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The Right to a Remedy for Enforced Disappearances in India

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THE RIGHT TO A REMEDY FOR ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN INDIA A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC LAW RELATING TO VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES APRIL 2014 IHRLC Working Paper Series No. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Working Paper was prepared by students in the International Human Rights Law Clinic under the supervision of Laurel E. Fletcher, Clinical Professor of Law and Director, International Human Rights Law Clinic for the Project on Armed Conflict Resolution and People's Rights (ACRes), Center for Social Sector Leadership, Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Angana Chatterji, Co-Chair of ACRes and Mallika Kaur, Director of Programs, ACRes provided helpful comments. Clinical Fellow Katrina Natale ’15 gave invaluable editorial assistance. We thank Olivia Layug, Associate Administrator for Berkeley Law’s clinical program for her help with production. We would also like to thank Dean Sujit Choudhry and the individual donors to the International Human Rights Law Clinic without whom this work would not be possible. International Human Rights Law Clinic, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law 353B Boalt Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-7200 Phone: (510) 643-4800 / www.humanrightsclinic.org The International Human Rights Law Clinic (IHRLC) designs and implements innovative human rights projects to advance the struggle for justice on behalf of individuals and marginalized communities through advocacy, research, and policy development. The IHRLC employs an interdisciplinary model that leverages the intellectual capital of the university to provide innovative solutions to emerging human rights issues. The IHRLC develops collaborative partnerships with researchers, scholars, and human rights activists worldwide. Students are integral to all phases of the IHRLC’s work and acquire unparalleled experience generating knowledge and employing strategies to address the most urgent human rights issues of our day. CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................... 1 GLOSSARY ......................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 8 ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN INTERNATIONAL LAW ........................... 9 A. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 9 B. DEFINITION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES ............................................................. 11 1. Arbitrary Detention ................................................................................ 12 2. Extrajudicial Executions ........................................................................ 13 3. Incommunicado Detention .................................................................... 15 4. Crimes Against Humanity ..................................................................... 16 DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES ..................................................................... 17 A. DEVELOPMENT OF NORMS AT THE UNITED NATIONS AND IN THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM ..................................................................... 18 B. DEVELOPMENT AND CONTENT OF THE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS FROM ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE ..................................................................................... 24 C. CRITIQUES OF THE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS FROM ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE .................................. 27 D. INDIA AND THE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS FROM ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE .................................. 29 INDIA’S OBLIGATIONS REGARDING ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW .......................................... 30 A. RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES ............... 31 B. RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM TORTURE .................................................... 32 i INDIA’S OBLIGATIONS REGARDING ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW .......................................... 38 A. HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW AND ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES ............................................................. 38 B. PROTECTIONS FOR ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW .................................................. 43 THE SCOPE AND APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW .................................................................... 45 THE RIGHT TO A REMEDY .............................................................................. 49 A. OVERVIEW OF THE RIGHT TO A REMEDY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW . 49 B. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE RIGHT TO A REMEDY ................................. 54 1. The Right to Justice (State Duty to Prosecute) ..................................... 55 2. The Right to Truth (State Duty to Investigate) ...................................... 57 3. The Right to Reparations (State Duty to Redress and Compensate) ... 58 4. Guarantee of Non-Recurrence ............................................................. 59 C. GENDER AND THE RIGHT TO A REMEDY ............................................. 61 1. Gender and Transitional Justice ........................................................... 61 2. Potential Gender-Sensitive Remedial Mechanisms .............................. 62 RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW PROTECTIONS ................................................ 65 A. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 65 B. INDIA’S LEGAL FRAMEWORK REGARDING THE RIGHT TO A REMEDY FOR ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES .................................... 68 1. Armed Forces Special Powers Act ....................................................... 68 2. The National Human Rights Commission ............................................. 70 3. The Prevention of Terrorism Act ........................................................... 71 4. The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act ................................................. 72 5. The Right to Information Act ................................................................. 75 6. The Prevention of Torture Bill ............................................................... 76 7. The Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill .................... 77 ii C. EVALUATION OF INDIA’S LEGAL FRAMEWORK REGARDING THE RIGHT TO A REMEDY FOR ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES ............... 85 1. Legal Weaknesses ............................................................................... 86 2. Enforcement Weaknesses .................................................................... 87 D. ASSESSMENT OF DOMESTIC FRAMEWORK ........................................ 88 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 90 iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report analyzes the international legal framework regarding India’s obligations to ensure the right to a remedy for enforced disappearances and other gross human rights violations. It offers Indian activists guidance in considering the role that international norms may play in developing an advocacy strategy to promote redress for victims of enforced disappearances and torture. In several Indian states, individuals and their families have suffered from widespread human rights violations in the form of enforced disappearance, torture, and rape. These violations harm not only the direct victim, but also his or her next of kin. In addition, there are gendered impacts of these violations. For example, in instances in which the direct victim is the male breadwinner, his wife is left to struggle with the economic, psychological, and social distress as a result of the loss of her husband. Or, where a husband is tortured as part of the enforced disappearance and unable to resume his former livelihood activities, the surviving wife may suffer the burden of not being able to support the family economically due to lack of employment opportunities for women. Despite their widespread and devastating effects, enforced disappearances and other gross human rights violations in India have been met with a culture of impunity, lack of investigation, and wholly inadequate reparations. These shortcomings are also violations of India’s international legal obligations to ensure victims access to effective remedies, which include the rights to truth, justice, and reparations, as well as guarantees of non-recurrence. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance defines an enforced disappearance as: the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law. 1 Thus, enforced disappearances are recognized as a human rights violation that includes three legal three elements: (1) the deprivation of liberty, (2) with state involvement, and (3) state denial or concealment of the fate of the disappeared. Enforced disappearances are distinguishable from other human rights violations by the state’s denial of knowledge or responsibility of the disappearance
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