-ina) guarded by sscuri'ty:'personnel -from those- countries-; ': and the :
Paraguayan police noted in their r.c rd IIat they had been e:-1ease&. OE-
authors of the report are' two Paraguayan nationalswho state:. tlaat:nthey were -
arrested in Misiones, Argentina,- and handed over to ‘the Paraguayan police at *he
frontier between Argentina and-Paraguay, while the Argentine police recorded
their release in Argentina at the same time as the transfer was being carried
out. ‘ .-. . - : : - ‘ . . . . : - - . ‘ .
140. OEe Working Group -has. received:-information from relatives of missing --‘
persons of Paragnayah' nationality, whb state that it is difficult ‘to obtain ‘
reports ondisappSrance:s'in Paraguay from the relatives,,kb cause fear often,, ‘:
prevents' them from ‘contactin-g international organizations r i 3?hey al-so repo t- -
thattin cases -which- occurred' in -Argettina, the missing persons -we-re probably::-''
sent back. to- Paraguay, as. is the! case' for some who have been seen ir detention ‘
centres there.
6/ E/CN.4/1435, para. 173, and E/CN.4/1435/Add.l, para.' 4 .' ‘- ..-:‘/..
E/CN. 4/1984/21, . . ;
page 49 ; ..
141. in ‘h ffio & Vetbale dated 20 January 1981, addressed to ‘theChair-ruan of-the
Working GrIIip, thd''Gbllarnment of Paraguay explicitly indicated that -it had no
bbj'ection'tb the Wo king G oup haying adcess to any re'leniant information which
mFgh ' H vd b eti uhmitte& ‘b the Go ernmeht to the Commission ;.oa:Buntan Rights
dnder the o'cedurII ‘gov IIedt lYy Ec nomic dnd' Social CounciL resolution 15O3
(XtvIII) ‘of 27 ‘Ma 1970; . it: does not appear that any information of re1e dnce
td theseE as shas b en rec ived fromthe Cov nment of Paragua.y.withLttthe'..
framework of that procediire
Syrian Arab R'epubTic . . . . . . ‘ . ;• .. . ,. . . .
142. During 1982 the Working Group transro tted to the Government of the Syrian
Arab Republic information on three disappearances which reportedly occurred-in
1980.2' One of the reports concerns a medical doctor who was reportedly
summoned to the 0ff ce of Peads of Prisons in Moms and detained there, a week
after his ar est he uas transf rred to an unknown destinaeion The se ond case
/ also concerns a doctor who was arrested and accused of membership'and activities
onb h 1f b'f the Muslim Brdth tho d; since'his ar est his whereabouts--have been
unknowr The thiro report concerns a student who was reporLedly arrested by
security agents, together with two fellow students, at his home an August b80,
he uas said to have been taken to a specified prison
143 Since'the extension of 1L5 mandate, the Working Group has contacted the
Gdverffirh ht f the Syfflian ‘Ar b:Repdblic Lb request any ihfbrm tion' it' might wish
to send regarding these cases. To date, no information has been received from
the Government on the above cases.
Zaire
144. During the years 1981 and 1982, the Working Group transmitted to the
Government of Zaire reports on the enforced or involuntary disappearance of 15
men which allegedly occurred in 1975 (five persons), 1977 (one person), 1978
(two persddII) , 1979 (oii pet dii), an& 1981 (six p rsbti ) inth& regidn f
Bas—Zaire, in the southern regions of Kivuor in Uvira; soldiers or military
.— intelligence officers were reported to have made the arrests in some cases.!'
In most cases, the arrested person was allegedly taken to a named detention
centre and in one case a person arrested with the missing person reported
sharing detention with him until his release. A non—governmental organization
subsequently informed the Working Group that two persons (arrested in 1977 and
1981 respectively) had been released. In 1982, the Working Group met a
representative of the Government who expresed the Government's interest in
co—operating with the Working Group in order to clarify the case.
145. Since the extension of its mandate the Working Group has continued to
request information from the Government of Zaire and at its eleventh session the
Group met the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Zaire to the United
Nations Office at Geneva, who expressed his Government's willingness to provide
2/ E/CN.4/1983/14, para. 125
! E/CN.4/1983/l4, Qara. 126
E/CN.4/1984/21
page 50
further information on the cases concerned. In a Letter dated 19 August 1983,
the Permanent. Representative of the Republic of. zaire,conveyed a written
coSunication on behalf of the Secretary of State of the Department of External
Affairs of the Republic .of Zaire to the Working Group. The Government stated
that there were no cases of disappearance in Zaire, that such a practice was noc
employed, but raIIer that measures of pardon and clemency were used, for persons
who endangered the security o the. State. Reference was made to a amnesty law
of 21 May 1983 by virtue of which there were currently no priaoner o.f . :
conscience in Zaire. The Government stated that, if any other information of an
objective character was available, it would be examined by the competent . .
autOr ities
Other matters . : . . . . . .
146. In its report to the thirty—ninth session of the Commission on Human
. Rights,2! the Working Group repor ed on its . doption of an auxili,ary procedure .
.. .us:ed to. handle a few cases of alleged disapp.earance5 not otherwise referred to
:itV thareport, on. an informal basis. Tkis procedure was used at ehe Group's
discre.ti n in order to facilitate its solution of cases when news of recent
cases was received and ranid intervention might nelp to save a life or at least
regularize a detention. Since the extension.of its mandate, theWo king Group
has again made use of this procedure- Reference can be made in this eg rdto
approaches to three Governments concerning a total of some 40 reports of
. disappearances; it is hopad that, the dialogues t ius est blished ‘with them wi .l
yield-adequate results.. . . . .. ;. . ‘. .
9/ EICN.41198311 4 , para. 129.
E/CN.4/l984/21
page 51
V. IMPACT OF ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES ON THE
. . ‘‘‘ VICTIMS FAXILY . . . . . . . .
147. The Working Orou has r ceiVed further information on the impact of a “ ‘ •
disappearanQe bn the vidtim's family andin particular'on the children. The
other sh?pt,e ,s of this re uL' p ide information Sn the treatment of the .
disappeared person himself and a description ot the rights ot the victim
violated by disappearances is given belo (chapter VI), but the growing volume
of information on the impact of a disappearance on children deserves sp cia1
consideration Several recent studies bn the subject of children and
disappearances, in par i ulir ‘those pre'sented to: the Fdurth National SyIIposidrn
of Social Pediatrics in Buenos Aires (March 1983), offer a number. . .. ,. . ,
observations r, garding the family, based upon research. OEe Working Croup ‘ .
attempts to. suminariz 'be1dw some'bf'the points' expressed. ‘The psychological
state of a family after a relatille's disappearance can be described as
“sustained shock”, that is, a latent ‘and prolonged critical state characterized
by an inconcl usive search' di' the”lbved.—one,. anguish, sorrow and incertitude. “
Children participate directly or indirectly in every moment of the progressive
deterioration of he' ‘family str'iictiite which is marked by fear, injastie, ‘
silence and permanent aggression from certain groups of society.- : )14ny changes ,
occur in family life as a consequence of the disappearance, such as: lack of ‘ ‘ ‘
economic resources, particularly in modest families which depended upon the
missing person's wages; permanent psychological stress, which sometimes causes
other health problems among members of the family; changes in the use of time,
since a good part of it is devoted to the search for the missing person;
children are frequently left alone or without assistance (for example: a mother
of eight, father disappeared; the mother forgets to take one of her Sons to
school when he should attend an examination, the child loses his school year);
social and legal instability (lack of social and legal protection from
governmental institutions).
148. From the point of view of the child, the situation has been described as ;
“--‘ .- .“ follows: the child feels unprotected; he does not get a social response to his
anguish (“nobody will do what the child's sense of justice indicates should be
dqne”). He feels that his rights are being violated, even if he cannot describe
those rights. This could lead to a rejection of the society, denial of its
validity (indifference), denial of the effectiveness of justice and law, which
in turn can lead the child to take justice into his own hands or seek evasion
through drugs or alcohol. OEe child!s psychological state can be described as:
a feeling of having been abandoned; the syndrome of the marginalized child;
permanent and prolonged stress; the syndrome of the ill—treated child. Many
children of disappeared parents present the symptoms of the “syndrome of
abandonment'. Features of this syndrome are: repeated infections, alterations
in development and psychic disturbances. The feeling of having been abandoned
is asccompanied by a general state of confusion, which hinders intellectual work
such as analyses and syntheses. In the case of the children of missing persons,
marginality can appear at three different levels; (a) marginality within his or
her own family; contradictory interpretations of the disappearance and of the
phenomenon itself can lead to detachment, a split within the family, and
prolonged separation from persons affectively linked to the child increases the
child's feeling of abandonment; (b) the child's family sometimes imposes a
certain “marginality” or isolation, allegedly for the “protection of the child”;
and (c) marginality is imposed by official actions and by public and social
reaction to the original circumstances surrounding the disappearance, which
increases the feeling of being different and rejected.
E/CN.4 11984 12 1
page 52
149. prolonged and permanent stress is also noted. The child whose parents
have been arrested at home or in his presence has suffered errible stress
(anguish, fear, impotence in the face of violence). All the family has
frequently been subjected to the same kind of stress and so is not in a position
to giveassitance ti& the child. Such acute stress.can produce a lasting
inhibitiofl .T 2 de th and duration of the stress..CauSes a number of eactiOn5
which ofteh r sUlt in an attitude of despai . F rther, many children whose
pare t . WP d show symptoms of the syndrome of the ill—treated child,
particul tTY if' h Y were present when their parents were ar d ted. In these
cases, chi1dr arh r ticent, they avoid contacts with adults; they feetin
despair (this is easily seen when they are in a docEb'r s
nsulting room). . .
150. In gener 'l t Y' ear is the predominant emotion in the life f these ‘
children. It affects all their personal relationships. OEey feel, deep ‘
impotence , vulnerability and security The psychological process needed
accept Ehe loss of a dear one is blocked and they are in a permanent state
“suspendea sorr0w”. Such children also have learning problems and:':' ‘‘
motorph pical difficulties, such as loss of previouplY acquired te'rity
ordinary ‘ ti t 5. .
to
of
in
: ,
EICN. 4/1 84f21. .
page 53
VI. SPECIFIC HUMAN RIGHTS DENIED BY ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY
DISAPPEARANCES: THE SPECIAL RIGHTS OF . ‘
CHILDREN AND MOTHERS .
151. OEe Working Group wishes to remind the Commission of the chapter in its
second report,!' concerning the human rights violated by enforced or
involuntary disappearances which is set out below. It was the result of a
comprehensive study and is as valid today as it was then. .
152. The information reflected in the present report shows that in.tnstances of
enforced or involuntary disappearances a wide range of human rights of the
victim himself and of his family may' be denied or infringed. These include .
civil and political rightsas well economic, social anci cultural rights.
With regard to the pers9n who is subjected'to enforced or involuntary .
disappearance, the following may be identified as the principal human rights .
which he is denied: , . ‘‘ . .
(a). Tha right to liberty and security of'person.V T&is. is .
the.prll cipal humaq right denied by th veryfact of enforcedor
invol.untary.,disaPPe3ra1' Connected rights, such as the right
. to freedom from arbitrary arrest',F the right' to a fair trial .
in.criminal mat ers ( +id the right to recognition as a . ‘
per on.. before the 1 w, are all involved;V . . . . .
1/ E/CN.411492, chap. V.
2/ See Universa1 _Declarat1on 0 fRj m _Righ S ,_ articLe 3, International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 9; Ani rican DeclaratiOn of the —
c Rights and Duties of Man, article I; a merican Convention on Human Rights,
article 7; and European Convention OR Human Rights, article 5. ,
3/ . See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, rticle 9; International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 9; American Declaration of the
Rights and Duties of Man, article XXV; American Convention on Human Rights,
article 7; and European Convention on Human Rights, article 5.
4/ See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 10 and 11;
Internatiqnal Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, articl 14; american,
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, articles XVIII and XXVI; American
Convention on Human Rights, article 8; and European Convention on Human Rights,
article 6. ..
5/ See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 6; International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 16; American Declaration on the
Rights and Duties of Man, article XVII; A merican Convention OR Human Rights,
article 3.
EJCN.4 119 84/ 2 1 .
page 54
(b) The right to humane.conditiOns of detention anu freedom
from tortd e, cruel or degrading tr atment or punishment.' .
Some of the information before the Group deals with the conditions
of detention, including ill—treatment, suffered by the missing or
.. disappeared perso 1s; .
(c) he right to life.!! Some of the information received by ‘.
the Group indicates that during detention the missing or.dis
. appeared person may be killed.
153. Disappea ranpes f the sprt under consideration by the Group also, involve
infringeII ifitS ‘of cer ain of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
prisoners pproved by the Eco omic and Social Council in its resolution b63 C.
(XXIV ). o 31' ‘Jtiiy 1957.!” ‘ rules of a general nature are
relevant to nforced or invol'dnta y ‘di's ppearances because under rule. h-,, they
are applicable to all categories of prisoners, criminal or civil, uncried or .
convicted, including prisoners subject to “security measures”: rule 7, which
N, requires that detailed records shill be Kept ‘for each prisoneC rule 37, which
ensures that ptisp:fl.er hall e able to communicate with their family.; and rule
44, which requires the a uthorities to inform a prisoner's spouse or,',rtearest
relative in the case o,f his death, or serious illness, and affords the prisoner
the right to inform at once his family of his imprisonment or his transfer to
another institution. Rule 92, which pp1ies to untried prisoners' also
recognizes the prisoner's right to communicate with his family and to inform his
family immediately of his detention.
154. If these may be said to be the principal human rights of the person who
suffers enforced or involuntary disappearance a reading of the Universal
Declaration and the International Covenants on Human Rights shows that, to a
greater or lesser degree,. practically all basic human rights of such a person
are infringed. Particular concern has been expressed to the Group about the
‘ :: 6 1. SeeUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, article 5; International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, articles 7 and 10; Am r.ican Declaration
of the Rights and Duties of Man, article XXV; American Conventioffi on Human . , .
Rights, article 5; and European convention on Human Rights, article 3• ,, . .
7/ See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 3; International
Convenant on Civil and Polizical Rights, ‘article 6; American Declaration of the
Rights and Duties of Man, article I; American Convention on Humat Rights,
rticle' 4 ; and European Convention, on Human Rights, article 2. ‘ .
3/ See United Nations publication, Sales No. 56, iV.4. .
. E/CN.4/1984/21.. . . .
page 55
right to a family life!' of the persons who suffer enforced orinvoluntary .
disappearance and of their relatives. In the case of pregnant women, children
and refugees who suffer enforced or involuntary disappearance, their specific
rights 1 ,”as contained in the internationaL human rights-instruments, are
infringed; for example, the right of every child to measures of .
protection.19.I A review of the economic, social and cultural right ' . . . . ,
guaranteed by the various international human rights instruments shows that most
of them-are -denied, to a greate or lesser-extent, by enforced or involuntary
disappearances. ‘ . - : . ‘ ‘ : ‘ , . - - . . . . : . . .
,. , .,.,,t, ,.... ;. ‘‘ -r1 ,
155. The information-before the Grdup shows that vari:bus:'human rights,..pf't4 3 e.
members of the family of--a missing or-disappeared person may ‘aLso-he ‘infrinjdd . . ‘ .
by that person's enforce.d absence. -Their right to a..family..life-may.be.seen.'asi-.;';-j
the principal right involved but other rights of an tconornic -social and : ‘- . , ‘
cultural naturecan al-so be directly a. fecte&; for example, the family's . “ -
standard of living, health care and ducatior may-all be adversely affected by
the absence of a parent.' The adverse impact of the disappearance of a parent on ‘ .
the mental health of children his been pointed out elsewhere..!!': ‘ Finally, , . -
Additional Protocol'I to-th Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 has recognized
“the rights of families -to know the fate of their relatives” and this-right of . ‘ .- .
relatives to be'inforoe d cf the-whereabouts and fate of missing or disappeared .:
family members rhas bee:n reflect di-n::resolutions of United Nations -bodies. !V : :
‘. ;h I ,h'i . . - .
156. The Wcrki g... @r-aez hats been-'patticularl'y.coticer.ned about r-eport -tffi-the
disappearance of babies and children. There is no doubt that while practices
resulting in enforced or involuntary disappearances can under no circumstances
be justified or excused, those situations affecting or involving children are
particularly grave and warrant every attention and concerfl from the ,
international community. Instances of the enforced or involuntary disappearance
9/ See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 12and •16;
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, articles 17 and 23;
‘ American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, articles .V and VI; ‘
American Convention on Human Rights, articles 11 and 17; European Convention on
Human Rights, articles S and 12. , . .
10/ See Universal Declaration of Human rcights, article 25; Internationil
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 10; American Declaration of the
Rights and Duties of Man, article 24; American Convention on Humin Rights, .
article VII; and European Convention on Human Rights, article 19.
11/ See for example, the report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the
Situation of Human Ri-ght :i .n Chile tb the Gene a1 Assembly at its thirty—third
session . (A/33/33l), para.'376. . . . ‘ . . ‘ . - , “ - . -
12/ See, for example, General AsseIIbly resolutions .34/1.79 ‘and 35/188 on
the situation of human rights in Chile.
E/CN.4/ 1984/ 2 l
page 56
of children may not only deny or infringe some or all of the rights referred to
above but, in addition, they may entail breaches of specific principles on
children's rights set: forth in a number of international instri.iments, both of a
universal and a regional character, and constitute a direct attack on the, family
as a social institution,- The following paragraphs reflect some of the most
significant among those priviciples.
157. The right of children, pregnant women and nursing mothers to benefit from
special measures of protection, care and assistance has been affirmed in
numerous.intetna.!iona). instruments,, among them, the Universal Declaration of
Human Ri htsJ.Vr the International Covenant on Civil and Political . . . .
Rights,.i ! the internationa7. Covenant on Economic, Social and..Cultural
Rights,2. ! the DecJ.aratioq of the Rights of the ChiLd, the American . .
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man,i. ! the American Convention on
Human Rights,.121' the European Social Charter,!!! the Geneva Convention .
relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August
1949,12! the two Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 ! and the .
Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed :
Conflict adopted by the General Assembly on 14 December 1974. Since par of the
information received by the Working Group relates to the disappearance of ‘ . .
pregnant women, it should also be recalled. that the American Conve ition on Human
Rights states that the right to life shall be protected from the moment of
conception,. ! 1' and that the application of capital punish nent to pregnant
women is prohibited by that Convention,.aV as well as by the International
f2! A tid 1i 25:, pan'. 2. - ---- — - -.- - - . ‘ i ' :
14/ Article 24, para . 1.. . ...
15/ Article 10, paras. 2 and 3.
16/ Article VII. .
17/ Article 19. .. .
18/ Part I, Nos. 7.and 17. .
19/ Articles 14, 17, 24, 38, para. 5, 50, 76, 89, 91, 94. .
20/ Protocol I, article 8 (a) in conjunction ith article 10 and articles
70, 75, pans. 1 and 2, and 77, para. 1; and Protocol I I, article 4, para. 3.
21/ Article 4, para. 1.
22/ Article 4, para. 1.
E/CN. 4 /1984/21 - -‘
page 57
Covenant on” Civil and Political Rights ' and by 1 ‘ttII twb Protocols to the
Geneva Conventions of ‘l949.2. ' Some of the reports considered by the Working
Group appear to reveal .that violations of these principl s have tak n 1 place.
158. A number of instruments referred to ab ve contain provisions designed to
protect the right of the child to his personal identity, which includes the
recogriitian'of, and respect for, the status derived horn his blood ‘
relationships. Thus: . : .
- (a) The International Covenant on Civil' nd Political Rights
provides that every child shall be registered immediately after
birth and shall have a name,. ' and the American Convention
further states that every person has the right to. the surnames of
his parents, or to that of one of them.2&' These:.prov.isions are . ‘
particularly relevant to those reports which indicate that
. . children have been bornt mothers who were in captivity';'and, ,
/ . ,‘ .‘ , ,. : . . ,
‘ . (b) The Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War, as well as the Protocols to the
Geneva Conventions, contain detailed ‘prbvisions aimed at
ensuring the identification of children separated from their
families as ‘a result of a war. Such ‘provisions include, ii ter
alia: the oblig.ation::of'occupying Powers ‘tp take all necessary
steps to facilitate the identification .of children and ‘the,:' . . ,
registratian of th eir..paren age as well as the prohihi:tionr. .
against such Powers-rfrom changing the children's .pe sonal . ‘ : ‘
status;1j' the :obligatipq of the parties to a conflict-to - ‘,
est' blishjan -of'ficial -bt reau to provide informatIIn : -qr .tbe' H
protected persons who are'in its power a section of.t- hi.oh i,$:;:.',' :
responsible fottaking”the.necessary steps to identify ,childrnp,.
whose identity is in doubt;i. ' the obligation of the parties to
‘: “ a..conflict:fto'keep. detailed'ideffitity records in thd-case-of. -r -
— — ‘.‘. ,‘..T—.—.. , ‘ . .: ‘ i ‘‘ ‘ —‘ ‘ ‘ —‘ :: ‘ ‘ ; ;:‘: , : ‘ : ‘ .‘ : L—— , ‘‘‘
23/ Article 6, para. 5.
24/ Article 76, para. 3 of Protocol I and article 6, para. ‘4 of' Pro b l
II. OEe latter instrument further makes this provision applicable to mothers of
young children.
25/ Article 24, para. 2.
26/ Article 18. .
27/ Fourth Geneva Convention, article 50. ,
28/ Fourth Geneva Convention, article 50 in conjunction with article 136.
E/Ct'T.4/lll S4/2l
page 58
evacuation of children; 2I'and the ob'Iigaifiitn'of the partiestoH . .
a conflict to endeavoUr' to arrange for all children under IVt'o be•
identified by the wearing of identity discs or: oy Some dthe ‘
means -a” . , , . .
159'.'. The ‘Group is of• the opinion that if the preceding provisions are binding
upon States in tine of war or armed conflict, the principles on which they ‘are
founded should, a fortiori , be respected in tine of peace, even if there exists
a situation of internal unrest. These principles are particularly relevant to
certain reports received by the Group to the effect that small children reported
missing nay have had their identities concealed or changed and may have been
given for adoption or fostet ‘care to”persons who would no : necessarily know
their origin. This was found' t be the case in' everal reports sUbmitted to the
Working'Group; the real identity ‘of the children was later discovered.
‘ , 160. OEe above instruments also ‘contain provisions designed to p otedt the
“ ‘ right of the chi'.d to be physically under the protection and care' of his
relations:. Thus: ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘“‘
(a) The Declaration of'th R ghts of dh” Child states that, ‘ ‘
wherever possible, the' child's ll grow tip' in t 4e care and ‘ :
under the responsibilit ''of' his parents,' and adas that a child'
of tender years shall hdt' save ine cdepEionaI circnmstaiices
be separ ted from'hi mother'; 2L ““ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
(b) A' number' of provisions of the above—cited Gene 4 za Codventidn ‘
‘ and the Prbtocols deal with the questidn of farnily'unity and s&t
forth the right of childr n not to be sep e4 from' their ‘ ‘
families, e l len in cases of internment. “Th s instruIIents furth r
contain specific provisions concerning the reu'nifi'cati'on'of
famili s di ersed as a result of armed confli ts.2ll
“-“--“-“--l6'l-' ”'This is a fdrmidable list of provisions., and the Working roupe1s :
necessary to draw attention to the principles thus internationally agreed, and
their relevance to the reports on disappearances of children.
‘ “ 2.9/ Protocol I , articie'7 3 , ja a. 3'. ‘ ‘
30/ Fourth Geneva Convention, article 24.
31/ Principle 6. ‘ ‘ “
32/ Fourth Geneva Convention, articles 26 and 22; Protocol I, articles 74
nd 75, para. 5, and Protocol II, article 4, para. 3(b).
E/CN.4/1984/21 :
page 59
VII.. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL BODIES FORTHE INVESTIGATIOI OF
REPORTS OF ENFORCED. OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES
162. Since its inception, the Working Group has given attention to the bodies
established at the. national level to investigate reports of enforced or
involuntary disappearances.!' This tqas , matter already taken up by the-Ad .
Hoc Working Group on the Situation of Human Rights in Chile and the Expert on
the Question of the F.ateof Missing.and Disappeared Persons.in.Chi,1eh2/
Recently, the importanc&-of such bodies was stressed to theGroup. y the Latin
American Federation .of Associations for Relatives of Disappeared—Detainees
(FEDEFAM) in adocume5t presented to the Working group in June :1983. , That
document.referred to such bodies in ElSalvador and Bolivia;. the Working Group
has itself referred to those and to one in Sri Lanka. . .
163. The Government of El Salvador, by Decree No. 9 of 6 November 19793
established a Speqia1. Commission to Investigate Politiqal Pr jsoners and .. .
Disappearances for the purpose of carrying out on—the—spot' investigations to
determine the fate of the persons registered in the country--as.having.
disappeared since 1972. -This Special Commission was set up in-response to a
recommendation of th.e Inter—American Commission on Fh m n Righits- after a visit to
El Salvador ‘in 1978. The Spe ia1 Commission was compo e4 of three members and ‘ ,
adopted two reports, an-interim report dated 23 Novembe,r ,l97.9and. the final
report dated 3 January 1983. ‘The Commission published a,list.ofpe-rsons ‘ .
detained by the public forces who had disappeared,'-but: said that theywere not
the only detainees to have' disappeared; while none of-the disappeIIred -were found
alive there was proof of. the, capture or detention of :maay of them by the
security forces. The Commission had visited cemeteries or buri a l.- sites and
discovered bodies, some of which were identitie4: as missing persons-. The , .
Commission visited detention centres of the various public forces and found
places which could have served as secret prisons. It recommended that'th-o-se -
places' be modified so that they dould not be used as secret places of detention,.
that the :per sdns' identified as responsible for the disappearances be tried nd
that th-eHtatn-ilies be given compensation. The Working Group sought information -
from tht:Go,vernrnent on the implementation of these recommendations, but h sT::T”75
received none. Non—governmental- organizations have reported to the Group that :
the recommendations have not been implemented. . , .‘, ‘: :
164 - In Bolivia, a National Commission for the Investigation of D i s ppeared
Persons was established by Supreme Decree No. 19.241 of 28 Octo er,J982. The':
Commission is composed of representatives of the Executive Power, the Human ,
Rights Commissions of both houses of the Legislative Assembly, the Cifiurch, the :
armed fortes, the trade unions, the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights - the Red :‘
Cross and the press. Its- objects are to ana1yse investigate and determine the
I t E/CN.4/1435, paras. 33 and 91—92; E]CN.4/l492, paras. 73—75, 138—139,
183 an-d annex X; E/CN.4/1492/Add.l, para. 6; E/CN.4/1983/14, paras . ‘40, 128 and
145.. : . : -
2/ A/33/33l, paras 421—422 and 779 (15); E/CN.4/l3lO, para. 335;
A/34/583/Add.1, para. 197.
E/CN.4/ 1984/21
page 60
situation concerning disappeared persons, t.'ich full access to all relevant
information and the right to seek the ‘ ssistance of alLpiiblic authorities; it
can als set up District Committees. It is accessible to anyone with a
complaint about the disappearance of a person in Bolivia.
165. Daring a meeting with the Jorking Group in June . :1983, a representativ of .
the Latin Am ridan Federation of Associations for Relatives of . “
Disapp ared—Detainees (FEDEFAN) referrec to the Bolivian National tommfs'sibn' for
the Investigation of Disappeared Persons and provided the Working Grdu'p iith a
copy of that Commis ion's work plan for the dne year period begitinidg'bn. ‘1' :
Februar y 1983. The Working C oup was informed that the elativei df the
disappeared participated actively in the plan. On Lhe one hand; the Commission
was contentrating on the investigation of cases and the opening of criminal “
proceedings against those responsible. On the other hand, it was hoped tha the
Penal Code could be amended to include the definition of the crime of enforced
disappearance, the'type of penal sanction, th& constituting elements of the
crime and ways”df ‘p xticipatihg in it, since en?orced disappearances were to' be
: “ consid red a ct .hi againSt' huII hity; The plan provid i' for action on many other
aspects of th problem,: such a'establi hing IIech nis'nls ‘for, and centres of; .
investigation, ‘idforini'ng ubl'ido inion on th* problem and: hdlding a natianair
conference in brdsrto' evaluate •the prog'res mad '. OE& representative of
FEDEFAN also ‘ st'at d to the Working Group that the results of the bolivian . .
Commission to dat ' had been eni ouragitigY Since the CoSission was establish d
there haveS been; no nS cases regist' red and people feel secure that they will
not becoui a' victim: to the ract'ice.' ‘Pt-ogress has been made towards solving
mahy long—standi'hg cases. Somebodies have been idebtified and recovered. ‘ .
OEere are,'according o thd”fsmilie , many obstacles to be overcome, but they
are hopeful and optimistic; Tt2wa'sstg &sted by FEDEflU'i”that the Commission:
could be used as ‘ ‘ model for other' situations. . : ; t, . . ,
166. The Working Group was informeQ ‘in 1981 by a non-governinental organization
iii consultative ‘status with the Economic and Social Counc'il of the establishment
: in Sri Lanka,: in the second half of 1979, of a Parliamentary -Select Committee
. under theL Chairmanship of the Sri Lankan Minister of Trade .for the purpose. ,oL_i
investigating certain events which' had occurred in July 1979 in the dorthern “ ‘
part'”of th t country. Among the vents to' be investigated was the reported
“disappearance of three persons. In l&tter dated 9 August 1983 the P rmanent ‘
: ‘ Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva transmitted a
copy of th ‘report of the Select Committee. That Committee had been established
by Parliament on 8 August 1979 and its five members were appointed by the ‘‘ ,
Speaket- on 20 August “1979'. The Committee's powers included that of summoning
: any person to appear b fore it, requiring ‘IIy person to produce any document or
record, procuring and redeiving all SuctF&zi'dence, written or oral, as the
: CoIImitte&might ‘think necessary or desirable': and carrying out any action
necessary for the fullest consideration of the matters referred to it. The
Committee began its work on 10 September 1979 and hel4 34 meetings. It visited
the north of Sri Lanka and, during its meetings, heard testimony from a large
: number of people, including members of Parliament, senior police officiais,, ‘
senior army officers, medical personnel, police officers, prisoners, and the
relatiVes of disappeared persons. The Committee's re'port contained considerable
information on thE”arrest of, among others, the three missing persons nd their
eventual fate. With regard to two of the missing persons, the Committee stated
that there was a great deal of evidence suggesting that they had been taken to a
particular police' taaan and that the weight'of the evidence would at least
E/CN.4/1984/2 1
page 61
demand a further investigation; it recommended that a separate team of special
investigators be appointed for that pur ose. With regard to the third p rson,.
the Committea' made no specific finding'dr recommendations. . :
167. : A representative of the Latin American Federation of Assotiation f9r ..
Re:Latives of Disappeared—Detaineees'(FEDEFAN) in a meeting with the.Work5.ng
Group underlined the importance his organization.. tt:ached to co—ordinated , .
national action against disappearances; this included independent and exhaustive
investigations of..the': individual cases;':effect.ive ?rosecutibn of those , . ‘. .
responsible';- Lagisaativete orms to dea'l'.adequately with the crime; the:. phy -sic-4 .. -
eliminatioh,af .alL 1 .pla.ces ‘in military or'.police:.es-tablishoeen,ts which,- .coul4-serve
as. sebret detehtioncettre-s , and public opinion, campaigns to' create aw arene$s'.:
It wars”.suggested..,that,. three. tests be applied tc ' national investigative, ,b,pdies .t .,
determine whether.th.ey •were impartial and whether-exhaustive investigations were
made: (a) the independence of the person orHbody charged with the -. . ‘ . .:
investigation; was it' dependent upon the Executive, the military or securjty ‘ ?
forces? Was it a judicial body and had the judiciary investigated cases . -. - : “
‘ presented in the past? Was ‘it. a- Parliamentary body? .:(b) The investigative . . ‘
powers of the body; could it freely visit possible centres of detention and
investigate clandestine cemeteries., or did it simply register cases: and transmit
information from the•Go-vernment?. (c) OEe results.achieved;' were any coBcrete .
results obtained for the families'giving necessary details? Were- jud.i .al
proceedings initiated when illegal activities were uncovered? It wa -
recommended that the United. Nations promotethe establishment of such bodies in
countries where disappearances were reported. ‘ , . ‘
l 8 . The Working Group has also been informed, of the: existence of other - .
domestic investigative commissions or bodies set up. to inquire into issue,s . .
including disappearances; it is proposed further to study the results of their-
work- Examples are to be found in Chapter II sections H and K on Lebanon and
Uruguay. ‘ ‘ . . . :
C .
. . ..
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 62
VIII. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOL4i4ENDATIONS
169. This fourth report by the Working Group shows the extent hi h enforced
or involuntary disappearances continue. It also demonstrates that progtess is
slow in revealing solutions, since the phenomenon is closely related to internal
political instability. Where this has been halted, new cases of disappearanc s
are rare. Where such internal conflict continues, disappearan e5 remain common
features of the overall situation. . . .
170.. Success in clarifying cases which occurred in the past has so far'been
very slight; it is evident that any progress is dependent on the policies of the
Government concerned. These policies are only incidental to the Groups ,
activities, since solutions alone, and not politics, are the Group's objective.
Where disappear nce are continuing, the attitude of the Governments con'cert ed
varies- Some have establi hed domestic institutions or procedures which have
been more or less succds ful in resolving the fate of disappeared persons. The''.
international community should applaud efficient initiatives of this kind In
other cases' tkier,e' e ' to' be. a lIInentable drift' toward's: toleration of these , :‘
cases, combined srith a marked difficulty in solving them
171. In countries wher di appea 'ances continue ther is no set pattern Which
can be detected. It is f r. rom. certain that the Grdtip possesses a ‘
comprehensive list of persons who have disappeared, with the attendant
circumstances The ability of familiesor organizations to give such details to
. the Group varies, and with it the e'xten' of theallegations avail b1e to' the ,
Group. On the other hand, Governments have adopted widely differing procedures
by way of responSe,,,,S9 . have developed, a. technique which brings regular
responses, as reflected in the statistics quoted earlier in the report Others,
unfortunat ly, make no response at atl or appear reluctant to give any
explanations, , . ‘ ‘. , . ‘ . ‘ ‘
172. Readers of this report should have no doubt concerning the Group's . ‘
evaluation of enforced or involuntary disappearances. Its View is that they-------'-- -
constitut one of the most pernicious techniques for the violation of human
rights; the evidence presented to the Group shows its devastating impact on the
victim, the overwhelming consequences for the family and its paralyzing effect
on society where fear prevents the action needed to bring disappearances to an
end. Enforced or involuntary disappearances violate practically all the human ‘
rights of the victim and many of the rights of his family; the practice is
contrary to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and no special circumstances, armed
conflict, states of emergency, situations of internal conflict or tension can
justify enforced or involuntary disappearances. It is such a serious violation
that many have suggested it should receive the highest level of international
scnction. It has been clearly decided by the international community that the
relatives of missing persons have a right to know their whereabouts or fate;
this can only mean effective investigations into each case.
173: As the Group said in 1981 the only course of action is to persuade and
motivate Governments to prevent, eradicate or investigate such incidents which
may have occurred within their territory. Public opinion, both national and
international, has a part to play (see the Group's report to.the Commission at
its thirty—eighth session!'). However, all sectors of society have a role in
! E/CN.4/l492, para. 176.
E/Ui4.4/19d4/21
page 63
preventing disappearances or inging them to a halt. The occurrence of
government—connected disppearances is a sign of the breakdown not only of the
security. or-police, services directly responsible, but also of. the judiciary and
execptlva..l•n ‘their:. responsibility for ensuring respect for.taiw.and,pruer. Each
arm of government ‘has a role to play in preventing or endin :disappea.rances.
Also, ,anHiIIpbrtant part can be played by the press and hiaIIar J right's, and
religious organiz:aft bns; their silence can allow the practice' to develop and
take toot o the'ir'opposition can help prevent or end disappearances. Their
activities deserve the support and protection of the international community.
The Working Group has received many reports of the harrasment, death or
disappearance cf journalists, lawyers and relatives who actively opposed . “ . ..
disappearances'. ‘ ‘ . ‘ ‘ : .
174. Effective, international action against disappearances depends in large . ‘
measure on the attitude of Governments towards this phenomenon and the degree to
which'they. co—operate in eradicating it. Hbwever, the mobilization' or.J . :,
strengthening of public opinion, and the support given'to organizations . . ,
,.. . , cornpaigning for a solution, can also make their contribution. The r.eport shows .
examples of a response by certain Governments which has led to resolution of
some cases, and promises a similar result for others. Elsewhere, the:, .
Government's' :t ponse',.. by comparisonwith ‘the details of the! allegations, . ‘
suppl:i:ed, nIIke.s IIt difficult to believe that any reaL; investigation has taken.
place'.'' There iS aato a difference in the extent to which' national organizations
concerned with human rights are at liberty to operate and to provid'e..infonnation ‘
to the international community. It is necessary to add that the international
community should attempt to check the allegations it rec'eives' ' ince, ‘
regrettably, the motivation of its informants is not always ‘purely;ihumanitarian.
.,—.
175. It will he apparent from the previous chapters that the Workiqg' Group
continues to be confronted with two sorts of case. There are those from the
past, occurring' in the l970s or even earlier, often predating the GoVernment now
in office. Others are current, arising day by day during 1983 as in earlier
years of the Group's activity. The distinction makes little difference to the
families of. rthos,e concerned. All the evidence suggests that the uncertainty, “ -‘ -“ !
anxiety, anguish :and frustration,'is as great whether the disappearance occurred
10 years or 10 days ago. “ ‘
176. However ':,from the Working ‘Group's viewpoint, different techniques and
objectives must be recognized, ‘according to national tircuntstances. ‘ Older cases
suffer from the problem of' tbe passage of time which makes •iIIzescigat.i,on ‘
increasingly difficult. By contrast Governments may be less se nsit'dive' about
enquiring into events which happened before their accession to power than into
those which occurred during their own tenure of office. The essential basis of
the Group's inquiries has been explained, not only in previous reports, but also
in all approaches to Governments with which it has been in contact; no
accusations are involved, no confessions or self—incriminations are sought. OEe
critical fact is that only a Government has the resources which can help to
solve the cases. So long as the exercise is recognized as being entirely
humanitarian, neither responsibility for a disappearance nor the question of
punishment enters in the Working Group's consideration. This point has been
repeated again and again. The Group's reports show that the policy has been
borne out in practice. Reactions in the Commission's debates and governmental
responses show that this strict and consistent approach is being increasingly
recognized and relied upon. It is at present the Working Group's main source of
strength, backed as it is by successive consensus approval of its actions over
nearly four years in all United Nations forums.
E/CN.4/ 1984/2l .
page 64 .
177. The Group, therefore, believes that the time may have arrived for the
Commission to adopt a more active role than hitherto. Experience shows that the ,
points mad in General Assembly resolution 33/173 are still vaLi,d and provide a , . : ,
framework for the Group's activities and for an assessment of its achievernen s.
What may now be desirable is .a firmer appeal by the, Comtizission to the , , . , ,
Governments concerned to increase their co—operation with the Group, including ,
the encouragement of positive response to the Group's suggestions ‘f6r
on—thespot'visits. The Group is aware of the vnique nature of. each situation ‘
and takes that fully into account. in its work. ‘ :‘ ‘ , , :
178. In previous reports the Working Group has suggested that no fu idarnental or
philosophical phenomenon underlies the appalling practice of enforced o,r , ‘
involuntary disappearances. It is merely an effective, though short—term, .
method of ‘eliminating ‘political” opponents:. and preventing :fa 1.Y members or the
cout tt fromaedii1riT S' an. immediate remedy. . However,, the disappeared have
families, who cIIa iing1Ly unite in their common.f u, trat .0n. and despair. The'
longer—term repereti s ians' have not even now been fully assessed.,, and. may well be
‘, .nuch IIb 'e s riou's ‘than currently anticipated. ‘‘ . . ‘‘
179. The inhumanity”an'd specific violations of accepted human rights arising
out of disappearances have been. catalogued in previous reports. , Nqthipg has
emerged' this year to reduce theseriousness of those,affronts to human life and
dignity.'' ‘In' addition to recommendations made in previous reports, the Working
Group recomuiends” that: ‘ .. ‘‘. ‘ ‘
(a) The problem of enforced or. ino.luntary disappearances : ‘ ,. ‘.. ‘
‘“ should continue:;to be a major doncernef the Cotmuission, and ‘
‘ should attract the attention of the entire international community,
including that of non—governmental organizatiqns ‘
“ (b) OEis' concern. should'again be expressed',as humanitar .an in “ ‘
character, wholly' devoid: of political or,accusatorial content;
Cc ) ‘OEe ‘Commission should” reinforce the Working Grou,p!sapprQach, — —. - - -
•whicb calls' for the goodwill and co—operation of Governmen ts in ,
seeking solutions to cases; . ‘ .
(d) OEe.”ComIIission should urge upon Governments the, need to adopt
measures, in dealing with internal tensions or disorders from
any quarter, which will inform relatives of: the detention.,and
subsequent trial of any accused person. .
E/CN.4/1984/2 1
page 65
IX. ADOPTION OF THE REPORT
180. At the last meeting of its twelfth session on 9 December 1983, the present
report was adopted and signed by the members of the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances: :
Viscount Colville of Cuiross (United Kingdom) .
Chair inan/Rapporte ur .
Jonas K.D. Foli (Ghana) .
Agha Hilaly (Pakistan)
Ivan Tosevski (Yugoslavia)
Luis A. Varela Quiros (Costa Rica)
—
UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC
AKIfOE
I N L.)
SOCIAL COUNCIL
ar -
(2E E AL
E/(2L41 19E4/2 11Ac..i.1
8 Fe ruury i 84
Oric 1 Ji: ENGLISI !
; ooN.i'iISSION ON Hu AI : RIGhTS
Fc 'rt ieth tess u
Age .da iteni 10( h)
QiJ1T;S IOLT OF TL E J:J. : JGiTS W ALL PEriCz SUJ CTED O
FORhi OF DErEJ 1.iou O: -jaIS0d iEHT, 1 ! PARTICULAR:
it OF UJ CED 0 Yi:VOLLhJ f LILAPPT AifiAUCE
Report of the hot. i Group on Enforced or Involuntary Discppearances
o
GE.84—1 0746
0
.L,/ o. /2l .. . ]
; . t i . ,‘ , .‘‘ ‘‘. ‘‘‘ .‘i .'tI ) l' -r .‘ ‘ L)L' ,.. ,, ' i ,c'' I . ,_ .
the tiiiiL . i .‘‘ Ltuiiu 0 iLC'' Lt LOfld”Jfl ,li 1dY Li
:‘‘‘‘‘ L} i:'. ,'-i' ,i ,sI”i', ‘ i i' I O .
v/ c ; . ,!: I / add. I
. i'i ‘rr' . . , t.h ;:.Li.,,i; !‘iinr.ia. on I;
, —, .. i, , ' 1 : i 1 . : tt . ‘Li i !i11l .,LrJi ;n:'il i a [ ,‘inn 1; ‘i' Ui :‘,itioI l iL
. : .a'Lit Vt Pow or, t.:- aiiii,rdi wilt: :jiy:r1c lyHi ar i d :1tiLinio!,!o',t:; hodios, i.iarrie.ci
; a I IL I ;eciI r i i I '' rev ;; I h ' mini.; i n'i:;iJ ‘ al eq nest ae C ‘at o i a tever
I : ‘cides to VLSIL for its ortici:il piirpost s. The Rg i'icLt's ‘rod
t;-i:ro U icia h, LlL'C ‘mr .‘Fi n,ija.',-t :o :, such IT ILL)LnlCIti”n
I ala' Suc h ,ir('{:i”llinl requestec. Prnvtsi,oj' is also nalie t ilO
‘rr ungeineiLs .ir''l si:ifi neend br (li_u Coi.itni.s:. tripi's mr . ..
-;. ii a nit w it , , . ,-‘r',J;iaiiarv V 84 tithi tht? I stant S,cretar ' Geller:il ,
: C'fli.i t' lil y Ut i a l I l iLt;, aiti rior to the tr:t:sIuLs:;Lour of :ht: t iuve—nueritioned
iii.,'' veytiahe, ;: renr ':;ii'Lal.1.vtu of I;he Gnee.rrimt'nt of Argentina provided i,ni.tiz l
titl ‘t'liiatiwi ‘‘ii LII e ' atttEiI iahi:ent Lit the hat u't;il Commission nit th:'
h)Hrrppi'nranco of l'er ons. lie ret uested that the uorldng Crouf) shou ld ‘ c
tt'ii'i,r'ied int l that Lit ,: ted lotion:; anJ t he ‘;orkiii' uroup shoull provide
dsu,ist.aflCC to the Jab jolt 0 ! Comm:ission to the extent posst I c within th e
.iyjiticabl' reruittiotis .Snbs eqijent [ q, ii I letter toted 24 January ! 8', the
Conin ission P/leflthl,d an invitation to visit Argentina with a view to
,vidiig (Ii eta tiotini Commission eith intorinati.oti d'.i nsoista'tco it! Lts t:O:iC
disappeararices.Itaho requested that the information on disappearanceS —
+anp''ctal Iv the, most complete lists ‘ ii: miss r.IIF parsons — ic si -ott L ii jL uS 0000
‘in poins'.ii.'e to ass st it i i i t.s investig';tioiis. The Working Group decided to
(Ii,uYr the Nat Loon C:rrmti,ss in in the uis.pt)e.iraiic.' of Persons ior the
ilvi ration to visit ar gentina a n, to consider such a Vis It tt its iie/t :
ua-',' joii, sho d d its nianaite' ‘‘e rc'uet-'eit ‘y the Comni SsiO l On liumat hihilts and
thu tictinotnic [ m l Social Count hi . the Group also decided to make ovailc ibLe - to
th ' .:at 'nai Co,itmussjo,i the information ii us tiles to ,icCor't;liictu ‘ithi the
:th lisbed proct i.ce and subject to R oy requests for cooficientiali tv from -the
sources; tire Group roque.tei the Secretariat to ‘t o ci :, out the practical details
ii L I I the National (iornniission. Because of thc toportance the WorJng Groi.tp
;iLt'ic ites I.e oodles est-d I ishitto to investigate reports ui .
Ci s;JppndYances (set' chrpter VII of its report), the text of Decree ia 187 of
: ii':,”ffiPr 19R3 IS ;epro:i'LcLud in annex I I. .
J-kytx/itL — —- , — — __--.--_--;— .
1 . hr letters Jatod ‘: l)c'cor,,ber J ‘nd 4 January 19H4, tile Goverruneot of
cr.afll illiLth:el i uformition provided by the l3olivian f'iatio.na I Coinaission
[ or th u fnvestigit 'i,.f' l)isappn::irad Persons u stx cases of cnfo:rceiu or ‘
t ovilriotctr': d i.sappearancc's, four of which lieu been brought to the attention of
ho: (tivernnient by the .‘ii)rK])'lf Group. (In two cases chit Guvernnu .nc -reiterated
of orniat inn which it had already provided to the United Nat ions Special Envoy
“iii the Situintlin of liIn:in riwlits ii i Bol ivi.a:i/ thu hoLy of title )et'SOtl had neen
: otur,d 00:1 i'ienti fie! , however, the Covertniient tddctl that, since some relatives
‘ had :loijbts about t:!i,” hdeoci.ty of the corpsi', t In-:' investig.:it m t
‘ c oi L luimig. ‘hue other person as at liberty. The Government reported that
chi c' nvc'st i.gation -.‘as coot inning oil to ocher cases. 2/ Final ir, - ith regard
: N' time t. 1) 11:1505 u'hicji ft,'iml not: heen dealt t,ii th by the Workii'ig Group, the
O','(' rnrnl1nt s toted that on r son Outs it i.i-)c'rtv .titd that: .1: 1 ;iivestij.yitiuii as
c:ranb iiiiiiiirr in, the other case. To date, the Government has pt'ov 1 ied
Oil ‘ii ID ‘ i' rite 3 1 cases tr.'.tiismnj r,ttd to it ,v the ‘,oriJ iij Grou 1 :; t n
‘trio tiistailces Liii', Government's reply ha n cI,irlf erb Liii'. case.
IL h/C ,4/I P,3/22 ‘tIl l flu. 1 '
‘‘ I rntr lg Jri,:i 1 > 11:15 i'ect'.iVe(i ii'ii'orti,tit .00 nit ,‘ it o cit tneS(tt C,iSEtA 11010 . 1
mr'ti—rovernmnc'ntai Si'it;rt'e indicating that the person is at I ibert' ,'.
R;l:.4/I t 4..t/A..z... [
I'.ig' 4
South Afr tco
1. By .i letter dnt d 7 February [ ‘84, II : P rna uict' ,t • b.siot of South AL • Cd
to the United Nations Office at Genev a provi . ed information and obnervattcns
on the legal proviLdons :‘nu th u specific cases eal.t situ in the :!ot-Idng ‘ .
Group's report (chapter 111). With regard to the legal provision dealt t:jth
in the Group's report, the t4uver. ment s:sid ..I :•t they .1 tU not pr ovide r acticdi
evidence in support of allegations that involuntary .lisappearances took plac.
in S loth Africa. ‘J im ‘k'vur'tnaerit pointed nut :hat it ‘ns s ot quite ecurace to
s;w that “no one is entit1e to ritceit” offici.d iniorinati. i rehiring to or
obtainel from” a perso. , r stricte'I i i' Lermh .)t ‘r CtiC,' I' , ‘ i . th LfltC.l,..1
Sacurity Act, 1982, or decnqcd in terms ot section 28 of chat Act tnee para.
118 of the report). . ;ith ra,t:t..i Co .:ostrict 'd pc rcons, the ( ov''rii.'1ent said
th tt in pr actice they ucre either restricte d t6 a sp 'ci fLed napisterinl
district or other tcc.i or proh ibitetl trottz'. ‘szn ci”g th mse1vos i'roiti their
residential premises during the periods speci find in the restriction notice;
restricted persons •‘e e further a:1) pront;.tteu tr'stn c. un.;u .' catis.g .4th
r !rsoi ls in respect of tIIoui prohibitions snide. the Intenial Jec;,ritv Act were
iso in force ‘ t n ' S chat restrict i.o i .;o: apply u:o tither peesonb; iie. t af kin
who tiere restricted might communicnte ;sith each other. OEiis rustrict4ci .
persons n a t e not prohi,.xted f—om ‘semi, n contact . i.4 their next of kin. The
Government further reported that the names of persons heft! under sections 19
or 28 of the. above—mentioned Act ere :nclt_ud in .‘ cep.nt to t!h: ‘touse of
ssenthly and the next of kin uere iruformeu of tietention$t unII'r section 28.
13. l9ith regard to ctctentx”ns t,r t r sect jl,n.t j' q 3j ot the 1nter: L
Security Act, the Govnrnmei't stated that the rclaLtvcq of t t;etainee
must ‘e notified unless tI'e uet.qinee .tq.. ..3LItL t. • ther': s or
ndtification tyouid hinder the invesligatio lt or endanger the s. curity of the
Stote the letter provisint ‘a ol a ‘urely te;”uor. ry r'fttct. I' t he majority
of cases the-ne.ct of kin sre informed is.,ne intetv of an arrest. Provision is
also made in the lntvr.,at ec.urit:, . ct . r the •t lL—uet'ig •1f siet tinees; they
are to be visited not less than once a fortnight by a magEstrate uiui a
s1 trict .snga aansLS1ua _ un I. On
a regular basis (such visits must cake place at teaat once ev ery 14 day:. snd
re unan,,o',nced). “ha ct ;‘lsr proviecs that a ptrso . msy have access to a
c1t3m e with the consent of, aria suoject to the conditions determined by, the
reinister or the Coia.;,iss Loit' r of Foitce ; a xQoro.tF cases , a th' u st tin: uiext
of kin have been aLlowed to visit detainee's. OEe Government :xtso poi;'teci out
that the reference in the :or!.ing (.coup's ceport to the .-:tn.tt tori o citnesses
in terms of sectinn ai of the Internal Security Act, l98 , di3 not relate to
“disappearanqes”, since such detentions ‘ere of timited ‘iuratiun; in the
majority of cases witpesses ucre detained fur their own ‘safely anti, while
access o them was not open to the public luring their tuna of cetc-ution, the
fact of their bejs detaine.. t'as 5 el)era1ly knoop.
14. OEe Government a Iso referred to p.ovi s lens oC th., Yntnr ;al Security Act,
1982, which made it impossible fur a detainee to “disappear”: the Coimnissioner
; of Police is -e. tlLred to tots t/' the .i,'iat”r r, ja*t. .:n.i Order ,‘S t3O')tt . 59
possible after tin arrest nnd wust provide the name of the detni..ne anti the
pl ace of detant ion; no uer:son s.'y ‘e C t.sss:t d Li t U ttl$ •.L ( 1e said 3ectio Lt )C
a period excending th rtv days except uniter a t ritce , authority grti ltnt' by the
!injcter of l j;' ,nd Order. the t otnqi sa io'.er oF Pal ic ' slia it I urnisn the
t4 nister once a month tsi.th reasons why a detainee shall not b released; if
the person h tr not been released ‘ithiti ni t ‘nonttis, the re asons thert fcr have
to he adouced heQore a Board of k evi n. The deti,ttiee can sunmit. written
: / . , ‘ •‘ ; , 1 .
Pa .t ' I
. Sinci tin LHUi I ‘‘it upiirl., till. lr, J.If1'
nloruiatlnlt fr ' s : Lie .everiiinent i l Ii SaHid,r no 2Y report s [ iensi'i I L t d [ !
the Gov riwto:t i r! t “h ,‘L'rl,Llz 4 t in' L7,f)r,uatice )L{)'.'LLtl! ‘v th
Government. S tiS r ' I O't I port ions are at I ihfrty, F i ce a re, in pri sti ll b u
.:tre. dnad, ant! hurt ate in rrc,rcts ni eteittion , n l others. jH 0 t I l' fl't
Group, LI ) date, li:rs n,ceivd 7 Y4 responses iron tht.t Government rniaIH IL , l.a the
cases L i - non. tL : o i i; io ‘2'' ,scances th e Government'. :tiist,cr his'' '
clan tie' the c n n. .
Gua 1:eiiia Ia .
9. by a note ‘erila ]‘‘ j o ted 13 January [ ‘.84, the lr;na,ictnt:t.ssL ll oL
C,jaten,ala to La'? Led ;irt ions O U Nce t G eneva transn,Ltted to L i i ' ' Work in
Group the ol,nLtrv:lt u,tu of tile (;oveiitttnt cr)llCCr'iII? 6/ i- ,p 'rt's 1 -iiLut'ce'I it
u)volllntary rlisappc.ar inCC?t- that the .‘orking Cr:'up ha! ornught to the
, , . Government'S att:t't'tn”l on 31 ()ctoLiet: i 83. ti n:' Covrnineiit at,,t ! chin the
‘ majority. ol the vt-int:s reporte d were the res 1 ILof the climate ol s,,I,vcrsion
and political upiit'nv.”l that G:rttei'taia line so feted Lit nrevioLJs'.ears out
hat! jooparuized tin' country' ., internal and nternat]Onal image. The
Governpent also scaLt'Lt th at I! /as neutcine every t'tcort to clarify the facts
attd t:hot . it jshe'l Ii estahhish a r gime of legaLi t-' in which human rights
eio'al.l he strictly respect. I ; tin .L,scrV ffCC iL h,imati ri i Its ‘as one f the
f,,inian,etit,t 1 objet LiVes oi the C mi tetialan legal systc'td ‘
Hi) W ill tU 5
ill. l'Sy letters atitci i7, 24 and 27 3. nllar1 384, Lii : - l'L'rn lat,t'nt ,i,SSiOil of
lI,tnuiurns Lo the Utiit.t h Nations Office at Geneva trfmOSriIi tted informat ion on 18
reports of ‘inforL cci er i,.u;Liwtarv .lisappe:raiicct; 1tHi ‘‘ci ‘ ran r/uJttlt tn
the Government: ‘s atte;itii)Ii Iv the Working Gron . flit untie cases the Government
tat:t,t that Lii pi'roltilS hnit can hn'led ovr to ti: :ieLI,)i'i ! ‘15 at
:ic ghhour: ngco n ry inttev .1 1,81. The War:; ing Group h.i :1 ready received the
i ,iioniiiat Inn rca .i ingovern.lrefltfll h'ifid i-;;ivc—nnueii-t--repotbed- t hint-— -- . .
it: hc.d ii) jiirnrt:ati ,, on th u. person'S t,hereahotits in sl/ coils; the Governniei'tc
: ha l previ ous [ )‘ te;imsnhi ltd information ‘egarufin: t u, ot I his COSOS Lii I I :
.‘ Jettctr dated 31 ln lsl 1Q83 stdting that the ‘persons ha'a r oL dc ci i arrested.
Iho Cnveriiiient rnpt't:'.nI th':it invstiantion tas coit tnuLI ; in c'n',ht cuss.
in 34 of die 1$ tas ct, the Coverhmeuic st jteci that it had requested INT ERPOL in
1 countries La as st j hiu' nuivestigatian. Concerning the exhumation of a
cnrp e believed hy se ine to he thaE of a Foreign naritina I who reportedly
t'isapptared in Honduras, the Permanent iissioo, in letters inted 4 January and ‘
24 January 1Q84, traisnmi tte't information provided by the Supreme Court at
i, nd,tras i r,tic:t'itl7 that no formal peti Lion at e.;h':,i,itiOll bad heen presented.
The Covern,c'ifi ,,t Honduras has suhniitted information on all (i i) of the cases
ti:ansmittttd to it; i ii ‘ ) t)stU,'ict'tS tha Lnt')r',e3t ,'n is is t hor ) [ tn the case.
. . . !
11. is v : l otte i-.:atae P February l9 4 the i”erniateiit liisOI,otI o f the Phili ppl.ics
to the United thiti ens Office ,tt Geneva inform'd the Working Group that on
Jarutaro i 84 t1,n Pt .‘sicieni o the Phi lippines had re lease -ct $4 detainees ate
grant” 1 exeentice clemency to i3 nthers. The Permanent' hissin,ui stated that
the names of host persons s Li as further Lllfornlat o:l ru [ at ing to the
Phil ippinnsirn.cia it furnished to thc Worcng Group as soon as riie'iicre
received. ,
stated that 12
ey ‘ere I , rrsi: ii
vi. 1 1ay e s ‘Ihe re
authorities.
at 1 x 1 it'rL''.as
! ‘ .“oo i c r ca s
ii'' ! i'' in,- Group
‘ I ') 11 VC t .
ru o
C
‘4'
ti-it''
a rr ci
I , ! ,i lt; . ! :v ,
PC_ y ap i C
. r'
a !orrnal
ilt,uC tC•ti
C ‘ 11 5
i'lii.,
pex-sou 3 ecro dr ' esteci dud flC('S ' .i
etalined 1 _n art s , .t cli ii'! cite aCi
they receive ciacer iai and
H to L'th' r C ISC'S, Lhe hev,rIiidt'tiL
a t'(JSCi it at :fl1 ,‘/ilIi'4eS Lv Law passe d
Li i ” i;,iverur,cl rc'i.u'L !tiLi1,lL ufli !
a I re;ii/' )‘,254i I ‘ ‘ ut
‘ N a i ‘‘.‘ • _ ‘ ,‘T:iJ i lL ‘ tf
1.:nt reVcl L lie.' anti ci f
. 4,., ( : I . ‘ . [ ) p [
F /‘, —..‘ . , , t.' h ,t /.‘i , ‘ , / ,
‘‘‘‘,‘‘. ; i'- :,'', : .' ( . .: r .i_ 1. L i t
a t”' ‘ c t.”' , 1.;'.I,e'r',ir,cL'li (urCIiaj.”':tatet l chcit dT!,ilLsLrIii't
Nc r! iipy ai,,a,i .•h.,'r,''lt' :Fit IJir,CLut' ci S cu.riLy ,,es itJc1LLL,n,
‘v ho dit ticS uhere the person cis detained, the ist rtct
(‘‘ii !, 1J'iL,yzi..: ‘Cr, ‘‘a Li ,iii:Ci 4 -r- :iie .,t,tenCiL'.i, .iilseq
ii icrri'cct ‘ itvi. r L!ldiL . 1 JL't,ainee coijic itsiippcar ‘4jh'di Sc
h ,. ‘itotI ag . ' a' , .y.rresr “ilL rucur'Jn chc'.':_yol ‘‘era u'pt ‘y 1
IS tcinL'.'
i i. ‘iN:' Covai'n cit H '-uh r d, LflL,'ti Lii,'!: rite c'.Lh'ji.'iL ras ii n't:iii “. 1
nor i.ri . jfY'i”,I( i'M . hi: ntiestion of ii Jade,I ‘Itsappt':'.nrances tin I , i iiC'iJCl
coi.:plntcli, N 1 . Ollel that “e ar r , ,.‘;:rol.iar Lt/':'sLiv. LLiin {rIl..i ic
t 1 ii' comp''r (‘ii' till th ur (‘ [ Cs. ‘ iN” CoVLyrcntecL said LN..t in ,ii;iii ' c s'' s
I i c l .y':n'' ! H'' .,t '.Lit:ii' ,oe .., ,‘ ti.'u s('i:y'eLi',' Left L li' CtJiilItl'V
ccporti '.l rli'4 ‘i; I u' .
. . 1 '. 1 -. t: i”i ar'' to rh. v nt'ciiJc i''pc',i'Li; ‘it ILS: ,ppt:: lr liilct'S Uot 4 L'i [ ric,:
‘ , dc.' [ L I Wi th t Nt,' ..‘‘rki.nv, Graup, the Government statc,c that u.hr”t persons had
non nrrey; L i'' ,‘ cii ‘i,,y:i'le:i ‘‘ii': ‘a) irit'orii,,it.iort ‘as ,-‘‘v:u 1a'; -i ii Liii:'ir
‘he -eahnuts;'5.rbi re;.y'. ct'l to i i Loui'th ease, the bourn Afri..:: ii authurit'i'as had
no cnriiclcuge di. I; p' ‘ i c i's.'''' ‘‘hi-i' n,':bou',,s. CQoCe','t,Lfl,' ‘. 1'.' ;,.;:‘-4
(Ccurin7 in I cnn It iL a , one L a s ‘utor'-' the t'/iiicihoiCR Supreme utturL and, since rhe
Cfls ei''us 44'' hal.,, , thc ( 1 ,,v,'ryu,u,,iii, C3i,iidi it,. t i i)rI'!Sd',It sappi': Li,irthL:i'
cietc ,ils. i' Lit r'' zarcl Vt ) L.a i”thuc cIisappeuranct. L . til ir tiiLC ren:, 1 _y,! thti
:lil':'4grit'Iolis c i ,irrcst [ i' l L ! ,ht'tcntiurt ‘ t:ne 1't : iir, Ly idre l'';; ii,U, r;IiIi.ittr
p”1i :': of f c:.r N,- , ,! heen chari cd with inve cigatin” tb 1 .Ljc :iric' i is, ha'..'ev''r,
tiC) ‘/TL{”Cil(i' (‘t')'i!t'' 1,' 1 _OW l_i ‘(1 ‘i.nirii ,r,it i-' i:ii,,: ‘ . 1 cut': ‘‘ l't,i t'C'''. S iii rh'
C. si1ppO .i'.”' iCes. Vi. rt, 'L1y, t hu Government reported that: Llu' persons du'Lai ned ‘:‘,
i ;ir,la i i)c:rn, ‘;!“y'),',iit, ll, 1',yc,.' [ v'ei l'Citi: [ .'ir /‘iSlCs it' l''”i1' i.,c,'.'rti,atnn-L
n5,nh1tLrc I') ! th'.' ti(''1 1 I,,' y', i,' f l,' I that thy ‘:tyrCy it' .:‘y'iL.'iC' ‘:ith thc'i ‘ teXt ‘H
: iii.
Za I
17. Ky ‘ i Iitttni' ‘‘ laCed Ii . 1 ,;wiry ItH4, thiiy Permap''nL ;Ha;aitn; .: ! :11_re Lii La-:
r Ur ilLed Nations Office at Ge neva transmitted i_i forui.'1i:io” ut rue C a st'S c i
P' iflrC, d r ) irvoiu”t::yrv his, ppi'iar.'i.iCes -hitch “ Ida S,:e,: .‘rctlg!ii. L ii i' h l' 1
(;ovr_yrnn','tt ‘ S :Jtti”tlL tm ii',' the ( ‘ /urking Group. Accordc. g Lu the itljTorniaLioi”
n,cv]cti CI Nv i:iin G,',v,''r ,rnerit, the ‘hcr”anc,uts or these hurl-a's, c lv ,' hOC :‘e'::'
determined . Tie (;o'4't”x-nment
of : i hvers I ye tic L cvi ties; th
con!' Her! C i i their r ‘ spect ive
Li nanc in I -‘ id ‘‘cci c:lie 1 (I c . I
4t;}te -' rh,,t the h',i'- ri',oi'yl
) ‘ .‘ I' . h O [ i 've risfli'itL i a I .
p('. ;y. ‘te,'i l (‘,‘
J u tJ orin t t n I :Oiii'i',lit!t'' ivtinii,'le': Cci i
re,spotl,4t' t'lit',t , ,‘ ; ,‘? iit,'ILM L,'liOri' titci
rh'' mired , ,ruo:t:'' , (‘lit' ‘.:pti ;L it: ‘ ii
principlr's' 1 .'f L a'' a u.' 1 ci' L!icy Uhartar 0 L Lhe Unitea i;itiont, Li” hi,t:ii
I )' ,,rlIi,ir,'.i'i .
1 ‘ ‘ i i , S
i i! . 1 aisLe )' i i
Lit, 14 1' Ii 1''
E/GN. / Ld84/2] /Acki.1
Page 3
Adoptiofl of this addendum .
18. On 8 February L984, the present ddendurn to the report of the Working
Group was adopted by the following members; Viscount Golville of Cuiross
(Uiit.ed Kingdom), ChdirmanlRapporteur, Jonas Foli (Ghana), Agha Ililaly
(Pa'cistan), and Ivan Tosevski (Yugoslavia). The text of this addendum was
approved by Lois A. Varela Quiros (Costa Rica) in i telex dated 10 February
1984.
- ‘
E/CN.4/)H! ./ 11/Add.
Annex I
A!
Cenerol Assembly Rusotution 3d/94
(udopted on [ (‘ December 1983)
‘!estioi j: ciif,,rct'd or Luvdunt.,rv RdP CirdiiceS
The Gene rat As semt Iv , ,
Recal ling Ls resolution 33/173 of 2u ec c m er L7L>, entitled “IJI.sappeareu
persons'', and its resolution 37/180 of 17 December 982 on the question of
enforced or j'1vol,jnt j1-y disappearances,
Bearing in mind Commission on Human Rights resolution 1983/20 of 22
February i 83, by ‘‘hicli the Coismiss ion lee ided :0 ONCCITC; for cr c eur the term
of the mandate of L:he Working Group on Enforcec or Involuntary Disappearances,
and Economic and Social Council ‘!ectsion 1 U J/L4L oi 27 ha ' 1983, ‘y'ihich the
Council approved the Commission's decision,
Convinced the : the octso,i taken, in consultation i:ith tue Gov r ,1ments
concerned, to prounte the implementation of the provisions of General Assembly
resolution 33/173 un.: other United Nations resolutions relevant to the plight
of missing or disappeared persons should he continued,
Expressing its emotion at the inguisli tn. sorro'' of t )e LoiIilies
concerne..i , ‘ho should kno/-! the fate of their relatives,
1. IVeicOfleS the d cc ision taken by the Commission on ,Iur,,a., Rights co
extend for one year the term of: the mandate of the Workiiiq Croup on Enforced
or Involuntary lhs ppearanc 05,05 1.. LU ot'n in Coiu;nissio- resolution l.83/20;
2. Expresses its apprec tat i oi l to the horking Groui. for the woit it has
- done --a-nd Lnthose Coverm:iri ts .IiatOE OE6 i 5efh1difljj UiOE T
3. Cal ls upon the Commission on human Rights to continue to st:udy thio
C ! question as a niattc!r of priority and to coke ony step it may been, necessary to
the pursuit ott lie task of the orIcing Group when it considers the report to
he suhnitted by thu Group it its fortieth session;
4. Appeals to all Governments to provide the Working Group and th e
Commission on HunL,n ‘ights uith the full co—operation mrrantec by their
strictly humanitarian objectives and their uorffling methods based on discretion;
Ceneus its request to t he to continue to provide the
Workang Group wli:hi all necessary assistance.
krhp final edited LexL of this rLts ‘h ,t ion i.l F be pubLish e d in OLLicial
Records of tlici General Assembly, Thirt'r—niglithi hess i cE, Stippioment , , : ;
(A7 7Tfl7 -
/ ‘ o./2 I /Au. 1
Aiirie;< 11 .
D cr e .o. U 7 of 5 ikacember i9 3 i ssiiad by thu
Argentine Nariorul Execut vcPoiaer
IN VIEI.J OP the report of the I11{Ilstry of the Interior, and
0 HER EAS . .
The tioan I E cocuttve P 'wer i, s ,lreaciy gii'cl! cLtect, through a nuwber of
draft laos ciud decrees, to its decision rhat the tncti-on;uly serious violations
of ‘l il lian rights cOohli tied in our r cerO: p:J ;L should ‘ c investirateci ::nd , if
appropriate, punishee by the lw-; .
As il;s repeatedly ‘ec u stated, io-evc-r, h:ho uuctst cni ot Iluian rights
transcends the governmental sphere arc concerns civil society and the
intermit iona 1. com lnuni ty ;
With regard to the latter, its legitimate interese is tahen n it_c ..lccounc
in the dra ft texts submitted to Congress for the approval of a number of
international covenants on humeri rights, chich include the co;pui.sory
juri.suictioii of an ioternational court having competence in . that area;
Hi ib reg ,rd to civil society, it is c ce ssary to satisfy its legitinu.tc
nterest in playing an active part in shedding light ot t the trag LC events u
the course of Hiich thou.sntn.sof pr suns isapfiea.red, irovi.ted t.h t duch
participation should not interfere with the activities of. the bodies .
constiti]tior,allv ‘itporeri-d to ilrvestieatc n: punish such acts, jl other .jords,
the courts; . .
It is therefore considered approprLatc sL - :L i iJmjll s . n .p i .;_
Ci'tisi ftihg 6id iijbh k iLfh their zeal in the defence of human .
rights and their good name in puolic affairs in the conntj-y, to determin ‘ahac
happened to - the persons vrho have disappeared; . . . . . .
It i S necessary to Lnvi ti-I both Chambers of the Legislative l'oncr,,-ts
direct repre-s iNitativos of the people and of the provinces of the nation, to
appoint members of the Coinniission; . .
In order to ensure that the Commission s a comp lement to, rather than a
substitute for, the t.'ork of the judiciary, its functions must be circumscribed
to receiving coniplatocs arid evidence, .‘hiich it shall subsequently transmit to
the courts when they can he linked to the commission oJ: oticuces, ar id to .
ascertaining the ‘hereabouts of persons i.'hu have isztppeannh, a task -‘hich,
must he dissociated. from the determination of resj'onsibi1it es' .
This inve t.i.gacive i.'ozk must ‘c regulated n such i ‘.‘ny that itIs not
distorted fur purposes i-yliich have nothing to do with the s&ric-t task described
above; .
‘ti ‘nsnre t hat the Commission is as cttic eit .45 possilie, all officials
of the l4nrio i5 I i:y.erutive Poicer, and of its sthorriin.nt. and autonomou.q
agencies, shall he obliged to co—operate in -v'rr' an. nc.luding y the
provision of documents and information in their possession and access to
certain premnses;
—
E/CN.4/l9b4/2L/Adt . 1
Annex II
Page 2
‘l'he cominiss c)IYS ;,ict vitteS should !iave a ziettnite tu l le span, to ensure
Lh t tile tragic need to investigate these events does not extend beyond the
i:@ceSSary period 3L [ i undermine the efforts that must he made to strengthen in
tile future a Uemdcrati.c coexistence t':hich respects human ciigdFi.ty;
The Cirninission :uusL C given the necessary technical, financial and
stuffing resources to carry out its work effectively; . . .
The Commission should iC requested to coo Lode tcs ork iy sLLDiliitLitlg a
report containing a detailed explanation of the events investigatetH to
enl ighten ‘iot Local and internaL LO:lal pubLic opinion.
therefore, :
THE PRESIDENT OF TilE IidCENTI 1 1MN NM. 1O' :
DECREES:
A C T ICLE ]. . A atidnai Coinmiss on shall he sct up for the purpose of shedding
light on the events connected wits the disappearance f persons which have
occurred in the country. . .
ARTICLE 2. The Commission s functions shalL he coifined to tile following
specific activities; . . .‘ , ,
(a) To yeceive oinplaidt.s and evidence concerning those cizents nd
immediatel y to transmit them to the courts ii they relate to the presumed
co nissibn of offences . .. .
(h) [ “o ‘ascertain the whereabouts of the missing persons, as w ll as aLl other
circumstances connected with their location; ! !
(c) To determine the. whereabouts of children removed from the care of their•
. .__....I ar en! $_0 guardians as a result of actions undertaken for the alleged purpose
of the' repression of terrorism, d i hife ‘, b'p'Fi:a-t ”ta' -c l - ‘oi'f-t'he'— gencies - -
and doUrts fo the protection of j uveniles ‘to act.
(d) To report to the courts any attempt to donceal, remove or destroy ‘
evidence concerning the events which it is sought to elucidate.
(e) To' issUe final report with' a detailed explanation of the events ‘
investigated O E I1UNDREI) AND EIGHTY (180) clays after being constituted.
‘ The Commission may not express any opinion bh eveh&s or c lrcumstances
falling within the exclusive ‘sphe e of cht tencc c' e''jtd ciary. !
ARTICLE 3. The Commission shall have the power o require d ll ‘officials ‘df ‘
the N tiona 1 Executive PQI'er, of its subordinate agencies, of autonomous
bodies and of the armed forces ann security fortes to suomLt to it reportS, ‘
information, and documents ,and also to allow it access to whatever premises
the Conw.iission decides to vistt for its official purposes. Officials and
agencies are under the obi tgation to provide such reports, information and ‘
incumetits and to facilitate such act esu : 1 1 00 requested.
E/CN .4/1984/21/Acid. 1
Annex II
Page 3
ARTICLE 4. Government officials, including members of the armed forces and
security forces, must provide in .iriting any statement they are called upon to
make. Private individuals shall not be under the obligation to make
s t a t eme nt 5.
ARTICLE 5. The Commission shall consist of SIXTEEN (id) members. The persons
those names appear in annex I to this Decree are designated for this purpose.
ARTICLE A. The Chambers of the Honourable Cunczress of. the Nation .ire invitea
to appoint THREE (3) representatives each as members of the Co mmission.
ARTiCLE 7. The Commission shall establish its inn rules of procedure, elect a
chairrnun tzho will represent it, and appoint whatever secretaries it considers
necessary. lt may also appoint ihacever technical staff it considers
appropriate.
The Commission sh ,iil take decisions iy si mple majority.
The Commission shall be dissolved at the moment of submitting the report
referred to in article 2.
ARTICLE 8. The official title of the Commissiun shall no ‘National Commission
on the Disappearance of Persons” and its headquarters shall he the San Martin
Cultural Centre of the Crty of Buenos Aires.
ARTICLE 9. The budgetary arrangements necessary to carry this Decree into
effect shall he. made and the equipment anu temporary staff needed by the
Commission shall be provided.
ARTICLE 10. ‘Ibis Decree shall he issued, published, transmitted to the
National Official Records Directorate and filed.
- DECREE No.
Signed ) Dr. Antonio A. TROCCOLI
Minister of the Interior
UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC
AND
SOCIAL COUNCIL
Distr.
GENERAL
E/CN.4/1984/21/Add.2
24 February 1984
Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fourtieth session
Agenda item 10(b)
QUESTION OF THE HUMAvi tcLUHTS OF ALL PERSONS SUBJECTED TO
ANY FORM OF DETENTION OR IMPRISONMENT, IN PARTICULAR:
QUESTION OF ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES
Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
Add nd im
GE .84—11092
. . .
E/CN. 4/1984/21/Add .2
Page 1
1. The Workingbroup tin Enforced or involuntary disappearaces presents to
the Commission on Human Rights in this second adc.tandijm to it report .
irformat Lan frdm the Governrnehts of Indonesia ann Nicarabuc received .after the
adoption on 8 February 1984 of the first accdendrtm. The full text of the
information provided by the Governments is on fiLe ifitl tile becretariat and
available for consultation by members 6 1 the ConmissauP.
Indonesia “ . .
2. In a letter dated 21 February 1984 thd Permanent rli$sior of t e Republic . .
of Indonesi to the United Hations Offi e at Geneva provided information on,
matt rs rdferred to in paragraph 7b of the Working Group s report to the. : :
Cornmi sion (E/CN.4/1984/21). ‘foe Government stated that the suspension o tl%e.
activities oE the Internal:ional Committee of the Red Cross (ICEC) on the main
isfdnd of East Timor was temporary and had been necessary in order to ensure
the safety of :cac peraonndl. The suspenbion of IGRU's activities was i n fact
confined solely to relief operations on the main island and in no way affected
any other ICiW activities on the mainland or in Atauro island, such as
programmes concerning fwiiily rennioi i and repatriation, tracing and mailing.
The Government further stateu chat with the improved security conditions in
East Timor a series of understandings had been reached between the Government
and IGkC. With regard to protection activities on the main island, the
Government reported that the terms of the understanding included visits by
ICRG representatives to detention facilities on the main island of East Timor;
initially, starting in February 1984, the visits would be to places of
detention and detainees in Di li, cccl suesequently they would cover detentioji
facilities and detainees outside Dili as well in agreed stages between
February and October 1984. With regard to IGRC relief and aiu actlvtties on
the main island of East Timor, the Government stated that it had been agreed
that such aid would henceforth he provided by the Indonesiae ken Cross and toe
Provincial Government of East Tudor; ICRO had been ouly informed regarding the
programmes which woulci be implemented by the local authorities in East Tirnor
and had expressed its appreciation of the envisaged progrtmrnes. The
Government further informed the forking Group that the ICRU programmes on
protection, food and medical aid in co—operation with the Indonesian Red Gross
N: on Atauro Is land had continued uninterrupted and included regular vis its by
IGRG representatives. With regard to tracing and mailing, the Government
reported that tracing would he capt under the responsibility of lORd, but its
implementation would he channelled through the Indonesian Red Gross; mailing
was being processed directly between the hational Societies concerned
(Portuguese Red Cross, Australian Red Gross and Indonesian Red Cross). The
Government said that while mailing procedures would he kept under the
responsibility of the Indonesian Red Gross, ICRG would assist and have access
to all aspects of the programme whenever re 1 uired.
Ni c a rg, u a
3. By a note verba e r.iatrcl 13 February l9E4, the Permanent .tss .on of
Nicaragua to the Uniter Nations Office at Geneva transmitted information on 22
reports of enforced or involuntary tlscppearcnces in O caraguLfl nnve cases
the Gdvernment states that the persons are at liherty; in 11 cases it has no
records of arrest; ore peraon is in detention; in three cases an lnvestlgation
is continuing; in one case the Government reports that the person was Killed
by a border guard who is row beinL prosecuted; w in person yes arrested hut
escaped from the prison and is now being sought
E/CN.4/l984/2 1/Add. 2
Page 2
4. In note verbale dated 2k February 1984, the Permanent Mission of
Nicaragua to j e United Nations Office at Geneva stated that many of the
reported cases of disappeirances'Pr esented to the Goverdment by the Working
Group supposedly took place in parts of the country currently subjected to
terrorist incursions originating beyond the northern border of Nicaragua. The
ciisplacemen of the civilian population in those areas make investigatLon and
verification of the information received difficult. The Government stated
that the sovereign legal measures caken oy the Government to defend the
Nicaraguan people against foreign aggression resulting from the. wel 1—known
policy of covert warfare c'io not violate the human rights recognized in
international human rights instruments or Nicaraguan law. The Government of
Ncaragua asked the Wortd.ng Group to take into occount the Government's deep
concern' egard ng the disappearances in that region ot hundreds of . iicaraguati
peasants,. includingwon n.and children, kidndpped oy'counterrevolutianarY
forces ‘and carried into Honduran territory. The Government formally request&i
the Working Grot4p to,use i s good offices in order that appropriate . ...
investigatipns migbt'he carried out. The Government further stated, with
regard to the: information concerning Nicaragua in the working Group's report,”
that it was, counter—productive and unnecessary to' repeat mechanically the
allegations and cases, referred to in previous years. ‘ .. ‘ ‘ ‘
Information concerning enforceci
or involuntary disappearances in
South Africa and Namibia
A. Cases transmitted to the
Government of South Africa
B. Legal provisions
E/CN.4/1984./21 .
page i ‘ .
. CONTENTS
Introduction L 1 ; .L.
Chapter . . .
I. Activiifiies of the Working -Group on
Enforced or Invo1untai y
Disappearaiices in 1983
Instances in which more than ‘ ‘
20 repdrtsof enforcea or
involuntary disappearances have
been transmitted Dy the Worki
Group to a Government
II.
III.
A. Arget tina
B. Bolivia ...
; C. Cyprus. . . .
. D. El Salvador
E. Guatemala .
F. Honduras ..
G. Indonesi i .
H. Lebanon ...
... I Nicaragua.
3. Philippines
K. Uruguay .
L ; : - :
Paragraphs Page
1—6 1
7—Yt
‘.22- LO8. . 7
2.2—44. - .7
4 -S 48 . .16
49—51. . 18
52-6 1 ‘ : 19
2—68 22
6 —74 25
75—77 27
78—84 28
85— i 31
92—98 34
•jc. —108 37
109—120 41
110— 1 14 41
115—120 42
:“.
E/CN.4/ 1984/2 1 .
page ii.
CONTE 'TS (continued)
Chapter . . trag 4ph5 Page
iv. Other reports of enforced or
tnvoluntary disappearances ueatt :ith
in various ways by the Working Group .. l21—L4 . 44
V. Impnct of enforced or involuntary . .
disappearances on the victim'S . . .
family j47- 150 51
v i . Specific human rights denied . . .
by enfothed or inv Luntary , .
disappearances: the special
rights of children and mothers . .. .. .. ., 15 1—l;61.
VII. EstablishIIeflt of national bodies . :
for the investigation m,f reports
of enforc d or involuntary . . , .
disappearances 5 9
V III. Conclusions and recommendations 169—179 62
IX. Adoption of the report 8 o 65
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 1 •‘ • H .
. INTRODUCTION
1. In 1983 tb ' Workin Grdup continued it''a&ti ities ri d now presents its
fourth report to tILi'eComrnission. It' has again talcen full accounit of the points
made by representative c!uring the Uohim,issjon'sd Sat on this subject in ‘‘
February 1983. Sin e i s inception, fo11ok ing the doption of resolution 20
(XXXVIYbv th Commission oh hj. man Right in Feoruary l 8O'the oricing Gr6up
has b en attempting to deal wi hT t is sensitive subject ib a praEtical way. The
families of cfisap rs6ns t'a'&e baa ‘th ir hopes raised by the cr atioh and
continua uoh IIf thW Gr6bp.' Cdv dmII Es ta t hict allegations of disppearancei
have &eeh t absrnit dmay ‘at 1 1 't'ibitiall y Wave feared' that they i'zere tin 't
blamed for t atcu e bf Eh &isapp 'raices Tb th extent that cases hall •be ri
clarified (see ch & s fl r fIV) th r 1ativ s have n informed. Fo bth r'
families the Group}sQo}k may h'a i ' b6ntrihut d tow ids infdnning them of what
happened to their relativeL ' Yet ffiian ) 'unsolVeU ases remaiii. The number of new
case in 1983 is about the same as in 1982. As for Governments, it is some
yeai . since readers oei e r IIi tid d' hat the mere transmission of a case does not
in ly th t any judgemedt' & ver'has1 b pn formed about it. Ml .th h s!
ocdurred i that the Group hk a>i' ie lr;the sliegation, checKed that' i fIIl'is
within the mandate and i d tb4 Wn'it d Nations rules of adrnissib iHty; .:..
certain cases are drbpped' a 'fhis stige, but all those ihich are ddmissibleare
transmitted to the Government concerned, as the only authority able to carry out
the necessary investigation. Further details of the Group's activities and its
methods of work appear in chapter I.
2. There are two common factors khich remain, in some countries
disappearances continue to occur, whilst elsewhere older cases have come to
light. OEe Group's approach to all the cases has continued to be based
scrupulously on the humanitarian approach, and this seems to have met with wide
and increasing recognition. The co—operation of Governments has accoroingly, in
most cases, been maintained or increased. Equally organizations representing
the families of the disappeared have continued their co—operation and have made
. . . various. suggestionsaimed.. at enhancing .the...Group!s..eff..icac.y which havebeen
taken into account.
3. The format of the report resembles that presented last year.
Representations from all sides have been summarized as carefully as possible, in
order to malce the report more readable. These summaries contain no judgements
or conclusions by the Group. At the thirty—ninth session of the Commission the
statistical presentation in the Group's previous report as criticised, not
without justification. So a new formulation has now been adopted which, it is
hoped, t;ili he clearer. In relation to each country mentioned in chapter II, it
is possible to see how many cases have been, transmitted, on how many the
Government has given a response, ana how many have ueen resolved (that is to
say, solved to the saLisfaction of the Group's judgement) from either
Governmental or other sources. For some recent cases there has not yet been time
for the Government to respond.
4. Disappointment has acen expressed in certain quarters about the paucity
of results achieved. However, expectations of the Group's chances of success
have to be viewed in the context of the problem itself and the limitations
inherent in the relations of the United Nations with Member States. The Working
Group has had to ..!dapt itself to these realities, and to seek to make progress
within them.
EICN. 4/1984/21
page 2
5. The effect on the families of disappeared persons, both in terms of
violation of their human rights and the acute psychological problems involved,
have been discussed in each preceding report, and more information is given in
chipters V and VI below. OEe human factor has been extensively explained in
previous reports. Even so, misunderstanding persists about the droup's methods
of work. It i a prerequisite of all case—work in United Nations 6rgan that
standards of admissibility must be observed; this incluues a requirement that
sufficient inform hon should be avaiI ble to enable a Government to make
appropriate inquiries. That is why, in certain passages in this report, as
before; there are refer nces to eases in hich the source of the allegation is
being requested to provide further information. Constructive criticism is.
al IIys welcome and h Group is aware of the concern which arises where fully
detailed cases are transmitted without any result. OE.is conc rn is shared by
the Group and the prob lS will continue to be addressed, . . .
3. OEe conclusions and recommefldations at the end of the report express the
Group's current preoccupations and suggestions, and should be read in the light
of what is said in this introduction. Similarly, the report should not be read
in isolation from the three earlier reports; on the contrary it is a supplement
to them, and full account should be taken of the faur documents together. . .
—
E/CN.4/1984/2l
page 3 .
I. ACTIVITIES OF THE WORKING GROUP ON ENFORCED OR
INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES IN 1983
7. the Contis ion on Hum n Rights in its resolution 20 (xx VI) of 29 Februar5t
1980 decided to establish a Working Gr up consisting of five of its members, to
serve as experts in th&ir individual apacities to examine questions relevant
to enforced or involuntary disappearances of person ;and to pre ent a report.
In 1981 , 1982 and 1983 the Commission extended the mandate. :f the Working . ,
Group. The first three reports of the Working Group re' c n,hained in documents
E/CN.4/1435 and Add.i, E/CN.4/1492 and Add.l and E/CN.4L1983Jl4. OEe
report is submitted in .accordance with Commi sion res't lution 1983/20 of 22
Feb ruary 1983 uhich as approved by the Economic and Social Council in i s
decision 1983/141 of 2 7'i'iay 1983. The meuibership of the Working Gro'up isa
follows: Viscount Colville of Cu1ros (United Kingdom) (Chairman/R p' orceur);
Mr. Jonas CD . Foli (Ghana); Mr. Agha Ffilaly (Pakistan); iw. Ivan Tosevski
(Yugos1a ia), and Mr Luis A Varela Quiros (Costa Rica)
8 OEis year the Working uroup has held tnree sessions, the tenth session,
from 13 to 17 June 1983, held at United Rations Headquarters, and the eleventh
anU't fel'fh s s ibns, bath held t the United Nations Office at Geb'eva, from 26'
to 30 September and from 5 to 9 December 1983 respectiv l . .
9. A ti 'L'i ne of, the oibhof the Working Group .ta t report it had
before it a cof siderable voltune of information which hac not yet been analysed
and since then a continuous flow of 1t formation on enforced or involunta y
disappearances has been received. ,Jhe Working Group qontinued to review-cases
submitted to it irid d&di'ded ‘to crahsmit reports on some 2,390 disappe ran e' to
the Governments of 15 countries together with its requests for information
With regard to those cases not transmitted to Governments, the Group either
decided to seek further intormation from the source of the report, or found that
the rs ort cLd not appear to fall uithin iLs mancate In addition, the Group
continued to press for answers to outstanding cases transmitted earlier
10 During 1982 the Chairman continued, in accordance with the established
procedti e, to transmit urgent reports of enforced or involuntary disappearances,
received bett7een sessions of the Group and requiring immediate action, to the
Government ‘ the country concerned' together with a. reqqes.t. tT ,at the, Government
provid s ich information as it night uish Of the 2 390 reports transmitted to
Governments mentioned above, ,sohie 555 were tr ismitted'iti.a'c ordandk ith, thi' :.
procedure. As the presIInt report indicates, in a number 3f these ases the ‘
Group was informed by Governments and non—governmental sovrces, that , he p rson
reporLeo missing had been released or as being neld in ofticially recognized
detention. , . . ‘ . . . .. . .
11 The reports received by the Group Lere submittet by relatives, persons
closely conii cted with the'disap eared ‘person or organizati.oi ”acting on their
behalf The Croun has alco ieceived nformatior from individuals who reported
witnessing the ar est or abduction of a missing person; or stated that they were
detained with'missihg perscins in centres of detention, as ‘iell,as from one ,‘ ,
persdn who claimed, knowledge of disappearances from his official position in, the
past.
E / ON. 4 /19 84/21
page 4
12. The Working Group attempted to deal ith all the'reports of disappearances
on which specific information was available and instructed the Secretariat to
seek add .tiona). fnformation when sufficient deta .ls were not received. Bearing
in mInd the objective of clarifying cases through investigations and making
eff cientus of national investigation resources, the Group seLected for
transmissipn to Governments only those casks forwhich there was factual
material on which an investigation could be based. This method of work c n
result in a discrepancy between the number of disappearances reported by. the
Working Group with regard to a given country and the number reported elsewhere.
Consideration has been giveii to an attempt t.o isolate the figures relevant to .
l 83 in the st tistics; this has proved impossible, since, for examp le, certain
cases resolved in 1983 were transmitted in 1982 or earlier. OEe figures
therefore represent the totality of the Group's work. ...
13. As in the past, the informatIon received from Governments regarding cases.,
,rif disappearances was sent on to the reLatives concerned; and their attention
as ca led to the Coiptission's request for discretion as to the useQ.f such
info a ion. Summaries of thg reports sent to Governments and copies .of .the
information provided by them are available wtth the Secretariat for consultation
by members of the Commission.. ,.. . . . ,
14. During its t nth, eleventh and twelfth sessions, the .ldorking Group met
representatiyesof the f'ollov4ng States; Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador,
Nicaragda the Philippines, liruguay,and Zaire. .
15. During its tenth' and eleventh sessions the Working Group met , , .
representatives of the following organizations or associnions airectly . .
concerned by reports of enforced or involuntary disappearances: Latin American ‘
Federation of Associations for Relatives of DisappearedTDetainees (FEDEFAN);,, :..
Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Argentina); Committee for Justice and. Fe ce
(Guatemala); Guatemalar. Commission on Human Rights; Committee of Relatives of .
D tIIined, ‘bis p e r d nd Abd ifi P i&xII I I LebIIi6n AiIIo. I I6rf of t1ad 'es
of iissing Uruguyans. The Working Group also received written information from ,
these and from other organizations or associations directly concerned by reports
enforced or involuntary disappearances. In response to an invitation from
“ .ne Latin American Federation of Associations f,or Re1 tives of , , . . .
Disappeared—Detainees (FEDEFAN), one member of the Group attended the Fourth
Congress of FEDEFAMi.t Mexico City (13 to 19 Novemb r l9 3) on the Group's . .
behalf and report d66 the Congress to the Group . i. s twelfth session. .
16. During the CommIs i'on s discussion'of the Working Group's last report and
in subsequent written statements and meetings with the Working Group, . ..
organizations of relatives of disappeared persons, non—governmental
organizations in consultative status and some Governments expressed criticism of
certain aspects of the Group's work. Disappointment was expressed that so few
cases had been clarified and i was felt that the optimistic tone of the Group's
last report was unrealistic. The relatives of the disappeared were increasingly
frustra d; prior to coming to y_he'Worlcing Group they had already carried out
exhaustive and fruitl.ess searches and even in the face of all the evidence ;hat
it ‘.ias h'zmanly p'ossibl to produce, ‘they had received a standardized answer
from Governments that there was nc record of their loved—one's detention. The
Working Group r ceived no better answers from the Governments but nevertheless
gave positive value in its report to these unsatisfactory responses. On the
E/CN.4/1984/2 1..
page 5
other hapd, the Working Group appeared to doubt the information provided by the
relatives and,. in asking them fpr more information, placed the Lurden of
investigation.on the f mi.l4. . rather than on the Coverxirneht where it belonged.
The ;rep9xt lac:ed a human d .,tensjn; the •tnhIezes of relatives' statements had
helped to balance the first two. reports but were missing from the hird report.
The ise of statistics elso tenaed ro dehumanize t , ipp oach to disappeardnces.
It as feared that the present trend t'ould lead to the institutionalization of
the pr.actige of disappearaflce3. The Working Group's proposal in its sast epoE.
not to,ta.ke . urther action on the cases from Mexico was especially iticized.
It ‘as pointed out that the 73 c.. ses kere dl documentec, that at most only one
case had been clarified, that the relatives had not redeived the promised .
information from IIe Government an d that .evi.dence existed that the aisappeared .
persons..were stjll...alive. Itwas.suggested that the investigations s hould be
intensified 1 confidence in the Group s fairness and methods as it stake
17. It was stressed that the need for the international community to deal
effectively--with the.phenomenon of “disappearances” was as urgent nbw as
the Group had been established OEe Working Group could help by taking action
to discover where the missing persons were and to prevent future dis pp aranc s;
such action would help restore confidence. It was suggested that the Working
Group evaluate objectively the intormation received from Governments nd intorm
the Commission accordingly In those cases where substantive co—operation was
not forthcoming.•fr.om the Government, it tIns suggested th t the Group s files e :
publicly transmitted to the Commission for appropriate follbw—up, in dcordIIice
with other United Nations procedures. It was considered important for the
Working Group to make specific recommendations to the Commission; three were
suggested by one organization: (a) Enforced or involuntary disappearances
should be declared a crime against humanity; (b) Impartial and exhaustive
investigations should oe carried out on the national level anci those responsible
punished; and (c) a major international campaign against disappearances should
be launched hy the United flations. More detaileu suggestions for action on the
national level were received as well as for criteria to determine whether an
investigation on the national level was adequate (see chapter VII below).
18. . The Working..Group studiedwitheare the opinions-regarding 5 work and the
suggestions for improvement, and some of IIe results of this consideration are
reflected in the introduction and in the conclusions and recommendations.
c- 19. The Working Group's previous reports contained expressions of. concern oy
non—governmental organizations, associations of relatives of missing persons and
family members about the safety of persons actively engaged in the search for
missing persons and in providing information on disappearances. This is a very
real issue. The Working Group was greatly uistressed to learn of the death of
the President of the El Salvador Commission on Human Rights, Warianella Garcia
Villas, who had net the WorKing Group on several occasions to provide
information and transmit the concerns of relatives.
Persons missing as a result of international cirmed conflict
20. In the Group's 1983 report, reference was made to a request that
investigations should be made into the fate of persons missing as a result of an
internatidnal armed conflict.!! ihe matter drose out of the conflict between
! / E,'CN.4,'1983,1l4, paras. 118—120
E/CN.4/1984/21
page 6
the Islamic Republic of Iran nd Iraq. The Working Group's report providec
information describing the rote of the International Committee of the Red Cross
in such circumstances, relating as it uoes ooth to combatants and to the
civilian populations involved, under the Third and Fburth Gecteva Conventions of
1949.. Since then further requests for assistance have been r ceived Erom an
organization of famili?s of those missing in the South Atlantic war in 1982 an
some of the cases arising from recet t events .n Southern Lebanon ure similar.
In both the latter situations the International Committee of the Red Cross has
again been conducting its normaL activities; certain governmental information
has also been made ayailable to relatives in Argentina. . . .
21. In its last report the Group sought guidance from Lhe Commission on the
extent of its mandate in such situations. n June 1983, the Group received a
renewed request and at its tenth session (June 1983) it analysed the debate on
its work which had occurred at the thirtrnitith session of the Commission on
Human Rights. In particular it ciiscussed the question of it involvemen with
victims of international armed conflicts in view of the existing jurisciction of
L/ the International Committee of the Red Cross UCRC) in such c ses Since there
was no express guidance from the Commission, the Working Grotip fook th view
that it was not within its competence under its present m nd te to ini 9 ui e into
disappearance arising in such circumstances unless itwas exp esslYdirected to
do so by the Commission. It noted the equests made fot its assishdnce in three
such sitUdtiOns and the material presented to it will remain in the files
C
E/CN.4/1984/2 1 “
page 7 . ‘ ,
. . I i. INSTANCES IN WHICH MORE THAN 20 REPORTS OF ENFORCED :
. : : INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES HAVE BEEN TRANSMITTED . .
. . ‘ BY THE WORKING' GROUP TO A GOVERNMENT . . .
. . . A. Argentina .“ : : ‘
Informatioh reviewed and transmitted to thd Government : . . . .
22. The Working G oup provided the'Commission with informatiab on enforced or
involuntary disappearances in Argentina in its reports to the thirty—sevei th, !,‘
thirty—eighth and thirty—ninth sessions of the Commission on Human Rights.!!
At the time of the extension of ‘its”mandate, the Group had I 1at e numb 'of
un hal s' a eports id'its filei arid ince ben a few reports have been receii ed”
which refer t a events' in prior a 's' The Working Group's files still contaii a
small b kOEgof tfnexamine'd cases.'' During 1983 the Working Gtbup, revie4 ed ‘ahd
transmitted.: tb the'GoverIInent' the fil s on 1,131 cases of' repoi-t'ed . . ‘ ‘ , .‘
disapp eara ces. “With' regard td a number of other cases the Group decided' ithe
to request further information from the sources, or that' they did not appear to' '
fall with .n the limits of its mandate,. ,
23. OEe'repo?ts transmitted to the Go' ernment coiit in&d for the'most ‘part' ‘ ‘
deaf stat'em nts as to the date,' time atkd place of'the' missing' rson's arrest, ‘
the authoriti s responsible nd t'tatemeiits or indic tibhs th the'arr t ‘w ‘“
witnessed.H ‘In some cases, althbugh ‘few' a'r'na' details' llere pravided on the “
actual arrest, other elements of” iitvest'igatibn w te' made' avai1 ble, such as ‘
infor mation that official' earch s for the fussing ‘person had been tarried' out :
in close ‘cbnnection with ‘the cIisapp a'rance'”or that the pers6n had been seen ii ‘
custody'. H6'st af the IIissing persons we epoi ted to have been trested at': “
home, th ir plac of'work'b'r”at s c'i'fied public locatiouis.' It'was variously
reported that th' ‘persons m k .rig' the t est wore military unifbtm's, identified
theinselvesas members'of the security'forces, used inilitaty or blice vehicles
and had occupied the neighbourho d'bi place where the arrest t ok”place fot a'
period of tim ; in som ‘ases the tegular police ‘report 'dly tdfused to ‘“
intervene j/ In many cases it vas also reported that the missing person had
‘ ‘ ‘been seen ‘in” '' clandestine' d&te'ntibjj' centre. Inalni6st 11 aa s'h beas_corp'
petitions and appeals to government authorities were reportedly made; in some,
criminal complaints for unlawful detention were report d.
1/ E/CN.4/l435, paras. 47—78 and annexes IX—XII; E/CN.4/1492, paras.
33—52 and annexes IV—VII; E/CN.4/1983/l4, paras. 22—37.
2/ OEe forces most often reported as responsible for the arrest are the
local police, the federal police, the security forces, the army, the navy,
“commando antisubversivo” , military, comuined forces ( fuerzas con,jun:as) , State
Intelligence Service 3 legal forces ( fuerzas ].egales) , military police, or the
Federal Police Co—ordination Bureau (000rdjnacidn Federal). ‘‘
E/CN.4/1984/21
page 8
24. Lncluded in the 1,131 reports mentioned above were the disappearances of 4
children after their arrest with their parents or other family members. Also
among the 1,131 reports were requests for information received from relatives
regarding the children due to have been born to 25 women who were said to have
been pregnant when they disappeared. In that connection the Working Group sent
reports to the Government from persons who stated that they had been held in
clandestine detention centres (see ,,. e1ow, para. 26) with some of the. pregnant
women; those reports gave d tai1s ‘on' the treatIIent of the wbrae ,the tn dicar
assistance, they received and the persons respopsibl.e ,fo the children, after
their birth. :
25 Since its estab1 shment the Working Group has transmitted to the
Government of Argentina 2,508 reports of enforced or involuntary disappearances.;,.
the haracter tics of' those, reports are substantially thet same as the. .:-. :.. .
description given above. The years in which those dis ppearaqces reportedly
occ urred were: 1971: 2, cases; 19)4: 5 case ; 1975: 76 Qases; . ],976: 1,144 cases;
1977: 946 cases; 1978; 254 cases: 1979: 36 cases; 1980: 29, cases and .198].: 3 : ,
cases. . . . ‘ . ‘ : . . . ‘ ! . • •. - . .
26. Ln addition to the reports from relatives on disappearances transmitted to
the Government of Argentina in 1983, the Working ‘roup sent copies ct eight
statements by persons who reported that they had ?eett secretly held in some of
the clandestine detenLion centres in Argent ina referrei to :“ prevtous zepprts
and in six entres not previously, reported, as well. gs in police stations ancL
official prisons. These statements.referred t.&some.of the missing perso,ns . .
whose case. had been sent o the Goverj ment and.... he,,Group.P 9 ped tha the .. ,
details contained in chose statements would assist the investigation The
information contain d i. t , h,se eight statement I substanttall.y' thesame. as
that described in the Group's report to tha Commi b1on at its thirty—seventh
session legarding the; sournes of the statements.. o i c,1ande, ti,qe detendbn . .
centres, the characteristics and location.s of the'centre , the, pe;sonne.1. : ‘ ‘ .
responsible for their operation and the,.eventua4 fate, of the datai ee.es.,2 / To
date a total of 54 su h r ports re 1atingt some 51 detention c.ent es, aye been
tran mittedtp, tbe...Covern enc pf.A u 4.na and .IIe list of persons held ,i,n.: these:
centres, repo ; gd byfoxm,rr$ie.taine s.,jtow,,qp t ins more than , lhS et7t.ries.
I C t ‘ ‘
27. During 1983 the Worki ig Group... receiy statement from a former .
Argentine Federal Police In e tor who reported working in the office of the
Minister of the Interior from April 1976 to January 1977. At its eleventh
session the Working Group was able to question him on his statement in which he
provided information on the arrest of persons by the security authorities,
clandestine detention centres, disappearances, missing children and co—operation
with the security services of other countries; there is genaral: but not
complete, agreement between his report and those presented by former detainees.
. 3/ E/CN.4/1435, paras. 56—62.
E/CN.4/1984/21 '
page 9
Information and views rec ived from relatives of missing persons and their
organizations . . . , . ; . . . . .
Reappearance of mis' ir g a il.d+en . .
28. The Working CroLip has always given particular attention to..the. search for
disappeared children, both those who disappeared when their parents w r
arrested and those reportedly Dorn in clandestine deteafion”cent.re's:. , In its
first two reports the Working Group provided information on five missing
children whose whereabouts had been discovered, principally as .a result of :
searches by their grandparetits:' (a:) Two children arrested with their par nfs in
Buenos .A res: in September 1976, :ere ultimately found in'1979 in Chile — they
had been aban.doned in Chile in late 1976 and placed for adoption with a foster
family; the grandparenEs are now in touch with the children; (b). two other
children (a boy of five months and a girl four years old) disappeared upon the
arrest of their parents in ) uenos Aires in October 1977; they ‘. re. located by
the grandparents in March 1980 whe n proceedings were under way.for. their
adoption; (c) ifihe fifth child, according to reports in the:.Working Group's
c files, was,born in a clai-idestirie detention centre to a mother who was three
‘ months pregnant when she ‘was arrested; the mother, accompanied:by':security
agents, handed the hild to its maternal grandmother — the mother is still
mis sing. . . .
29. In 1983 the Working G oup ‘received written information and.met
representatives of the G a dmothers of the Plaza de Mayo who .reported th
discovery, of a further'nine children: . . . .
Case A . A si IIonth o1d girl disappeared with her rnp her .in :2ctober 1976
in Bu n6s Aires. Relatives requested information ‘from the
aut'hotit'ie and the case was ‘transIIitted to “the Government by the
Inter—A merican Commission on Human Rights. In late 1982 the
Grandmothers ‘di over d the child who had been placed with
adaptive parents a'i d the child's grandmother is now in contact
, with her. ‘ : ., , ,‘ ‘ , , .
Case B . Two children (a boy three years old and nis sister aged eight
. . months) disappeared with their mother after her home in the
. “ , province of B uenos Aires Province was raided in.Nay . L97 7.;. OEe
, base was transituitted to the Government by the Workipg”Grpup,,in.
. . 1982. The Grandmothers found the children in 1983 in: the careof
a large ‘f'IImily' with limited resources who had given she.lt r to
both children, the mother is still missing.
Case C . A male child was born during his mother's detention. The moth r,
. four months pr gnant, disappeared in October 1977 after her home
., . in Mar de l Piata had been raided. OEe case was ..t ansinitted to
. ‘ the Goveriiment in 1981 by the ‘1orking Group. OE.e Grandmothers
, found the ‘chilid in 1982; he had been given to a relative shortly
after his birth together with a letter from his mother, who is
still missing.
E/CN. 4/1.984/21
page 10
Case fY •A' fb r— earciLd boy disappearec with his niother in June .978 in
Buenos Aires. In 1983 a juvenile court judge in dSed th
paternaL grandmother that in 1978 he had given custody of che
child — who had been left by an unknown person with the maternal
. . grandmother — to the maternaL grandmother's faIIily. The judge
had beeffi informed since 1978 of the search for the child by the
pate hal grandmother. The Court, ho'.:ever, gave no information to
either side of the family. The mother is still missing.
Case E . A one—and—a—haLfyear—old girl disappeared when the woman who wa.s
, ‘ ‘ ta'king care of her was arrested (the girl's mother was in . .
‘prison). The child was left ith a poor family who had witnessed
the arrest; the police refused to accept custody of the hild and
threatened the family with being made to disappear if they
insisted. The family fled and in 1983. — after a publicity ,.
. campaign by the Grandmothers — a person .informeo them of the
. whereabouts of he missing'girl; that' per on.was subsequently ‘
. . ,. attacked and spent a considerable time in the hospital. The
district juvenile court judge had known of thechild's correct
identity, the whereabouts of the mother and the search by the
Grandmothers, but had taketi no action. The girl has. now been , .... .
reunited :ith her mother. , , ,:
Case F . A one—year—old boy disappeared with his' mother in August 1977 in
Bueno Aires. The persons who arrested the mother had given the.
child to a neighbour. The juvenile court judge gave custody of
.,.,, the boy o a family which was not materially or morally suitable;
the neighbours subsequently reported the ill—treatment of the
., child to the police. ‘ ‘lh 1982 the case was transmitted to th
Government by the Working Group. In 1983 a photograph of the
, child, puhlLOEec! by the Grandmothers, was recogni zed and they
,, , . ‘ were informed of the child's whereabouts. The juvenile court
‘ judge, when equested by the Grandmothers'to return the child to
the family, ordered a psychological examination of the hfl4'?
. . . . grandmother. The child has been returned to his family; the
“ IIother is still missing. ‘ . ‘ : .
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mn o explained to the Working Group the
meth.od.s of work they had used in searching for the missing children; they have
repeat,e ly visited government ministries', courts, hospitals, authorities in
charge of adoption and the registration of births, and orphanages. A publicity
campaign with pictures of the missing childr&n was carried out and as a result
increasing support from the general population has been gained. They have not
had the help of the authorities; executive or judicial, in their searches and
they have been the subject of repeated threats and acts of intimidation. The
Grandmothers ‘emphasized that when a child was found, his or her best interests
determined the steps to be taken subsequently. The Grandmothers still had some
130 missing children not yet accounted for; they requested the Working Group to
assist them in findi ig'the ‘remaining children by: ‘ .
E/CN.4/ 1984/2 1 . ;
page 11
(a) Obtaining from the Government a list of. al,l births which were- ,,: : . ‘ ‘ .
registered after the lapse of,the. normal registration per oddurjng... . .
the years 1975—1983; thi,s would-help find children born in; -
clandestine detention centres; .. . , , . . . . ,
(b) Obtain n from the Government a list of adoptions for th?,.period
. 1 76— 1983. . . . , .
Cc) Requesting that those children whose births in clapdestine d t.ention .
centres were attested tp,.by,.writtei statements be returnsd,t,o their
families; and . . - . . , . .,:. : : ‘ ‘ ;‘‘ . ‘ .‘ .. , . ‘ . .
Cd ) Providing the Grandmothers with the -information in the Working.,
Group's files regarding births in clandestine detention cent es.
31. OEe Grandmothers report that in 1983 they presented several petitions of
. habeas.corpus to the courts an behalf of children born-in detention. OEese
petitions contained .s.igne4.statemerits by witnesse,s,'to the arrest o,f the pregnant.
mother,, as well aS. stat.ejnents by perspns. detained with her which provide . , . .-
information on the: jrt o>f,t-he ;hild.,,.,the.medi.aal doctors involved and on -the.
officers responsible f.o r the. detention.centre. The Grandmothers asked the - : ‘ . .
courts.to take a nu mber of spe.ific investigatory steps to find the mothers, and
children, .includin .taking testimony from the medical-doctors involved and -from . :
those responsib l .for the detention centres. , .. . ‘ , .,. . . - ; ,
Reappe rar c.e .o dj..sappeared detainees . . ;
32 An organization of relatives of missing detainees provided the Working
Group withr a .zeport on the .reip.ase of parsops who had been missing for a .nunzher
of years.;.. :t o.;.q4 t ) ,ese persons.,reported Zhat 0 -prisoners were still beiug ,
held at the clandaptine ,4 tentiqn ceatre forn wh c ,they had been released late
in 1982 OEe o .ganization askad IIat the uetails be kept confidential to
respect th.e requests of those corcerned who:•were faar ul of reprisals. Some of
the names given were not on the list of missing persons, but in one instance the-
Working Gro.up had transmitted -the case --to--the--Government . . :
Identification of b jjes : . . . . , . :; - ,
33 The Working Group also receiveci detailed information trom an , organization , ‘
“ ‘— of relatives of missing persons on the identification of previously unidentified
bodies in a cemetery in Argentina As a result of th:e,.judicial investigation, . .
76 bodies; were identified, 20 of which had apoeared on lists, of disappea ed , ,
detainees, published, by human rights organizations.. The Working, Group transmitted
one of the cases to, the Government in 1981 and the Grpup:'s files indicate that
three of the 76 :had oeen seen alive in a clandestine detention centre-and. that ::‘
four others had arrived dead at that centre, ‘ In addition, some relatives pt ‘ ‘. ‘ .
missing persons have written to the Working Group t.n i 1 nforni it of the - . , . . ‘ , :‘ :- .
identification of bodies as those of their missing relatives. - ‘ . . -,,,- ..
“Final document on the struggle againsc subversi'bn and terrorism” . . . :. - .
34. Since the extension of the Group's mandate, relatives and their
organizations have repeatedly expressed deep concern at the failure of the
authorities to undertake effective investigations; they expressed fear that
recent decisions of the military Government indicated that it did not intend to
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 12
carry out investigations or would make then impossible. Reference was made to a
paper entit1e ITFinal document on the struggle against subversion and
terrorism”, published by the military Government in April 1983, which, according
to the relatives, asserted that the disappeared persons should be considered
dead. OEe relaUves drew attention to four points which indicated that the
missing persons had seen arrested by government agents and not killed in
clashes: first, thousands of persons had seen the missing persons arrested at
home, at work or in public places; second, released detainees, who had been held
in clandesti,n letentiop centres with missing persons had made statements to
that effect; third', the recognition in the final document that the armed forces
might on occasion have exceeded the limits of respect for human rights; and,
fourth, the num e ous bodies of missing persons found ,in the cemeteries could
only have been,,buried there by officials. ‘ ‘ .. . ‘
Amnesty Law of, September 1983 ‘ ‘ .
35. Relati e 'o anizaLionsalso referred to an amnesty law promulgated on 23
September 1983 by the milj.tary Government which the relatives stated would ‘
( ffectively prevent inve's i.gations into the tihereabouts.of missing persons- OEe
‘act abolishes penal measures for all criminal acts committed in.order to combat
terrorism or subversion i'n the period 25 May 1973 to 14 June 1982. It would
also prevent persons from being questioned, . investigated, or summoned to appear
in court or before any other body in regard to such acts, and further provides
that no civil action can be brought in such cases. OEis law would prevent
answers being obtained to such questions as: Who was arrested? By hom? Where'
were they taken? What happened to them? The relatives! drganizations point out
that the amnesty law is incompatible with General Assembly resoiution.33/17'3
which ca1i d f r Governnents “to qnsure that law enforcement and..security “. : ,
authorities or organizations are fully accountable, especially in. law, in the. .. ;
discharge of their duti s,. such accountability to include, legal' responsibility ;. : .
for unjustifiable exc sse which might lead to enforced or involuntary .. ;. . ‘
disappearan es and too her violations of human rightp”. Reference was also .
made to resolution t Otxxiv) adopted by the Sub—Commission on Prevention bf “
‘ Disciitiitiatibh nd Pt otectidfl of Minorities
that States in which persons had been reported to have disappeared should
“repeal or refrain from adopting laws which could impede inquiries concerning ‘‘
such disappearances”. The Group has been informed that in several cases of
, bduction,,.judges, in two inatances from courts of appeal,.have refused to apply
the law' on t,h grbunds that.it,is “irremediably null and void' t or “invalid”. :
‘ 36. The organizations of relatives have also made specific requ sts for
improvements in the internationa . community's and the Group's action regarding
missing persons. They requested ,, i t t particular that the United Nations and the
: Working Group adopts resolution similar,to that,of the Inter—American .
Commission on Human Rights of the Organizationof American States, which ‘
declares that it is the responsibility pf the.Argentine Government to.adopt the
necessary measures to clarify and resolve the problem of missing persons. They
also requested more resolute and effective action with a view to finding alive
the missing detainees who have, spent years of inhuman suffering in' illegal and,
secret prisons. . ,
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 13
Information and views received frIIzi the Government of Argentina
37. Since jt mandate as extended, the Working Group has received written ‘ .
informa ipn from the Government (note verbale dated 14 June 1983, and letters
dated.Z $ ptember 1983 and., 18 November 1983) and met representatives of' th “
Government at .ts tenth ‘and eleventh sessions The Government stated that it
was aware oL the effort mada by the Working Group to analyse and deal with the
comwun :cat lons transmitted aud stated it would study those cases thorough'ly It
also pointed put that the lackof fresh allegations of enforced or involuntary
disppearaces, save for isolated recent cases that had been rapidly teared i
indicated that the phenomenon had ended and that the situation had r turned to”
normal. .. ,, ?:,
38. OEe Government provided the Working Group ;ith a copy of the document
entitled “Final document on the.struggle,,against subversion and t rrorism” and .
commented on its nature; it pointed out r lta,t the document was intended to shed
light on a situation which had affected th' country for a number of years It
was not, however, intended to deal with individpsl cases; it was for public
( distribution and the Government continued tb believe firmly that, bth
internally and externally, the information available on individvat cases should ‘“
be given only to the relatives requesting it. OEe Government's document was
not, as it had been claimed, an atteII t by the armed forces to e'vad .
responsibility for actions undertaken in combating terrorism: ori.ifihc contrary,
it was evident from many passages in the text, that the armid fo ces a epted
their share of the responsibility for ny mistakes, they mighi have mide in the
actions, that had led to the defeat of the subversive guerilla movement. OEe
docuniei it, should not be interpreted as an official declaration of the presumed . ,
death of all the persons reported to have disappeared. Such an interpretation “
had beei 3 ,given to a sentence of th document which read that “those who appear
in list 'of disappear d.per sons and who are not in exile or underground are
considered dead for legal and administrative purposes”. OEe representative of
the Government explained that that sentence was simply informative, and was not
a juridicaL decision applicable to individual cases; the Military Junta had not
sough ; ;,.by rneans.of the document, to-derogate from the' legal provisions in'forc'e' '''
under.whiih a judicial decision was required before a person could b'edecla d
missing and presumed dead.
39. . o.v rnment also estimated the alleged disappearances at 6;'ooo and
stated that the figures of 15,000, 30,000 and even more had been ex ggerated by
various politically motivated organizations. The figures given in the “Final
document on the struggle against subversion and terrorism” of 21,642 terrorist
incidents between 1965 and 1979 and 742 clashes between 1973 and 1979, in which
members of the security forces were also killed, suggested that the unsolved
cases involved persons who had died in armed clashes, or whose bodies had been
found on the streets, and could not be identified; they were therefore buried as
NW (unidentified bodies), The representative of the Government stated that the
question of unidentified bodies or NN graves had been under careful examination
by the judicial authorities, which had so far been unable to establish the truth
of allegations that persons whose identity was known had been secretly buried in
the country. OEat proved how easy it was to launch campaigns concet ning events
which played upon the emotions of the general public.
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 14
40. Concerning missing children, the representative of the Government reported
that the hypothesis advanced by the Government to the Working Group that the “
cause of disappearance of minors might be that the children were with relatives
who, for various reasons were keeping the fact a secret, would appear to be , : .
confirmed by reports concerning the reappearance of various children'•who had .
remained in the keeping of relatives or friends of their families. In the cae,.('
of children due to have been born to women hb were reportedly pregnant at, the , :
time of their disappearance, the representative of the Government infornied tkie:;',
Group of the difficulties encountered in carrying out investigations,. point ing
out that the pregnancy itself was an unproven assumption. . He added that the ,
Locat'fo bf h mother, who had reportedly disappeared', :was ultimately the basic
prerequisite for shedding light on the allegation. With regard to the .
statements made by persons who claimed to have first—hand knowledge of
situations,places and persons and allegedthat official agencies had co zitted ,
offendes, the rdpresentative of the Government said that the.authorities had
repeatedly pointed out the political motives underlying such claims and the lack
of credibility of their authors;' the statements made in relation to reported
( births in captivity followed the classic pattern of alleged coincidence, of
persons and places and interwoven accounts attempting to show that one story was
corroborated' by another.
41. The representative of the Government stated that, since terrorism had been
defeated, the problem of disappeared persons had ceased to exist in his country
and that also facilitated investigations by magistrates, who had previously been
hampered by pressure and threats from subversive groups. He also stated that
1983 was 0 yeat of vital importance' for his country, as it represented the
closing of “a political era which had begun when violence was at its height and
would end with the return to institutional normality, which would take place
when the national authbrities elected on 30 October 1983 assumed office. He
stated that the net Government', which would take office as a result of those
elections, might wish to provide the Working Group or the Commission with . . .
information or views on that matter. .
42. In a letSr' &ate&•'jS November 1983 the Government.of Argentina:inforn ed. i..,..
the Workii ig Group that Act No. 22.068/79, which had reduced the period.required .,
for the presumption of death from three years to 90 days, had been abrogated.
OEe Government further reported that a new law had been enacted, which
established that the Executive would provide compensation for all damages ,
suffered as a consequence of offences covered by the Amnesty.'.LaW of September ..
1983.. ‘ ‘ : . . ...
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 15 .
43. The follbwiag is a statistical summary of the reports of enforced or
involuntary disappearances tn Argentina.dealt with oy the Working Group since it
was established:
I. Cases transmitted to the Government by the
Working. Group .Cs:eE'para. “25'ahove) . . 2,508 . ,
. ,,;!,‘!‘ :‘ . . .2 1 ! :‘ ‘ : ,. : ‘.. : , . ‘ .
‘I I. Respon es r'ec.e:ived fro&'.the' Government relating. : ,‘ : . .
cases transmitted by the Working Group ‘ ‘. 0 . .
‘I II. Cases clarified by information from. non “. ‘ . , . . .
. . . governmen'tal.sources 4/ . . . , . : 17
44 ‘ .OEe Wbrking:Group. noted that' the.”installation of new President.of.'
Argentina, following the. Oc, ober 1983 elections, was scheduled to take place orr
IIe' day .fo'llowing the session' and the ‘adoption of it's ‘
report.' It' seemed inappropriate to speculate o'n”the' action to be' taken ‘by the ‘
new Government ‘in rela't;ibn .tq.the'”dases'o'f disappearances;' instead, ‘the Working
Group;.hoped: to issue'an”add'endwiY.to' its report with ‘any new information. In
this context,' the Working Group's files contain a large volume''of'information' oni
which investigations by the Argentine authorities could be based and the Group
stands ‘ready te transmit sny'o&- IIat: information'to.the Government. of Argentina.
if it so:wi.she.s'. ‘The requesbs a'f xhe Grandmot jer's contained in' paragraph. 30 “
above, appear' to. benworth purauing. and at' the: present stage it ‘is. suggested .‘ . .
that.':they.shoald te”direct'ly'expl:Qre'd by the family' members with the' new'
Government. : ; , , “ C “ :‘. , .‘ :,,‘‘ : ., ,
‘ •r ,: ‘. ‘‘ ‘‘‘ ‘‘ . : . ‘:‘‘,:‘r : ‘ ‘ .,
! ‘‘:‘ ‘ . : , . . ‘ ‘ :. : ‘ , ., s''''
, :‘ ‘ .‘.:“ ‘ : . ;‘ . “ ‘ .
‘ ‘ . ‘ . ‘,L',,'ri..t?:
4/ Persons released from detention: 7
Persons at liberty: 2
‘ Children found: 3 , ‘ ‘ ‘ “
Persons whose death has been officially recorded: 5.
EJCN. 4/1984/21
page 16
. B. Bolivia
Information reviewed and transmitted to the Government
45. The Working Group provided information.on enforced or invbluntary
. disappearances in Bolivia in its reports to the Commission at its
thirty—seventh, thirty—eighth and: thirty—nint,h..SessiOns. ” The Working.Group
has transmitted reports on the a llegeo disappearance L)f 32 persons to the
Government of Bolivia and has requested information thereon. The missing
persons, who are mainly students, workers, trade unionists or teachers, v /era
reportedly arrested under previous Governments between July 1980 and August
1981. Most iere reportedly arrested in the city of La Paz, at their home, on
the stree.t or at unspecified places in named towns or cities.. .Security forces,
the ariny.orparrmilitarygroups were allegedly respoqs.ible. The Working Group
received information from the Government and non—governmental :sou ces' c:larifying
13 o the cases : 5 persons had been released, 6 were at liberty and the de?th.,of
2 h.ad.been officially recorded. TheWorking Group was also informed cf.the.
( 3tahlishme1W in October 1982 of a National Commission for the Investigation of
Niisappearad P.erso.n& ,i;. : . . .
46. At a meeting with a representative. of a non—governmental organization o.f .
relativei of missing persons, the Working Group received info.rmation.on the
progress made by the Ma:t.ional Commission for the Investigation of Disappeared
Persons including its work.plan for the o e year , rip :. eginning on 1 February ;-
1983. The details are contained below in chapter Vfl. ... ... . .
Information and views received from the Government of Bolivia
47. Since the extension of its mandate, the Working Group has maintained
contact t.dth the Government of eolivia and met a representative of the
Government during its eleventh session. Be assured the Group of his
Government's commitment to respect human rights an d its respect for and
appreciation of the work done by the Group. He stated that, .de pi e the
problems facing the Government, thure was a genuine and sincere desire to
clarify all cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances. OEe representative
emphasized the fact that his Government was not responsible for the
( ,isappearances that had occurred during previous governments but that none the
less it wanted to clarify all cases. That was why the Government had
established the National Commission for the Investigation of Disappeared Persons
in l982.&' The Commission has carried out its work with some success, but its
main problem has been the identification of the corpses of victims. He stated
that 14 corpses had been found in a cemetery in La Paz, but since there were no
papers, identification was difficult; the persons responsible. for those
violations had taken steps to erase traces. Finally, the representative told
the Group that his Government would send it all the information as it became
available.
5/ E/CN.4/1435, para. 164; E/CN.4/l492, paras. 53—57;.. ano E/CN.411983/14,
paras. 38—42. . . . r i . ...
6/ E/CN.4/1983/14, para. 40.
E/CN.4/l984/21
page 17
48. OEe following is a statistical summary of the reports of enforced or
involuntary disappearances in Bolivia dealt iith by the working Group since it
was established: . . . . . : :. .
I. Cases tranIIni ted to the Covernm nt ‘h th
Workiri Grdup (see j ara 45 aboVe) ‘ ‘ ‘ 32 .
I I . Government responses
‘Total tesponses received from the . .
Gov fnIIent elating to cases tra smitted
. . Working Group (see para. 45 above) 10
(b) CaseYciarified by the Governoe&nt's .
re ?pbnsts l / . . : . . .
II I Cases clarified by information from
: : non—governIIental &ources!' .
. . . . . . . . . .
.‘ . . ,
L . Persons released from aetention: 2 . , , :,
Persons at libe ty: 5 . . , .. .. . ,..
‘ Persofls whose deaths have been officially recorded: 2. . . . .
In one report the Government stated that the person had not been
arrested.
8/ Persons released from detention: 3
Persons at liberty: 1. .
. . . . . .
. . t : . .
. r; . ‘. .
4.. .
‘ , , . I ; : , : :. . . . . . . . .
. ,.. . :‘ —r i ‘b
; ‘ H .i :, :.. :. , . . . ..
: . , . . . : ; . ‘: ; ; ‘ . •“‘: . :r: . .. ‘ , ..: ..
‘ :: ‘: : . ‘ b' . : J ' '' ) : ; . .. ‘ ‘a' ::
‘. . ‘:
. . ‘ :
E/CN.4/1984/21 ,
page 18
. . C.. Cyprus
49. The Working Group dealt with enforced or involuntarydiSaPPearan s in
Cyprus in its first three reports.2! OEe Group transmitted inforn ation' on
cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances received from the Government of
Cyprus, the Pancyprian Committee of Parents and Kelatives of ur ec1ared . *
Prisoners and Missing Persons and other organizations to the Government of
Turkey and the authorities of the Turkish Cypriot Community.. The, Group also
transmitted information received from the Turkish Cypriot Community on enfbrced
or involuntary disappearances to the Government of Cyprus. The number of
reported disappearances from both side amounts to about 2,40Q. ,
50. At the Working Group's eighth session, in September 1982, it requested its
Chairman to address a letter t the Chairman of the Committee on Mis ing Persons
in Cyprus. In that letter the Group stated that it had formed the view that the
Committee on Missing Persons provided not only adequate but also appropriate
machinery for resolving the outstanding case . of disappearances rpm both.
communIties Moreover, the Group said that the Committee's pure1yhumanitar] an
N aims exactly coincided with its own mandate. The Group was therefo'r convinced
that its role should not be to supplant the Committee on Missing Persons, but
rather to give it all the assistance jithin its power. Thus, the Group said, as
a practical suggestion, that it would be willing to send one or more members to
join the Chairman of the Committee and its two other members either in Geneva or
Nicosia, in order to discuss possible methods of making further progress on the
problem. OEe Group expressed the hope that, if the Chairman of the Committee
thought the suggestion helpful he would communicate it to the two other members.
51. At its tenth session in June 1983, the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances had before it General Assembly resolution 371181
adopted on 17 December 1982. In that resolution the Assembly invited the
Working Group to follow developments and to recommend to the parties concerned
ways and means of overcoming the pending procedural difficulties of the
Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus and, in co—operation with the Committee,
to facilitate the effective implementation of its investigative work on the
basis of the existing relevant agreements. The Working Group notes with
satisfaction both that the members of the Committee have been making renewed ‘
efforts to overcome the remaining procedural differences and... that the
Secretary—General and his representatives are assisting , .n that end avour. OEe
Working Group's position, therefore. is to remain available to ap,sist, the
Committee as appropriate. .
9/ E/CN.4/ 1435, paras. 79—83; E/CN.4/l492, paras. 65—66; E/CN.4/l983/l4,
paras. 43—46.
E/CN.4/1984/21 ..
page 19
B. El Salvadb* '''• .
Information reviewed and transmitted to the nment . .
52. OEe working Group's previous activities in relation to El Sa lvador a'ppear
in its three eariidr reports..12 1 Since the adoption of its latest report,
the Working Qrou has continued to receive and examine information relating to
enforced' or involuntary disappearances in El Salvador During that period the
Group ..tr n nitted to the Government reporttof enforced or involuntary
disappeata ices in El Salvador (38 reportedly occurred in 19&1'; 119 in'l9 8 2 and
383 in t9'83), together with its reqtie'st for information. All these cases wei e.
transmitted in accordance with the ui gerit ction procedure. The Gr6up aLso .
contacted the Government regarding'c' es ErIIhsmitted in the past, in particul r . f
when new information on the niissin'g persoti's whereabodts b' c me available. With:
regard to other cases, which were not transmitted td'the Government, the Working .
Group sought further details from the source or decided that the casedid not
appear. to fall within theterms of its mandate. , ,
.. . . .. . . . ‘
53. The rep rt of disappearances transmitted to the Gov i ffiment were submitted: :
by the relatives of the persons alleged to be missing by Salvadorian human
rights organizations acting on behalf of the relatives and by a non—governmental
organization in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council.
54 In the ‘dases transmitted to ‘the Co ernIIent information was provided on.the
identity of the persons reported missing (first names and family names), the.' .
date and the exact location. of the arrest (most reports also indicated the
time). In many instances th& age and the occupation oj. he missing person wete
given;, the most frequenly reported occupations were student, worker (skilled
and unskilled), and farmer (campesino) Most of the arrests reportedly took
place at the miss ing 1 person's home or at a speci'fied public place, such as a
market or bus station. Other persons Jere reportedly arrested at their place o
work Most of the dtsappearances during the year have 1l gedly taken place in
the cities and particularly in the capital San Salvador Each of the reports
transwitted to the Government contained information about the persons
responsible for e a es . Amotig th forcei dited zerd' the army, nation l
guard, natipnaj. p .ice, treasury poii.ce (Po icia deliacienda) combined forces or
security forces Many cases indica e that the pers'ans responsible for the
arrest were armed and dressed in civilian ciothes Informati6n Qa5. lalSO
provided about the vehicles used in the arrests. In some cases bfficial
vehicles were used, in others the licence plate number of the vehicle was
provided,, and.in ti1l othIIrs th vehicles had no licence plates. In most' of :
the cases it w s reportqd thtt hgb'eas cdrpus petitions and visits to the offices
of the security service h d been fruitless .
10/ E/CN.4/1435, paras;84—lOl and annex XIII; E/CN.4/l435/Add' ;l, ;p ra .U.
6; E/CN.4/l492, paras. 67—87 and annexes IX—XI; E/CN.4/1492/Add.1, p.aras. 11, 12
and 19; E/CN.4/1983/14, paras. 47—56.
El ON. 4 / 1984/21
page 20
55. Since the Working Group was established it has transmitted 1,782 reports
of enforced or involuntary disappearances to the Government of El Salvador as is
indicated in the table at th' '• end ‘of this section. The years in which those .. .
dispp an eS reportedly occurred were: 1971, one case; 1977, one case; 1979 65
cas s;'i9?9, 431 cases; 1981, 320 dase ; 19&2, 581 cases; and 1983, 383 cases.
Info natiori and'views received frbm'organizations representing relatives of . :
missing persons . . . . .. . .
56. “ ‘The Working Grpup in a me tin with ‘ representative of a non goyernmental
orgatiization of'r 1atives of missing p tdons was informed of that organization's
concern regarding disappearan'Qes in El Silvador. The representative stated that
the practice of enforced or involuntary disappearances continued unchanged in
that country, thit ‘s&ious ‘investigations haVe not been undertaken and: that past
cases continued unres'oL ed. it was ‘ t ted that the most important initiative to.
deal with t he problem of enforced or invbluntsry' disappearances' in El Salvador . ;
had been the creation of the Special CoIInission for the Investigation' of
.., ‘Political Prisoners and Disappearances, but that that Commission had dissolved
itself on 3 4 january 1980 due to lack of co—operation from the authorities. OEe
represep ative isd noted th 't'th Salvadotihn Govetnment was suppos dly . ,..‘
co—operating with the Workihg GroCip on IIany cases, but that in reality it was,
merely subIIitting informatioti't'Jhich wa's air ady available.' Finally, the. ‘ .
repre entative. stated that the Commission on Human Rights created by the
Government, of El Salvadot had not mad any progress to'date' in working for the.
disappeand. .. . . ,. J.; . :‘ . ‘, , , . .,‘. ;“
1nfo ation nd , ved' fro the Gove'rment of El salvador : ,, . .
57. Since the doptib'ti'b'f the Wo*king Gro1ip's' latest report, :it hats.., received.
information in writing' from the Government of El Salvador. Some of that
informatioti was presetiE d to the' Cdnimission on ‘Human Rights at its thi'rtnin t41iA::
session by the Workint Group's Chairman in his statement introducing the Working
Group's report At ts tenth session the Working Group met a representative of
the Government' of'El ‘Sa1V dor ‘ n t 1d York and at its eleventh session it met the
Permanent Representative of Et Salvador to dhe United Nations Office at Geneva.
58. OEe r' resen ' i' es of E1 S 1 ado ‘cate orica1ly' denied that their ‘
Government practised or tolerated enforced or involuntary disappearances and
reaffirm d the'rr td 'rnm nt's”commi'tment' tb'full respect for human rights. , OEe.
Working Group was in'torm d the' International Coimnittee: of ‘the Re,d Cross was.
continuing its racin a:c i'vities in El Salvador and that the Government had , ‘
undertaken ‘to inform th' t o'IIr ii 't'io.n' systemati;ally of all arrests.' Further,
a control commission had been set up ‘by the arme' l forces to deal with'any
abuses, and teaching courses and conferences were organized to instruct the
military on humanitarian law and the protection of prisoners.
59. OEe representatives of the Government of El Salvador placed the,, problem of
enforced or, involuntary disappearances within the context of the difficult
situation in their country They informed the Group of the Government's
E/CN.4/1984/21
page 21
efforts to establish democracy through reforms, and pointed out that a new
constitution was being prepared, and that il ctions would be hejd in the near
future. There had been a decrease ‘in the; iolations of,human rights in their
country and the Government t s concern f r tE p otecticn of -huIIan' ri -gH- s aII :
dembnstrat'ed b -the tablishment of a. governmental Human Rights Commission,•
which was totally independent from the judicial and execut ve branches of the
Government, and''had prepared' the: Avtmesty Law which was p pmulgata in 1983. The
Comirission had broad powers with access to all detention centres n the country,
and a6ul ' take up petific case-s ‘and even those in which. a habeas'dorp' s'
petition had produced a negat”ve result The government representarives also
explained the habeas corpus procedure in El Salvador.
50. In letters dated 3 December 1982, 11 January 1933, 4 Febru ary' l9C3 11
February 1983, 7 June 1933, 6 July 1983, 11 July 1983, 1 August 1933, 28
September 1983, 10 October 1983, 2l October 19, 3, 7 November 1983 and a cable
dated l'August 1983 the Government-of El Salyadqr..transm .. ed, infornIItion on .
cases ‘6f ‘enforced dr involuntary disappearances .tp. th.e Wo king Grodp. Further,
by a note verbale dated 7'June l933r the Governmer t transmi.t- ed a list ‘
containing the names of persons who hadbeen released as a result of the AmII y
Law, becau e some af those names mighthave been .in.the Working Group's files ad <
missing persons. In fact, 54 were in the Working Group's files as missing
persons and had been brought to the attention of the Government S .nce the
tllorkin G oup was established it has received rep] ies. from the G v rnment f E1 ‘:“
Salvador relating ta'264 cases of enforceIIordinvoOEun ary disappearance ? it has''
transIIitted to th GovernIIent; the replies r.eceivpd contain the fpllowing
information:! p' rsons arresced,and in prison: .119; penons' relea ed'from - . ,
detention l; persons whose deaths have been officially recordeci 2, and 52
cases on which there are no records of detentiop
61 The following is a statistical summary of the reports of entorced or
involuntary'dis&ppearanc stint El Sa.lvador-4e,alt with by the Working Group since
it was established
I Cases transmitt d to the Government by the
Working Group (see para 55 above) 1,782
: : . t;.-'- .• . . .
. ...•‘— .— . . . .. .
I I. Government responses . ‘
-E ) Tota1 tesponses received from th •Govexnment . ‘
. ‘l It' , relating to cases transin&tted by. the . . . .
Working Group (see pare., eO abov ) , ‘ “‘ ,•, 264
(b) Cases clarified by the Government's
responses.LL / 212
11/ Persons arrested and' in prison: 11.9 ,‘ ‘ :
‘ Persons released from:d'etentipn: , 91 ‘
Persons whose deaths have been officially recorded: 2.
E/CN.4/1984/21
page 22
E. Guatemala
tnformation. reviewed and transmitted to the Government
62 The Working Groups previous activities in relation to Guatemala appear in
its three e,a lier. repor s.. .V Sinde the extension of the Working Grdup's
mandate it has reviewe4 and transmitted to the Government information on 332
enforCed o involuntary disappearances reported. to hive occurred in Guatemala
tbgether with its request for information; 13 of these reports were transIIitted
in accordance with the urgent action procedure. With regard to dther' ep rts.
not transmitted to the Government, the Group decided to request further
information from the source or found that the report did not appear to fall
within its mandate . .
63. Since the extension of its mandat , the Working Group has continued to
receive reports of enforced or involuntar ' disappearances in Guatemala . The
reports were submitted by relatives of missing persons, by organizations acting
( . on behalf of the rela ive.s and by a non—governm n al prganizatidn in
consultatz'Te status with Lhe Economic no social Council The reports
transmitted' to the Qove pment contained information about the identity of the
missing person (first name s and: family names), the date and location of the
arrest (some reports also ,in4i.cated the time). Eighty—nine of the
disappearances r.epcrtedly ‘ocdut+ed in 1982 and 263 in 1983; the 1983 tonthly
breakdown is January, 33, cases; February ,, 12; March, 8; April, 7; May, 12;
June, 47; July,,25; Augu t, 16;,September, 5Q; October, 27; Novemb!'r, 2. The
most frequenti reported place o:f t t 35t ‘was a town, the home of the missing
person, or a specific public place. Some, ‘reports also c6ncern townspeople ‘whb
were arrested together when Governmeqt security forces occupied their towns. , . ,
Most arrests were carried out by aru d men in civilian clothes, bysolidiers in'
civilian clothes, or by security, forces. , The age and occupation of the reported
missing persons ‘ere given in some cases, the most frequently reported
occupations were ‘fa iner (campes'ino), teacher, professor, stude,nt”, nd socidi
worker. Seventy—six of the reports transmitted t th Government concerne
women and a number of the reports concerned mi nors. , OEe iaformation. concerning
Guatemala is not as detailed or precise as that, made available with regard ‘to
some other countries, because it is claimed that there are difficulties in
C' getting the information out of the country. . , . . .
64. Since the Working Gro p was establi hed it has transmitted 1,3,82 reports
of enforced or involuntary disappearances, o the Government of Guatemala as is
indicated in the table at the end of this section.
12/ E/CN.4/l435, pans. 107—116 and annex XIV; E/CN.4/l492, paras. 91—102
and annexes fl—Kill; E/CN.4/l492/Add.1; para. 19; E/CN.4/l983/14, paras. 57—63.
E/CN.4/b84 12l
page 23
Information and views received from organizations representing relatives of
missing persons,' r, . . . ; ,. . : ‘ .: :
65. During the current period of its mandate the Working Group received both
oral and written information and views concerning enEorced or involuntary
disappearances in Guatemala from organSz'atjons working . on beha.l'f of relatives of
missing persons. During its tenth,..and eleyen,th. sessions representatives of
Guatemalan human rights organizations met the Working Group. OEey stated that
the problem of disappearances in Guatemala was closely connected with the
counter—insurgency operations carried out by the Government. In the past,
disappearances in the countryside had occurre& mostly in the departments of
Quiche and Huehuetenango,.wherea the Department: of San kiarcos was currently the
most affected; disappearances.a'Lso continued • n' the cities. All sectors of
Guaternalan society, without exception, were touched by disappearances,
particularly farmers, workers, labour las jers, trade unionists, university
professors and students. Disappearances in Guatemala could not be attributed to
persons fleeing their villages for the mountains; people abandoned their
villages collectively while most disappearances ocdurred individually. .
Fqrthermo e, disappearances also took place in cities and reports' of:' the arrest
( and disappearance of groups of persons were relatively few. The persons,
‘ dressed in civilian clothes, who arrested people who then disappeared, could be
identified as members of the security forces by their weapons, the vehicles they
used and the way in which they carried out their operations. Information,
obtained from former detainees, was also provided on places uhere missing
persons were held, mainly the military base in Petgn and the military base in
Huehuetenango.
Information received from the Government of Guatemala
66. Since the extension of its mandate the Working Group has received
information from the Government of Guatemala concerning eight cases transmitted
to it by the Group. According to this information, five of the persons were
sentenced to prison terms (in one case the sentence was suspended) and the other
three had not been arrested. .
67. OEe question of enforced or involuntary disappearances in Guatemala is a
concern of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in that country and reference
, , —. should be made to the relevant passage in his report to the Commission on Human
K.. Rights. ./ . . ‘
13/ E/CN.4/1984/30.
E/CN.4 1 1984/21
page 24
68. OEe following is a statistical summary of the reports of enforced or
involuntary disappearances in Guatemala dealt with by the Working Group since it
was established: . .
I. Cases transmitted to the Governnient by the
Working Group (see paras. 63—64 above) 1,382
I I. Government responses
(a) Total responses received from the
. . , . Government relating to cases transmitted
by the. Working Group (see para. 66 above) 12
(b) Cases clarified by the Government's . .
responses.i J : ?
III. Cases clarified by information from .
non—governmental sources.! ” .
; . .
. . :
14/ Persons in prison: 4
Persons at liberty: 4
Persons with suspended sentence; 1.
With regard to three cases the Government reported that there were no
records of arrest.
15/ Persons released: 7
Persons whose death was officially recorded: I .
E/CN.4/1984/21
page 25
. F. Honduras
Informatiofi'reviewed and transmitted to the Government . .
69. OEe Working Group provided information on enforced or involuntary . .
disappearances in Honduras in itsreports to the Commission at its thirty—eighth
and thirty—ninth sessions;2.&'. Since the extension of its.nandate the Working
Group has transmitted reports on' three disappearances.as urgent actions; two
reportedly occurred in March 1983 and one in iay 1983. These reports contained
details or the identity of the missing person, the date, place and, in one
case, the time of the arrest, dnd some information on those reportedly .
responsible. Also during 1983 the Working Group transmitted to the Government a
complete file on all the unclarified cases sent to the Government since 1980,
with the request that it be informed of any results of investigations; these
cases included the reports of the disappearance of four foreign nationals in
Honduras in 1981. ‘ . .
: 70. Prio to the latest extension of its mandate the Working Group had
( transmitted reports on 66 disappearances to the Government; nine of those case
have heen clarified, two by information provided by the Government and seven by
information provided by other sources. Fifty of the reported,disappearances
occurred in 1981 and 16 in 1982. The reports contained details about the
identity of the missing persons (first names and family names), the date and :
location of the arrest (most reports also indicated the time) and some details ‘
about the p rson's responsible for the arrest. In some cases the age and
professidn or activity of the missing person was indicated and the presence of
witnesses was reported. Sometimes the location of the arrest was given as he
place of work, a military barracks or places in the street, but in most o'nl' the “
town or city in which the arrest took place was indicated. The reports stated
that the missing person had been arrested by,the National Directorate of
Investigations (D.N.I. — Directorio Nacional de InvestigacionesY, the Treasury
Police or by security forces. The Government informed the Working Group that
two of the persons had been released and the release of seven others was
reported by non—governmental organizations . : .
Information and views received from organizations representing relatives of
missing persons
71. During the Working Group's tenth session a representative of a
non—governmental organization of relatives of missing detainees expressed his
organization's concern over the disappearances in. Honduras. He said that a
Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees had been established in ‘Honduras
and had prepared lists of persons who disappeared in Honduras. It was
requested that the Government, in addition to the general assurances of gdod
will it had given, be asked to carry out a thorough investigation of all cases
of disappearances. . , , .
16/ E/CN.4/1492, para. 106—109, E/CN.4/1492/Add. 1, paras. 13 and 19;
E/CN.41l983/l4, paras. 64—69.
E /CN.4/1984/ 2 1
page2 6 :
Information and views received from the Government of Honduras
72. In letters dated 31 August and 20 Octooer L983 the Government of Honduras
provided information on the three r ports of cases whiq , allegedly occurred in
1983 transmitted to it by the Working Group in the sarn& ye'Sr Ihie Gove.rn,:ient
reported that':in twoS cases the persons were, before the courts, and in the other
case the person had Left.,. he country and had given a' pr ss conference lit the
Honduran Embassy in Gu .temala. That inform?tiOn had previously be n ansIIitted
to the Uorking Group by a non—governmental organ -zat1on
73. OEe Government of Honduras, ma letter dated 31' August 1983, provid d' t '
information on cases transmitted by the Working Group during 1981 and 1982. ‘ ‘ :
Since the Working Group was established, the Government of Honduras has provided
the following eplias,concerniflg the cases transmitted to it: in 23 cases there .
was no record' of' the person's arrest; in 21 cases the' reports were being
investigated; ‘two. persons were before . the cpurts; one person had been deported;
one person had reappeared in a neighbouring country and one had been released.
<. With regard to the four cases of foreign nationals who had disappeared in
‘. , Honduras the Government said that .no entry into Honduras had been recorded for
one, that the records showed that, another two had left th country and that
the e was norecord of arrest for the fourth person. The Government further' ‘
stated that, i,f petitioned by r .lat.ivaS in accordance Jith the procedures ‘
established by the law of Honduras, it would ajree to th exhumation of'a body .:‘‘
belie+ed by some to be' that of one of the foreign nationdls. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ :
74. e.fol1owing is a gtat.isti al5um y of the reports of enforced or
invotutitary disappearances n Honduras dealt with by th&' Working G o p since'lt
was tab1ished ‘ .‘.‘ .. , ,
‘ ,‘ ‘‘ . . . .
L. ‘Case's tnnsmitted. to the Government by the ‘ . . .
. ‘ WoTkihg Croup (see paras. 69—70 above) , 69
I I. Government responses ,, . . .
(a) Total responses received' from the “ .:‘
Government relating to cases transmitted ‘
C ' by the Worki g Group (see para. 73 above) 53
(b) Cases clarified by the Government's • .: . :
responsesfr' . ‘ 5
III . Cases clari, ied by information frot i ‘ ‘ . . .
nongovernment sourcesE! : . 13
171 Persons who have left the country: 2 (1 dep6rted to Panama, 1
reappeared in Guatemala). .
Persons before the courts: 2. .
Persons released by their captors; 1.
18/' Persons at liberty:. 13
E/CN.4/1984/21
page 27
C. Indonesia
Information reviewed and transmitted to the Government . . I
75. The Working Group's previous activities in relatton to Indoi iesia appear in
its three prior reports..! !! In 1980 md 1981 the Working Group tr nsmitted to
the GovernIIent of Indonesia information on 23 reported disappearances t hich took
place in the period 1977—1980. Eighteen persons reportedly disappeared aifier
they sarrendered to military forces or were arrested or captured; one p' ts'on
disappeared from prison and one was allegedly shdwn on television by the ‘ . . : :
authorities prior to his disappearance. Most were reportedly connected 4ith he'
Frente Re.volucion ria de ‘Timor Leste Independente (FRETILIN). . :
76. During 1982 he Governnient of OEdbnesia reported that it had ad further . .
information td convey to the Working Cro .ip and that it had concluded ar '
agreem nt with th International Committee of the Red Cross (IC'RC) with a view
to finding the facts reliting to the alleged missing persons as well as tracing
them. The. government suggested that the Working Group should contact ICRC to
obtain thd ap ro i-iat infdrma ion on the matter. In a letter dated 13 July
1983, ICRC stated that, following a discussion with those concerned, an infornIIi
understanding had been reached on the procedure for invesEiga ing cases of
disappearances. In accordance with this understanding, as ‘w 1l''as with ICRC ‘
principles, ICRC only proc ds t ith a tracing request from the family, ke'epin '
the Working Group informed about the prbgress of its investiga io'ns. . .
results will be comrmiiticated directly to the family dnly. Given the above, ICRC
suggested that, in future, a copy of any inquiry received from a relative with a
request for tracing in East Timor, should be forwarded to ICRC and the inquirer
should be advised to contact ICRC directly. Should' any prbgress' be made after
the receipt of requests from the respective families, ICRC ‘ould inform
accordingly. Later in the year the ICRC announced that it had suspended its
activities on the ujain island df' East TiIIor . . I ‘
77 The following is a statistical summary of the teports of enforced or
involuntary disappearances in Indonesia dealt with b the Working Group since it
was established ‘
I. Ca s transrnLtted td the Goveriirnen by the ‘“j .
Workinj Gro up (see para. 75 above) ‘ 23
II. R&sponses received from he Government relating
. to ca es transmitted by the Working Group ‘ , 0
III. Cases clarified ‘by information from . .
non—governmental sources.&2/ 1
19/ E/CN.4/l435, paras. 117—121; E/CN.4/1492, paras. 110-113;
E/CN.4/1983/l4, pares. 70—73. . . . ‘ ‘
20/ Persons arrested and in prison: 1.
E/CN.4/l984/2l
page 28
H. Lebanon .
Information reviet-;ed and transmitted to the. Government
78 The. Working Group informed the Commission..pn.. Human Rights at its:
thirty—ninth session that in September 1982 it Fia4 transmitted one report of an
enforced or involuntary disppearan.ce. 0 the, Government of Lebanon; it concerned
the disappearance of a jounialist of the. IifiNA.Agen y who reportedly disappeared
in July 1982.2!” The Working Group.h rec.eivad no..further information on the
, case. Since the extension of its. mandate the Working Group ha received and
examined j foroeation relating to enfp.rcad or inv.oLuntary. isaPPearanCe5 in :.
Lebanon brought to its attention by reLatives, of the.persons concerned either
directly or through an organization acting on behalf of the relatives of missing
persons in Lebanon. The WQrking Group transmitted reports .0.0 205 disappearances
, to the Government with its requ st for informatiqn.. With, regard to Other cases
the Group either decided to .request,further information frorn;..the source •pf the
report or found that ths..r.eport did not appear to fall within, its mandat . .
In the cases transmitted to the Governmeilt since the extenflop of the
Groups mandate, inforniaton was proyided on, Ute iden i. ty . .tP .per P9 .
reported missing (f. s n mifi, and fami y iarn, date. .an4. Pfl of , . . .
or disappearance and,, generally, informati on about. .t .ptr.sp s., Pons b.f .. .
the arrest. In a few cases , the oc;upa,tipn of the per.s9p. .w'a also provide .
One case reportedly, p ,u @Jn .195 ,,. hre gases.. in .l,';,. ne. in 1979.,. one in
1981, 162 in l98 in 1983. k.few ,p . he repo$ed,, i;5ain . persons were
women. OEe reports ,al o 1.leg d that the petsons respon ibl, or the arrest
belonged to the. .P a angifl Militia or Lebane,s 4rmy or it .secu'riZy forces; in ,.:.
some cases the Is, ae ,l,i. .4 my was also reported .y. involl7ed.J,Tt he .,tqgether,, . .
with one of theother forcas mentioned above.. Certain. repp.rts ,irdjcat d that “
the arrests were,,m.ad by ' armed men in civilign lo, .hep operating from vehi.cles.
Most of the arrests were witnessed by relatives.,. friend& or neighbours and
occurred in Beirut and its suburbs, in public places, t the home, or place of
work of the victim or a military checkpoints whic, are sometimes permanent, and
at ether times..mobile,....In a numbe Hof cases th relatives repQEt 4 that the
missing person was arrested and taken away from the Sabra and Shatila camps in
September 1982. In accordance with the Working Group's mandate, it has been
ensured that none of the cases transmitted are alleged to. have arisen in the ,
Course of the international armed conflict in Lebanon (see paras. 20—21 above).
80. Most of the reports stat d Ehat the disappearances had been brought to the
attention of the Prime Minister, the: 1 jfti of the Lebanese Republic, the
Ministerial Commission estabished on 13 July 1983 to investigate the whereabouts
of missing persons and the International Committee of the Red Cross. ., .. .
2! I E/CN.4/l983/14, para. 121
E/CN.4/l984/.Zl. . .
page 29 7
Information and views received from,organizatiqns. representing relat-ive,s of.
missing persons . . . . . n : . .. : :
81. During its eleventh session, the Working Group met representatives df the
Committee of Relatives of Detained, Disappeared and Ab acted Persons in
Lebanon. OEe representatives stfled• that th r orga iizat.ion was established on
24 October 1982 as the result of a demonstration by women petitioning the Prime
Minister for the liberation of detained prisoners..and news about detainees who
were missing. Since then the Committee has established an office and its work
includes calling upon all relatives of detainees or disappeared persons to
provide the information they have in person at the office of the Committee; on
this basis the Committee draws up lists of cases for presentation to the
authorities. The Committee also contacts political and religious leaders, and
social organizations on behalf of the prisoners and the missing, as well as the
Parliament, the Government Office and the Presidential Office. The Committee
also maintains cQntacts with the International Committee of the Red Cross,
embassies and organizations, holds press conferences and organizes
demonstrations. The Committee is assisted by a group of Lebanese lawyers who
have established a lawyers' organization for the defence of civil liberties.
Unfortunately, many difficulties have been encountered in these activities and
the results have been very few. For that reason, and despite the very limited
resources of its members, the Committee decided to send a representative to
Geneva to appeal to the Working Group. .
82. OEe representatives of the Committee emphasized that their action was not
based on a hostile attitude towards the authorities nor on a desire to protect
criminals. OEeir only point was that the constitutional and legal rules
governing arrest and detention were not being observed (requirenIInt of arrest
warrants, for example) and that often the places of detention were illegal.
Arrests for political motives were often carried out like kidnappings. The
missing persons were usually arrested in the presence of witnesses and often at
home; the Phalangist Militia or the Lebanese Army or its security forces were
allegedly responsible. The representatives of the Committee provided numerous
examples including that of ; 1adve f ne r pnsentflin who was
missing.
83. The Committee had compiled a list of some 1,500 cases of disappeared
persons which was only partial, since the situation in the country prevented
parents frott presenting their cases. OEe represen atives gave details of the
numerous steps taken by. the Committee with the persons responsible for the
forces which arrested the missing persons; its dppeals had not orought any
results. The Working Group was informed of the establishment of the Ministerial
Commission charged with investigating the disappeared (see para. 80 above). The
representatives of relatives stated that so far that Commission's only function
had been to have the disappearances registered in the local police stations and
that no prisoner had been released or found as a result of its work. OEe
Committee of Relatives had asked to be associated with the work of the
Ministerial Commission, but its request had been rejected. The Committee of
Relatives asked the Working Group to intervene with the Ninisterial Commission
which, its representatives said, had all the information needed for n
investigation in its files.
E/CN.4/ 1984/2 1
page 30
84. OEe following i a statistical summary of the reports of enforced or
involuntary disappearances in Lebanon dealt with by the Working Group since it
was established:
I. Cases transmitted to the Government by .
. the Working Group (see para. 78 above) 206
II. Responses receiv$2 d from the Governm nt .
relating to cases transmitted by the .
Working Group , . 0 . ,
E/CN.4/1984/2 1 . - ,, .. .
page 3 l
‘ I. Nicaragua
Information, reviewed and transmitted to the Government :‘ L . :..,* :,,,‘ .
85 OEe Work .ng Group's previous activities in relation to Nicaragu-a appear in
its three earlier reports Since the rene ia1 of its mandate in 1983 the
Working droup has ‘tranSIIitted to the Government of Nicaragua; reports on 55 •“ ,
disappe'arandes ubmitted to the Working Group by a Nicaraguan human rights . .
organization on bdh lf of the relatives of the missing persons. Of the 55 ,, ,. ,
cas s, 8 reportedly occurred in 1981, 33 in 1982 and 14 in 1983. Information.
was prdvided onIIe id ntity'of the persons reported missing (first flames,; ,, . .
family names), the date a id 1ot tion of the arrest and in many instances the age
and occupation ere' given; the most fflequent'ly reported occupations were fanner,, -a
miner, bricklayer, carper ter, and army reservist. The reports also contain some
details about the persons responsible for the arrest: among hose cited are...the.
State security forces, militias or persons in civilian clothes and many reports
also state that the'perso,ns' were 5 t'ed'for.counterrev0lutZoqarY activities,,; .
Some of the reports transmitted to the Government contain details about the
places where th persons were held after- the arrest; . among the.; most. frequently.;v
cited are the prisons of Puerto Cabezas aa4 Quinta Ye Many reports also
indicate that aifier the ‘person had been-detained in- one --of the above- en,t oned ,,,
places he was transferred to Managua
86. ‘ “u ing' 1980 hd 1981 th - Wbrking' Group transmitted 70 reports of enforced. ..
or inv6lui tnt disappearances to the-Government of Nica' agua; .60 relating.to.. . -. ..
1979 and .lo:te1r ting. tb ‘1980. ‘‘ ‘‘Gove+nment.:of'.Nicarag.ua' informed, the Working,.
Group of the difficult circumstances surr5 ndii g: the change in government, i i ; .
July 1979 aii& seated that it t•as legally nd'mat'erially' impossible. to . .. - ,, . . ,.
investigate the cases which had occurred prior to the end of 1979. The
Governme nt did provide information with regard to five of the cases which
pe- sons had been released, one-was-being held-for trial ;
and in tio'ca es the inve-sti ation had' produced no results. ‘. In 1982 the. Grpqp
transmitt d fo the G6vernment a ‘report- about the disappearance of a .Salvadoran . .
fishing boat and its eleven—man crew in t 1icaragua in December 1981, the
re1ati s ‘rep6 ted receiving information that the boat had- been seen- in a -. ‘ :, , ,
Nic raguanport, ‘that the radio had announced its s&izure and the missing . , . , ,. .
persons had been seen in a specified prison. The' Government of El Salvador, : :
suSiCted ‘similarinifotnation. In 1982, the' GovernIIent-of i 1icaragua- informed - -
the Warking Group tha following' investigation's, ‘no information had been .
obtaiii d ‘bn the ‘whIIieabouts ‘o the' fishing boat-.- - ‘ ‘ , . . ‘ . , . - : .
87. Since, the Working Group was established it has transmitted 136 reports of
enforcS or idvoltintary disa p aranc.es to the Government of Nicaraguaas is
indicated in the table ‘at th end of this section. The ‘years -in which those, -
dis pearance reportedly ocdurred wete:' 1:979, 60 cases-; 1980-, 10-cases;. 1981, ‘
19 cases 1982; 33 case and 1983, l4'case -. :--‘‘‘ - - ‘ ‘ - - , -
22/ - E/CN.4/l435, paras. 131—144 and- ‘annex- XV; E/CN.4114351Add, 1, par,a. 3,;,
E/CN.4/1492, paras. 122—130 and-annex -XIV';-'E/CN 4t1492, Add;1'-para.- 14;: . ‘ -
E/CN.4/ 1983/14,' p'aras. 82—86.. -, ‘‘‘‘“ “‘ - ‘ . ‘ : . ‘ ‘ ,.
E/CN.4/1 984/21
page 32
Information and views received from organizations representing relatives of
missing persons .
88. The Working Group received c i letter from a ‘huhIIn ‘Ei h s orgatiization in
Nidartg1v 14hich staHs.thatdisappearandes in Nicaragua have increased since the
state of &mergency was proclaimed on 15 Harch L982, and that most uisappearances
result fi ommass arrests carried out by— ‘the security forces in the Atlantic and
northerzr regions ‘of' the ctuntry.' A substantial nutnoer of cases concern persons
of Iliskito brigin vyho were arrested on the Atlantic coast between. December 1981 ..
and July 1982. :n)e letter also scdtes chat these persons are kept in detention
for an undet ermined period bf time under .the pretext that an investigation is
be-ih carrie t out; and that relatives are not informed of their whereabouts. .
Furthe nore the letter reports.that the s ateof emergency has rendered ...
ineffective ha' eas corpus proceecings and otheL iegal mechanisms used to locate
misSing persons
Infdrna bn add' views redeived. from the Go.ve nmenE Nicaragua... . .
89 Since the renewal of its r andate, the troraing Group has received
inforoeat ion in t'nttng from the Government of ilicaragua, and a representative of
the Government met the Group uurlng its tenth ses ion The government
representative assured the Group of his Governn ent's support for its workand
commitment to Ln,force respect :fbr- fundamental human rights. He also made some
obIIer-tati6ns about - h Grbupt'.s report td the Commission ‘on Human Rights- at its
thirty—dihth s ssihn, p ticular1y r taifiing, to the 70 reports of enfoxce or .‘ .
invoIunty.dis p e' ratite that the Grmrp-had brought to his Government's --‘
attention in 1980 and 1981 Re t.ated ljat his Government hau already
transmitted ample information chat dnad 1 also been made available to the
Inter— A merican Commission or ham n t ig s which no lpnger considered those
reports to doncern disappeared per.sqp . ..Tbe :repxesentatiye also pointed out . .
that his Government had leady provided ample iiiformatiqn in writing (letter
date:&';29 ‘November' 1982) .vance.rning the 4 reported disappearance in Nicaragua of a
Salyad II f-i.s'h-i g ‘)at and;'j ts eleven roean crew and fhat a Government :
representativihad met'the:,Groupduringits ‘ninth session (December 1982). With'
regard to a relative's statement that tite Salvaclorans s.ere beirg held at the
flcoyatepe Fortress he tat.ed /that it was. -no longer -used as a detei tion cen;re and :
was currz t-Iy a museum. Qf:::the revolution. -Me gave the Group a photosopy .oe a
letter trot the International Committee of the Red Cross in Nicaragua in which
it was stated that Red Cross delegates no lotger visited the Coyotepe Fortress
as it had been closed down in March1981. -The Cov rnment transIIitted the same'
information in letters.dated and 30 June 1983. ‘ ,
90. In'a'1ett r dated. 1:3 September 1983 the Gov rnm nt Eransmi tad information
on the'two isan cases that the Group had first brought to its att ntion ‘on Z9 -
May1981 and, at the Goveitm t'srgquest, ajain on 19.Hay1983 OEe Government
reiterated the information it had trapsmitted on .31 August1981 and commented on
the nature of the two reports. Concerning the first report, the Government
noted that, according to the relatives, the missing person had left his home and
never returned, he was reported to have been held in Coyotepe Fortress, a member
of the militia reported seeing him in the ‘Zona Franca” (free zone) and. other ‘
information-placed him in anoth&r..:c'ountry.. In re ard.•to those allegations, the
Government stat .;that Coyotepe Fortress was no Longer, used to,hold detainees;
that members of the militia were r either members of the police nor of the army
and that they theiefore had no access to detention centres, and that if the
person was in another country, chat country's authorities should be asted no'
provide information. With r a 4 to the second case the Government pointed out
that two different dates of arrest were given (June1979 and 2 January 198u),
that no mention was made of witnesses to the arrest nor was a description of the
persons supposedly responsible for the arrest given. The Governnent stated
that in June 1979 the Somoza regime ,as still in power and that the part of the
repdrt which alleged that the :rrest took place IIi 2 January 1980 in EsteU also
indicated that the person was seen on the same day in the “Zona Francar (‘hee
zone) in Hanagda hdwever, Man guh was 140 cilIInetres from the rural are of
Esteif and transport in a single day was very difficult.
91. The following is a statistical summary of the reports of enforced or . , .
involuntary disappearances in Nicaragua dealt with by the Working Group sinc ,i “ ,
was establi' . hed: . . ‘ :
I. Cases transmitted to the Government by the
“ Working Grou 1(see pards. 85—87 above) 136
I I . Government res dtses . . . : . ‘
. (.‘ ) Total responses received f om'the . :. : . .
Gove *IIb ' relating to c s' s transmitted . . : . . .
. by the k 6'*icing Group . , , . .
(b) ‘Cases cla ified by the Government's .
. , responsesiV . . . . ., , . , .3 . . .
. . . , , , ,
23/ At liberty: 2 ,
In prison: 1.
OEe Government stated that N5 of the cases had been before
the Inter—American Commission on Human Rights and that that Organization no
longer considered them to be disappeared persons; in 13 cases the Government
had n records of the person hating been arrested- .
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 33
. : . . :‘
E / CN.4/ 19 84/21
page 34 .
. ; 1 , . • J. Philippines
Information reviewed and transmitted to the Government
92. The 4orkiTgGroup T s previous.a;tivities in relation to the Phili' pinesafd
described in its earlier reports to the Commission Since the extension of
the Working Group's mandate, it has transmitted repotta of )9 disappearances to
the Government of the Philippines, 16 cases repoitecly occurred in 1983 and the
otheis in. previous years (1.in 1979, 11. in 1980, 15 in;l981 d l6i i i 8Z).
With rega d to a. number of other cases, the Group decided eithe tb equest . ,.
furthei irformation from the sources or that they aid not appeat'tb fail viithin
the limits of its mandate. . . . . .. .
93 The ma ority of the cases transmitted dealt with uisappearances in the
ru i l reas.' Not all reports contained such ample descriptions as those
relating to other countries but they aid include the name and family name of the
person reported missing, the date and .pLace of disappearance and generally
information onnationality and sex.,. A quarterof the reports gave an indication
of the profession of the missing person, such as farmer, construction .
contractor, fisherman, worker or businessman; two trade.Unionists and a lay
church worker were also among those who had allegedly disappeared. As regards
the circumstances of the disappearances, in most -cases the person was arrested
at home, at his place of work, or during a. raid in the area. In some instances,
details were given about the police or military forces responsible for the
arrest, such as the Philippine Constabulary (PC), the Combined Security Unit
(csu) or the Military Intelligence Group (MIG). ; in certain cases the names of
the persons in command were also provided. In other instances, the persons
responsible for the arrest were described as wearing civilian clothes, using
military vehicles or they were simply reported by the sources as belonging to
the armed forces. Inquiries addressed by the relatives to the authorities about
the missing person's whereabouts had yielded no results.
94. With reg td to two of the 1983 disappearances (a trade unionist and a lay
church worker), a non—governmental organization informed the Working Group that
after their reported disappearance the persons had been presented to a court and
( charged with criminal offences; the Government of the Philippines confirmed this
information with regard to one of the cases.
95. Prior to the latest extension of its mandate, the Working Group had
transmitted 201 cases of disappearances to the Government; in most of those
cases information on the circumstances of the arrest of the missing person, the
place of detention, and the public forces involved was given and in some cases
the existence of witnesses was reported. In 1982, the Government provided the
following information on the cases transmitted: 38 persons had been released, 6
were free and their occupations given, 2 had escaped from prison. In 7 other
cases, the missing person was reported dead and those responsible were being .
24/ E/CN.4/l435, paras. 145—149; E/CN.4/1492, p ras. 131— 137;
E/CN.4/1492/Add.1, paras. 15—16; E/CN.4/l983/14, pans. 87—90.
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 35
prosecuted. With regardto 36 cases, investigations Fiadbeencar:ried out and it
had Ueen established that the Government was not.responsible. The Government
reported that investigations into 88 cases were being continued and that the
Group would be informed of the IIsults. Finanily, the Covernmeffit requested more
details on the tdentities of 24 petso srep&t d missing where the details which
had been given were insufficient to permit an investigation. The Government
provided information on the legal protection of detainees, on the remedies
available for complaints from citizens ant on the difficulties of carrying out
investigations in a large and populous country like the Phi1ippines H
96. Since the Working Group was established it has transmitded 260 reports of
enforced or involuntary disappearances to the Government of the Philippines as
is indicated in the table at th end of this section. The years n which those
disppearances reportedly occurtedw re ; i975; 7 ckses;197&, 46 cases; 1977, 28
cases; 1978, 32 cases; 1979, 50 cases; 1980, 44 cases. 1981; 21 cases; 1982, 16
cases; and 1983, 16 cases. - . $ . ...
Information and views received from the GovernII nt -of thePhilippifl s
97. During the Working group's eleventh session it met the Permanent
Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations Office at Geneva who
renewed his Government's commitment to active co—operation with the Group and
stated that, as soon as information was available from the investigations on
outstanding cases, the Working Group would be informed. In a letter dated 11
August 1983, the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations
Office at Geneva referred to four reports of disappearances brought to the
Government's attention by the Working Group in 1983; one person was in prison
and no information was available on three others, the three cases were being
investigated. Prior to its twelfth session, the Working Group, in a letter
dated 28 October 1983, informed the Government of the Philippines that it would
like to consider at that session any information the Government might wish to
send in relation to the cases which had not been clarified.
E/CN.4/ 1984/21
poge 36 .
95. The following is a statistical summary of the reports of enforced or
involuntary disappearances in the Philippines dealt with by the Working Group
since it was establishec: .
,. i lL Cases clarified by information from
no —gov ;poeenta1 source '.,,
52' ‘1,
25/ Persons released from detention: 38
Persons at liberty: 6 .
Persons being detained: 1
Persons whose death has been officially recorded; 7.
I. Cases transmitted o the Government by the
. . . W •rki Group see pares. .92—96 above)
I i. GQver,nplent resp rises., . . , . -.• .
(a) Total respDnses. receiv ,from,the.
Government relating to cases tra smitted
. to it by the Working,.Group. .(sa paras .
. .. . 94, 95 nd 97 donve),, . . ... .
, (b) . Cases clarii d by the. Governoeent,.'s
: . ‘ :-. responses 1 , . . .
260 ‘
205
2
. : ;
C,.
, .
‘‘
4.0
Persons arrested and in prison: 2.
. E/CN.4/1984/21 . . .
page37 .
K. Uruguay . ‘ .
Inforoeation reviewed and transmitted to the Gdvernment ‘
99. In:its first three,i-eports,!L/ the Woi kinj...Grovp. informed the Commis&io !L
about enforced or involuntary disappearances in Uruguay. Since the extensid ',df
its nandate in 1983, the Working Group has transmitted reports concerning nine
disappearandestoLFt'Gdve Sent of Uruguay; three occurring in Urtiguiy and six
in Argentina Ith' 't'h&edases which repdtt dly occurred in Uruguay, the ‘
arrests took pl'a ce'iffi l983;'two of these persons w re later released and thefl
third was locatcaiffi a'U uguayan prison. Concerning thesix disappearances .
which ‘reported1 'odcurred ‘in Argentina, five bf the persons were arrested in
1977 and one in 1978. In four of the six cases, the missing petson was .
reportedly seen by former detainees in detention cei 'tres under the authoritSi'of
‘U'ruguayan militar Hpersonnel and in two ases inforiIItior wa pIIvided on the
traffisfer of the missing person to Uruguay. ‘: .
100. Since it tqas'established, the Working Group haII &ansIIi'tted'rep6rts dn the
disappearII rce of 43 persons to the Governm nt of Uruguay; 19 of tho e allegedly
occurred in Uruguay and 24 outside that country (22 in Argentina and' 2 in
Paraguay)'. OEdc'edrs in which these disappearances took place are: in 1974, 1;
in 1975, 2;i'n 1976, 11; in 1977, lb; in 1978', 7; in 1580, 2; in 1981', 1; and 3
i . 1983; Inthose cases occurring outside Uruguay the missing person ‘w s'
reported to have Uruguayan nationality and to have been arrested orhe 1d iit
detention by Uruguayan security forces. OEe Government informed the Working ,
Group that ‘the two persons who were reported to have disappeared II gii y fry'
1980 were' beiffig held in prison. ‘ . ‘ , ‘ ‘,‘ . ‘ , ‘ , ‘ ,, ‘
. ‘ ‘ . ‘, :: , ‘‘ - ‘: , ‘ : -‘ .
101. In 1983, the Working Group wrote td'the Governmentbf UrugiII'y nd revi w&d
the information on enforced or involuntary disappearances which had been ‘
transmitted to that Government, reque ting clarification of those cases which
had not yet b' n resolved. The unresolved cases concerned reports of th' •
disappearance of 13 persons in Uruguay, 22 Uruguay n nationals in Argenti tI and
2 Uruguayan nationals in Paraguay. Ca ies of the reports of the disappearatce
were also transmitted and contained information on the identity of the missing
person, including his profession, the date and place of disappearance, and
generally the circumstances of the arrest; the Organization for the
Co—ordinatibn of Anti—Subversive Operations (OCOA) and'vd'r idbs ti)litary units” ‘
were epdrted1y' responsible' for: the arrests. In connection tiith” thos cases ‘
occurring in Argentina, a list was provided of reports by 10 persons who stated'
they were held in detention centres in Argentina, that Uruguayan.officials were
involved in the arrest of Uruguayan nationals in Argentina and in the running of
the detention centres, and that Uruguayan nationals were transferred from ,
Argentina to Uruguay. With regard to the two Uruguayans who disappeared in
Paraguay, the Group provided copies of reports by three persons who stated that
they were held it 'the same cell in Paraguay with the missing persons'whbwere .
subsequently tran ferred to Urugcay. In its letter, the Working Group hot'ed' ‘
that some of the above—mentione&reports of former detainees had been ‘ ‘“
27/ E/CN;4/1435, paras. 150—163 and annex XVI; E/CN.4/1435/Add.l, para.
5; E/CN.4/1492, paras. 142—147 and annexXVI; E/C?L471492/Add.l, para'. 18;
E/CN.4/l983/14, paras. 91—95.
E/CN.4/198 4 / 2 1 . .
page 38
taken into consideration uy the Human Rights Committee when it hound that
Uruguayan officers had been involved in the detention of a Uruguayan national in
Argentina and in the transfe.r.oif that person to Uruguay. . . :
Information and views received from relatives of missing persor s ‘and their
: o.rgarLLza.t ions. : . , . . “ . . . . “
102. Reiat ve5' organizations sent the Working Group expressions of. their deep
concern at:the Government's indifferencein the face of con&ete and ‘duly :
documented facts ‘about disappearances. The. relatives referred to the' ,
Government's annduncement:.in October 1976 that 62 ‘subversives” had been:
arre ted, but pointed out that! subseqdently the identities of'only 20' or thS
had ever been determined; they expressed the fear that the remaining 42 . V.
corresponded to the. 42 Uruguayanhatio.na15'arre5t in Argentina.up to October
1976: whose whereabouts remained unknown'. The . relatives stated that, in fact. up
to October 1976 a total of 62 Uruguayans had ‘been arrested in Argentina; the . ‘
detention of 20 was subsequently officially acknowledged, as they were
. transferred; to Uruguay where some were placed in prison and others were .
released.. The United Nations High Cormniasioner for Refugees, on 20 July' 197b,
had appealed.to the Government of Argenttfla on behalf of 19: Uruguayan' refugees
including 14 who had been arrested in Argttina and we're eventually pl.aced in “
prison in Uruguay. . The relatives hope the identities anQ fate of the : 42 ‘
unidentified,”subversives 9 will be investigated. OEeir concerns wer 'brought to
the attention of the Government in 1983. ‘ ‘ .. , .
.‘ . . .‘ . . I :- !,‘ :‘ ‘
103. ‘Relatives of two persons ‘who disappeared.. in 1975 and: 1976. in”Eiruguay
transmitted to the Working Group two documents of the Human Rights Committee
containing the Committee's view that the authorities of Uruguay were responsible
for the detention of the.missing persons; the committeerequested the Government
to take ‘e'ffectivest'eps to establish what had happened ta them. Therel'atives
stated that no steps had been taken and asked the Working Group Locontinue its.
consideration of' the' cases in order. to obtained th needed information. The ‘
Working Group tvansmit.ted these requests to the Gov rnment in: 1983 and requested
any views the Government might wish to present. ‘ . ..
roe Information and views received from the Governmen't oiUruguay . . , ‘ ‘c . ,:' .. :‘ ;
. ,.‘ , ‘ ,. , , ,
104. ,OEe'.Workihz GroIIp.informed the Commission onHumat Rights at its : ,
thirtrninth ession about the general and spe ific information r'eeeived fflom :‘
the Government of: Uruguay in 1980, 1981 and l982.,4!' The Working Group ,: , ,,
reported, inter alia , that the Government had asked that disa pearances be ‘
considered within the context of the general situation and conditions'
prevailing in Uruguay during the period of' internal turmoil and had's tated that,
in fighting subversion, government forces had acted in accordance with the Law
and that all criminals had oeen brought before the courts and judged.
OEe Goverment asked that the problem of.missing persons be givenits' real
dimension. Of the 100 or.so cases reported only 8 or 10 had allegedly taken
place in Uruguay;' with regard to those cases, the Government was niaking every
effort to determine the persons' whereabouts, but denied any complicity or
28/ E/CN.4/1983/l.4, pans'. 9394.
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 39
responsibility. For those occurring outside the country, the Government had
made many efforts to obtain information and a special office had been
es ab1ished to help relatives of missing persons. In addition to general
infoima ion, the Government provided the following information regarding
spe'dific cases which reportedly occurred in Uruguay: arrest warrants had been
issued with regard to 11 persons who were still being sought; three persons h c
been registered in an hotel far away from the reported place of disappearance on
the day they allegedly disappeared; one person had Left the country; one had
escaped from prison; no information'wasavail&b1 on another &woperspns and -‘
three people who reportedly disappeared in 1980 and 1981 were in prit6t '
105. Since the extension of its mandate in 1983, the Working Group has received
information from the Government of Uruguay concerffiing three cases ‘of
disappearances which occurred in 1983 and were transmitt d to the Government.
The Government informed the Working Group that two of those persons had been
released while the third was in prison. In relation to a decision of the Human
Rights Committee referred to in a letter from a rolative which was transmitted
by the Working Group to the Government of Uruguay, the Government stated that it
had informed the Human Rights Committee that the person was being sought on
subversion charges. The Committee had subsequently adopted a decision which
contained terms the Government considered offensive and the Government had
criticized the Committee because its procedures disregarded legal rules relating
to presumption of guilt and because of the haste of its decision. The
Government continued to co—operate with the Committee, but objected to the
specific action taken because no review machinery was provided for decisions
which in some cases were taken without the usual guarantees as to evidence.
106. During its twelfth session the Working Group met the representative of
Uruguay to the Commission on Human Rights who reviewed the full co—operation his
Government had given the Working Group since its establishment and reiterated
his Government's commitment to continue that co—operation. The Working Group
had achieved important results and Uruguay had supported it in the Commission on
Human Rights. In the past, Uruguay had provided as much information as was
possible on the individual cases presented; the Group's renewed request had'b tn
transmitted to the competent authorities in Uruguay and the response of the
Government would be given as soon as possible.
107. Each individual case was a matter of deep concern for the Government. On
the few cases which were reported to have occurred in Uruguay and remained
unclarified the investigation remained open. OEe Government had given special
attention to those Uruguayan nationals who had disappeared outside the country.
OEere were 122 such cases unclarified to date and a special office had been
established in the Foreign Ministry to receive the relatives' reports and assist
in the search for the missing person. The work of the office included
approaches on the diplomatic level and assistance to relatives in court
proceedings in the country of disappearance; in some cases the results were ,
positive and the missing person had been found. A full file had been submitted
to the Inter—A merican Commission on Hunian Rights showing the steps taken by the
Goverment of Uruguay to protect its nationa1s' iho disappeared in other
countries. With regard to the statements of persons who claimed that they had
been transferred to Uruguay from a neighbouring country, some of those
statements had been made after the persons concerned had been released from
detention and had come to Europe. The persons concerned had been arrested in
E/CN. 4/1984/21
page 40
Uruguay, some had been released and others had L,een charged and tried in court;
today the majority were free. It was to be emphasized that Uruguayan security
services, in the difficult period of terrorism, had acted to arrest the persons
concerned and not to make them disappear. Those services were not responsible
for disappearances. . . .
108. The following is a statistical summary of the reports of enforced or
involuntary disappearances ia Uruguay dealt with by the Working Group since it
was establ:i.shed. . , . . . . , . .
‘I . ; . case.s” transmitted' to th Covernment by the . . .
Worlcing.'Group (see pans. 99—lOG above) 43
. . . ve.rnment responses .
(a) Total responses received from the
Government relating to cases transmitted
by the Working Group
