La desaparición forzada de personas: avances del derecho internacional

This essay aims to give a general overview of one of the most atrocious violations of human rights: the enforced disappearance of people. The reader is enlightened as to the true dimensions, complexity and gravity of this crime, which is often minimized or confused with other practices. Gómez Camacho makes a brief analysis of the phenomenon, from its definition, origins and background to the most relevant aspects of the international normative instruments that have been introduced to combat it. Over the last 15 years, a total of four international instruments have been approved to address the enforced disappearance of people, while this article makes an insightful comparison of these instruments in light of the adoption of the fourth in June 2006: the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, a mechanism that not only broadens protection measures, but that sets forth principles in a treaty that is legally binding on States that ratify it, principles that were not included in the normative instruments previously adopted. The author believes that the laws of each individual country, especially those of Mexico, need to be revised to include new concepts, making a break with the archaic notions that frequently contribute to the propagation of this phenomenon. By the same token, modern and efficient legal mechanisms, such as those established in the new Convention, need to be developed for the punishment and, above all, the prevention, follow-up and eradication of this despicable practice.