Background

At its 131^st session, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (hereinafter, ‘the Working Group’) announced its intention to conduct a research on the use of universal criminal jurisdiction in cases of enforced disappearance.

Pursuant to the notion of ‘universal criminal jurisdiction’, any State can apply its criminal law with respect to crimes under international law, including enforced disappearance, even when they are committed abroad, and neither the victim nor the perpetrator is a national of the State concerned. In its ‘conditional’ interpretation, the presence of the accused on the territory of the State is a condition for the existence and exercise of universal jurisdiction. In the ‘absolute’ interpretation, jurisdiction can be established even if the accused is not present in the forum State and in the absence of any other link between the alleged offender and the forum State.

Objectives

The research, whose results are meant to be presented in September 2025, aims at assessing the use of universal criminal jurisdiction in cases of enforced disappearance, analysing the applicable conceptual and legal framework (and, where applicable, the loopholes therein), existing challenges, lessons learned, and good practices.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

The Working Group aims at studying the use of universal criminal jurisdiction in cases of enforced disappearances and, in particular, the main challenges and enabling factors. Bearing in mind the specificities of universal criminal jurisdiction, where the alleged crimes were perpetrated in a different country and victims and witnesses may also live abroad, the Working Group is especially interested in learning good practices, lessons learned and main challenges revolving around:

1. Legal framework: provisions that are crucial to enable the effective application of universal criminal jurisdiction in cases of enforced disappearance.
2. Competent authorities: exploring the different applicable models where either the usual authorities would be in charge, or special and dedicated investigative units or prosecutors’ offices have been created.
3. Procedural peculiarities and hurdles, including evidentiary criteria, the practice of contextual/structural investigations, mutual legal assistance and cooperation, and the immunity granted to certain individuals.
4. Victims’ participation, including relatives of forcibly disappeared persons: analysing the role played by victims, the obstacles encountered and essential guarantees to be ensured.

Questionnaire

English (PDF)

How inputs will be used?

All inputs received will be published in the website of the Working Group, unless it is indicated that the submission should be kept confidential.