II. DECLARATION ON THE PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS FROM ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE On 18 December 1992 the General Assembly, by resolution 47/133, proclaimed the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as a body of principles for all States. The preamble to the Declaration recalls that the acts which comprise enforced disappearance constitute a violation of the prohibitions found in other international instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It states, however, that it is nonetheless important to devise an instrument which characterizes all acts of enforced disappearance of persons as very serious offences and sets forth standards designed to punish and prevent their commission. The preamble also recalls that the systematic practice of enforced disappearance is of the nature of a crime against humanity. According to the Declaration, any act of enforced disappearance constitutes a violation of the rules of international law guaranteeing, inter alia, the right to recognition as a person before the law, the right to liberty and security of the person and the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It also violates or constitutes a grave threat to the right to life. States are under an obligation to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent and terminate acts of enforced disappearance, in particular to consider them a continuing offence and to establish civil liability. The Declaration also refers to the right to a prompt and effective judicial remedy as a means of determining the whereabouts or state of health of persons deprived of their liberty, as well as unhampered access by national authorities to all places of detention, the maintenance of centralized registers of all persons in detention, the duty to investigate fully all alleged cases of disappearance and the duty to try alleged perpetrators of disappearances before competent ordinary courts and not special tribunals, in particular military courts. All persons involved in the investigation of cases of enforced disappearance shall be protected against ill-treatment, intimidation or reprisal. Statutes of limitations relating to acts of enforced disappearance shall be substantial and commensurate with the extreme 5