'They came in groups, in uniform or in mufti, but always armed; they pick up the person, often using force; then they rode away in their vehicle with the person; that was the last we saw of him ...'

This is the common story of most cases of 'disappearances'.

Amnesty International defines the 'disappeared' people as those who have been taken into custody by agents of the state, yet whose whereabouts and fate are concealed, and whose custody is denied. Amnesty puts the term in quotation to emphasise that the victim has not simply vanished. The victim's whereabouts and fate though concealed from the outside world, are known to someone. Someone decided what should happen to the victim, someone decided to conceal it. Someone is responsible.

'Disappearance' is a crime against the whole of humanity, but an unrelenting pain felt only by the immediate family members. The families are plunged into a cruel nightmare that continue for years as they are left in total despair over the uncertainty of the fate and whereabouts of the victims. This act of extreme cruelty not only violates the laws of the countries where they are perpetrated, but also violates the international standards on human rights.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights , alarmed at the growing number of citizens who disappeared in many countries, often with full knowledge of their Governments, established in 1980, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The Working Group acts as a channel of communication between the families of the disappeared persons and the Governments concerned.

The efforts of the Working Group to set an international standard to be followed and respected by all Governments while dealing with enforced disappearances was finally realised in December 1992 with the proclamation of the Declaration of the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances by the UN General Assembly.

The Declaration categorically state in Article 2 that:

1. No State shall practise, permit or tolerate enforced disappearance.

2. States shall act at the national and regional levels and in cooperation with the United Nations to contribute by all means to the prevention and eradication of enforced disappearance.

It also called upon the State to ensure the right to proper investigation (Art. 13), the right to prosecute the suspected perpetrators (Art. 14) and to adequately compensate the victims and their family including the means to as complete a rehabilitation as possible (Art. 19).