I. RIGHTS VIOLATED BY THE PRACTICE OF DISAPPEARANCE The enforced disappearance of persons infringes upon a range of human rights embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and set out in both International Covenants on human rights as well as in other major international human rights instruments. The following civil or political rights may be infringed upon in the course of a disappearance: • The right to recognition as a person before the law; • The right to liberty and security of the person; • The right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; • The right to life, when the disappeared person is killed; • The right to an identity; • The right to a fair trial and to judicial guarantees; • The right to an effective remedy, including reparation and compensation; • The right to know the truth regarding the circumstances of a disappearance. Disappearances can also involve serious breaches of international instruments that are not conventions, such as the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, approved by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1957, as well as the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, adopted by the General Assembly in 1979 and 1988, respectively. Disappearances also generally violate various economic, social and cultural rights. Furthermore, an enforced disappearance can also have a particularly negative impact on the enjoyment of such rights by family members. The absence of the family’s main breadwinner, particularly in less affluent societies, frequently leaves the family in such dire straits that a number of the rights enumerated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights cannot be realized, such as: 3