He UN Committee against Enforced Disappearances raised with concern the slowness of the Argentine courts that prosecute cases of forced disappearance occurred during the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983 and asked the State to expedite them so that justice is done for the victims.
The Committee issued on Tuesday its findings and recommendations on the implementation in Argentina of the International Convention against Enforced Disappearanceswhich recognize the country’s efforts to remove legal obstacles in the fight against impunity for these abuses, including those committed by non-state actors.
In addition, commend the adoption of the Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Trials Against Humanity launched in December 2020, which establishes measures aimed at speeding up trials, strengthening investigations and providing support to victims.
However, it highlighted “the lag and delay in judicial proceedings, particularly in the recursive stage, among other reasons due to the lack of appointment of federal judges, who can lead to impunity due to the death of perpetrators of crime, and also frustrate the demands for justice of the victims who die of advanced age”.
In this sense, reordered Argentina to guarantee a rapid resolution of these processes“including through the creation of new federal judiciaries and the allocation of the necessary resources so that the courts and tribunals can fulfill their functions without delay.”
Eliminating procedural benefits can amount to impunity
The Committee stressed its concern about the lack of information about the State’s plan to eliminate procedural benefits, such as the house arrest and reduced sentences for people accused or convicted of crimes against humanity -including enforced disappearance-, warning that these benefits could amount to impunity. On this point, he asked to abolish the granting of unjustified procedural arrangements and special prison preferences to the perpetrators of forced disappearances.
The Committee took note of the work of the Argentine State in the investigation and search in cases of forced disappearances both under the dictatorship and under democracy, but added that it has received complaints of a lack of coordination between authorities at the federal and provincial levels, as well as the Lack of mechanisms that ensure the participation of those close to the disappeared persons at all stages of the process.
In this regard, he urged Argentina to redouble its efforts to promote coordination between the institutions that carry out the search, location, recovery and identification of the mortal remains of disappeared persons so that they can carry out their functions efficiently and quickly, guaranteeing the participation of the families of the disappeared.
On the other hand, the Committee referred to the cases of disappearance that occurred during democracy, regretting that there is no centralized official registry of the victims of this crime nor a genetic database of families looking for their loved ones. He also underscored the lack of a database with information on unidentified bodies recovered and the absence of a public policy for their protection and identification, and recommended the creation of a single, centralized official registry of disappeared persons in democracy.
Another recommendation of the Committee to Argentina is to ensure that the regulatory and institutional framework guarantees the access for all victims of enforced disappearance to a comprehensive reparation and compensation system throughout the country, regardless of the period in which the outrage occurred, in addition to continuing with actions of symbolic reparation and memory both “for past events and for serious acts of institutional violence.”
About the Committee
He Committee against Forced Disappearance(CED for its acronym in English), is the body of independent experts that monitors the application of the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances by its States Parties.
The Committee and its Secretariat make daily efforts to support victims, civil society organizations, national human rights institutions, and States in the search for and location of disappeared persons, as well as to eradicate, punish, and prevent this crime. , and repair the damages inflicted on the victims.
