An international accord aimed at preventing abductions - a fate affecting tens of thousands of people throughout the world - came into force Thursday, the United Nations said. The International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which was launched by the UN General Assembly in 2006, became law following its ratification last month by Iraq and Brazil.
This took the number of ratifications past the required 20 countries, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said. The convention obliges the 87 signatory states to punish government officials or bodies linked to the state responsible for forced disappearances and compensate the victims. If such abductions are generalised or systematic they become crimes against humanity.
Human rights groups welcomed the move. "It is an important achievement in the struggle against a cause of indescribable fear and sorrow for hundreds of thousands of people world-wide," said Olivier Dubois of The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "This convention will certainly contribute to greater protection against enforced disappearance," he added. Campaigners said that tens of thousands of people in Iraq are still hoping to receive news of their relatives who have gone missing in the country since the 1980s.