Publication

This paper examines the 2006 International Convention on the Protection of all persons from Enforced Disappearance. The convention came into force in 2010 and has been ratified by 30 states as of November 2011. It creates a new human right against enforced disappearance, and requires the states that have ratified the convention to create new criminal offenses in their domestic law and to adjust their laws on (for example) detention. The UK has not signed or ratified the Convention despite some pressure to do so. The Government appears to support the Convention in theory, and has apparently been looking into what changes to domestic law and what reservations or declarations would be needed in order to ratify it.