had to be halted amid criticism for a lack of cultural appropriateness and doubts about the forensic methodology employed.320 The 2008 Rwandan law that all reburials occur at State genocide memorials also interfered with the accepted norm of returning remains to the deceased’s family.321 who may by now be adults, should be searched for, identified and have their identity restored.325 Latin America brings some good experiences in this area. The IACtHR has found that children who are victims of ED require special measures of protection, including the right to an identity that encompasses the right to nationality, name and to family relationships.326 In Argentina, a group of activists known as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo successfully lobbied for laws to find and identify stolen children during the Argentinean dictatorship. The legislation included the establishment of: Finally, we note that States have an obligation to co-operate and provide each other with mutual assistance for the purpose of investigating ED, assisting victims of ED in searching for, locating and releasing the victims and, in the event of death, in exhuming and identifying their remains.322 • a National Genetic Data Bank, to be used to identify stolen children; Search, identification and restitution of children • the National Commission of the Right to Identity, to enable the restitution of disappeared children; and In Africa, there are no official records of how many children have been subjected to ED. It is estimated that there are approximately between 4,000 and 6,000 children born of war in Northern Uganda323. They are vulnerable due to their lack of legal documentation and face further abuses of their human rights, such as child labour, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. The International Center for Transitional Justice recommended that Uganda revise its national identity registration policy to become more inclusive of children born of war.324, When searching for disappeared children, the authorities should take into account the vulnerability of children, including their age and loss of identity. For new-born and very young children, the authorities should take into account the fact that their identification documents may have been altered and that they may have been taken from their families, given a false identity and handed over to a children’s institution or another family for adoption. These children and adolescents, • DNA testing of anyone suspected of being a stolen child.327 The obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish ED States have a duty to carry out prompt, impartial and independent investigations into all cases of ED. This obligation has attained the status of jus cogens and as such, cannot be waived by States.328 This means, amongst other things, that where there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person has been subjected to ED, the State should investigate even if no formal complaint has been made.329 Investigations should be prompt, impartial, independent, and carried out with diligence and must be aimed 320 International Commission on Missing Persons (“ICMP”), Rwanda; Tamara Hinan, Exhuming Norms and Comparing Investigations of Forced Disappearances, 24 October 2018. 321 Tamara Hinan, Exhuming Norms and Comparing Investigations of Forced Disappearances, supra note 314. 322 African Charter, Article 1; ICPPED, Articles 14 and 15. 323 International Law Blog, Transitional Justice in Uganda: The Dilemma of Children Born of War, 24 July 2020. 324 International Law Blog, Transitional Justice in Uganda: The Dilemma of Children Born of War, 24 July 2020. 325 ICPPED, Guiding Principles for the search for disappeared persons, CED/C/7, 8 May 2019. 326 IACtHR, Gelman v. Uruguay, Merits and Reparations, Inter-Am Ct. H.R., Series C No. 221, 24 February 2011. 327 Rae, Marie, Truth at Any Cost? Law’s Power to Name Argentina’s Disappeared Grandchildren, Onati Socio-Legal Series, 2017. 328 UNGA, Question of enforced or involuntary disappearances, A/RES/55/103, 4 March 2001; HRC, Forced or involuntary disappearances, Resolution 21/4, 27 September 2012; IACtHR, Anzualdo Castro v. Peru, Judgment of 22 September 2009, para. 59; Gomes Lund and others (Guerrilha do Araguaia) v. Brazil, Judgment of 24 November 2010, para. 137; IACtHR, Almonacid Arellano and others v. Chile, Judgment of 26 September 2006, para. 99. 329 ICPPED, Article 12.2; UNGA, Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, Article 13(1); UNGA, Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention, Res. 43/173, 9 December 1988, Principle 34; UNGA, United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, Rule 57. 47