A/HRC/17/44 detention (art. 9 of the Covenant). Disappearance may also be associated with torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and extrajudicial execution, in violation of the right to life and torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.74 Under international humanitarian law, persons taking no active part in the hostilities are entitled to be treated humanely (art. 4, para. 1, of Protocol II, and common article 3). Customary international humanitarian law rules also include a prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of liberty75 and require parties to the conflict to keep a register of persons deprived of their liberty, 76 respect detainees‟ family life, permit detainees to receive visitors, especially near relatives to the degree practicable 77 and allow correspondence between detainees and their families. 78 Parties to a conflict must take all feasible measure to account for persons reported missing as a result of the conflict and efforts must be made to provide family members with any information the party has on their fate.79 The practice of enforced disappearance also may be a gateway to other violations such as torture, murder or extra judicial executions. The combined effect of particular international humanitarian law obligations leads to the conclusion that the practice of disappearance is prohibited by customary international humanitarian law.80 93. 94. Furthermore, “imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law” and enforced disappearance are acts recognized in the Rome Statute as potentially giving rise to a crime against humanity if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack (art. 7, para. 1 (e) and (i)).81 3. Factual findings 95. In a number of cities visited, the Commission has been able to observe posters on public buildings, courthouses and hospitals containing the pictures and names of disappeared persons. Family members had placed such posters in the hope that someone would be able to provide them with information as to the whereabouts or death of their relatives. 96. The Commission received considerable information concerning the detention of persons by Government forces. The information received by the Commission, indicated that Government forces arrested or detained hundreds of civilians in many cities and towns 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 The Human Rights Committee in its general comment No. 20 (1992) on article 7, para. 11, recognized that safeguards against torture included having provisions against incommunicado detention, granting detainees suitable access to persons such as doctors, lawyers and family members, ensuring detainees are held in places that are officially recognized as places of detention and for their names and places of detention, as well as for the names of persons responsible for their detention, to be kept in registers readily available and accessible to those concerned, including relatives and friends. Rule 99, ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, p. 344. Rule 123, ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, p. 439. Rule 126, ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, p. 438. Rule 125, ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, p. 445. This right is also explicitly protected in article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of Protocol II. Rule 117, ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, p. 421. Rule 98, ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law, p. 340. Enforced disappearance is further defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (i), as “the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.” 29