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DRAFTING EFFECTIVE LEGAL COMPLAINTS
TO REGIONAL AND UN BODIES
PRACTICE NOTE 5
STRATEGIC LITIGATION OF ENFORCED
DISAPPEARANCES IN AFRICA
h) Supporting evidence, including medico-legal or psychosocial reports, laws, judicial
decisions, witness statements, media reports, etc.
The factual section should explain thoroughly the account of facts on which the
complaint is based on. The section should explain the five Ws: when, where, why,
who and what.
a) When did the violations happen? Including the time and date, year and how long
the individual was in detention/disappeared;
b) How was the individual detained or how did the arrest occur? Was the victim
informed of their rights? Was the victim visited or examined by a medical
professional during the detention? Was the individual brought before the judge
or other relevant authorities within the prescribed period of time under the
domestic law?;
c) Where was the individual detained? Including the detention facility or location
where the individual was detained;
d) Who committed the violations against the victim? Were the alleged perpetrators
State agents, individuals acting on behalf of the State, or with the cooperation,
tolerance or acquiescence of the State?;
e) Why was the individual forcibly disappeared?;
f) What injuries did the individual suffer, including factual claims of the abuse
(mental and physical injuries)? What was the mental state of the individual preenforced disappearance and after enforced disappearance? What investigations,
if any, has the government initiated, and what is the result of such investigations?;
g) What types of harm resulted from the disappearance for the victims, including
the relatives of the disappeared?
To file individual complaints at the regional and international forums, the complaint
must meet jurisdictional requirements. Each forum has its own requirements but there
are a few common ones (many of these do not apply to the WGEID, as outlined above).
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