A/HRC/22/59 Annex VII [English only] Enforced disappearancea 1. One of the most insidious aspects of the Syrian conflict has been the disappearance of thousands of people from their homes, at checkpoints and from the street as they went about their daily lives. 2. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance requires, de minimus, a person’s arrest, detention or abduction and a refusal, either at the time at which the person is deprived of his liberty or afterwards, to give information on his fate or his whereabouts. These acts and omissions must be carried out by or with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the State.b While Syria is not a party to the Convention, it is a party to the ICCPR and the Arab Charter on Human Rights, provisions of which are infringed by enforced disappearance. 3. Enforced disappearance places its victims outside the law, violating their right to recognition as a person before the law, to liberty and security and freedom from arbitrary detention, including the right to be brought promptly before a judge or other official for review of the lawfulness of detention. It is also often a gateway to the commission of further crimes such as torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and murder. 4. The prohibition against enforced disappearance in international law, however, serves to punish harms that are distinct from, for example, arbitrary arrest or torture. It is rooted not only in the paramount protection of the individual, but in the protection of the family during armed conflict.c Indeed, investigations of enforced disappearance are often particularly difficult because families — living in hope that their relatives will be safely returned to them — do not wish to provide names and other details of the disappeared. Lack of access to Syria has further hindered investigations. I. Government forces and affiliated militia 5. There were 19 reports of enforced disappearance committed by Government forces — both army and intelligence agents — and affiliated militia, occurring since 15 July. The majority of the disappeared were adult men though three reports relating to the disappearances of women and two relating to children were received. 6. In eleven of those incidents, the whereabouts of the person or persons arrested or abducted remains unknown. Five returned to their families after lengthy detentions, with four indicating they had suffered serious physical abuse — and in one case a rape — during their detention. In three cases, the bodies of those who had been taken were later recovered. a b c 64 See A/HRC/21/50, Annex II for the applicable law. Additionally, the International Criminal Court, in its Elements of Crimes, indicated that such acts and omissions can be carried out by or with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of “a political organisation” and that an intention to remove the person from the protection of the law for “a prolonged period of time” must be present. Brian Finucane, Enforced Disappearance as a Crime Under International Law: A Neglected Origin in the Laws of War, The Yale Journal of International Law, [Vol. 35: 171]. GE.13-10627