ANNEX I. >> M
etadata sheets on selected indicators
Such data may underestimate (or sometimes, though rarely, even overestimate) the incidence of
enforced disappearance, if used in a casual manner to draw generalized conclusions for the
country as a whole. Moreover, in most instances, the number of cases reported to the Working
Group would depend on the awareness, access to information, motivation of the relatives of the
disappeared person, political situation and level of organization of the civil society organizations
representing the families, in the country concerned.
The Working Group deals only with clearly identified individual cases. Information reported
to it should contain a minimum of elements, such as the identity of the disappeared person; the
date on which the disappearance occurred (at least the month and year); the place of arrest or
abduction, or where the disappeared person was last seen; the forces (State or State-supported)
believed to be responsible for the disappearance; the steps taken to search for the disappeared
person. Cases are accepted only with the explicit consent of the disappeared person’s family
and when the source is clearly identifiable (family or civil society organization representing the
family). Also, the Working Group does not deal with situations of international armed conflict.
According to the Working Group and as defined in the preamble to the Declaration, enforced
disappearances occur when persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or
otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government or
by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or
indirect, consent or acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate
or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their
liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law. When “committed as part of
a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of
the attack”, enforced disappearance is defined as a crime against humanity in article 7 (1) (i) of
the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In transmitting cases of disappearance, the Working Group deals exclusively with Governments,
basing itself on the principle that they must assume responsibility for any human rights violation
on their territory. Thus, it does not admit cases of enforced disappearance that have been
attributed to irregular or insurgent movements fighting the Government on its own territory.
Nevertheless, the Working Group considers that information on all disappearances (attributable
to the Government or not) is relevant when properly evaluating the situation in a particular
country.
Examples of provisions relevant to the right to life and this indicator: Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, art. 3; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 6; International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 12 (1) and (2) (a); International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 5; Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women, arts. 2 and 12; Convention on the Rights of the
Child, art. 6; International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families, art. 9; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 10;
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the
Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 1 (2).
Further information on how to report a case is available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/
Disappearances/Pages/DisappearancesIndex.aspx (accessed 2 July 2012).
150 Human Rights Indicators
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