CCPR/C/112/D/2098/2011 7.4 The Committee considers that the author did not sufficiently substantiate his claim of a violation of article 14 of the Covenant, but that the allegations which raise issues under articles 2 (para. 3), 7, 9, 10 (para. 1) and 16, read alone and in conjunction with article 2 (para. 3) of the Covenant, have been sufficiently substantiated. The Committee therefore proceeds to consider the communication on the merits with regard to the alleged violations of articles 2 (para. 3), 7, 9, 10 (para. 1) and 16 of the Covenant. Consideration of the merits 8.1 The Human Rights Committee has considered the present communication in the light of all the information made available to it by the parties, as required under article 5, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol. 8.2 The State party has confined itself to referring to the collective and general observations it submitted to the Committee previously in relation to other communications, reiterating its position that such cases were settled with the implementation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. The Committee recalls its jurisprudence, according to which the State party may not invoke the provisions of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation against persons who invoke provisions of the Covenant or who have submitted or may submit communications to the Committee. The Covenant demands that the State party concern itself with the fate of every individual and treat every individual with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. Ordinance No. 06-01, without the amendments recommended by the Committee, is contributing to impunity in the present case and therefore cannot, as it currently stands, be considered compatible with the provisions of the Covenant. 8.3 The Committee notes that the State party has not replied to the author’s claims concerning the merits of the case and recalls its jurisprudence, according to which the burden of proof should not rest solely on the author of a communication, especially given that the author and the State party do not always have the same degree of access to evidence and that often only the State party is in possession of the necessary information. 10 Pursuant to article 4, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol, the State party has the duty to investigate in good faith all allegations of violations of the Covenant made against it and its representatives and to provide the Committee with the information available to it. 11 In the absence of any explanations from the State party in this respect, due weight must be given to the author’s allegations, provided they have been sufficiently substantiated. 8.4 The Committee notes that the author’s son was last seen leaving his home on the morning of 27 August 1995. In the hours after his departure, a large number of police officers were dispatched to conduct a search of the family home of the author and his son, and documents belonging to Toufik Ammari were seized; his family civil-status book was kept by the authorities for almost four months. The Committee notes that, even though the authorities of the State party have never acknowledged that they arrested and detained Toufik Ammari, the fact that his disappearance occurred at the same time as the search of the family home cannot be mere coincidence. In the absence of any explanations from the State party in this respect, and given that the case in point is to be seen in the context of a systematic practice of enforced disappearances in the State party during this period, 12 the 10 11 12 10 See, inter alia, Mezine v. Algeria, para. 8.3; El Abani v. Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, para. 7.4; and Berzig v. Algeria, para. 8.3. See also International Court of Justice, Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v. Democratic Republic of the Congo), judgment of 30 November 2010, para. 54. See Mezine v. Algeria, para. 8.3; and communication No. 1297/2004, Medjnoune v. Algeria, Views adopted on 30 March 2006, para. 8.3. See Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Velásquez Rodríguez, judgement of 29 July 1988, para. 147.3. GE.14-24393