A-HRC-13-42

A/HRC/13/42
page 40
Turkish Cypriots were declared inadmissible in 2002. 144 In the cases of Cyprus v. Turkey 145 and
Varnava v. Turkey, 146 the Court found continuing violations of European Convention articles 2, 3
and 5 with regard to Greek Cypriot missing persons.
C. The United Nations and regional responses towards the
outlawing of the practice of secret detention
87. The United Nations has paid increasing attention to the issue of secret detention and its
relation to enforced disappearances since 1978, in the context of denunciations by numerous
non-governmental organizations and widespread concerns with human rights situations in Chile,
Cyprus and Argentina. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was one of the first
international human rights bodies to respond to the phenomenon of enforced disappearances and
secret detentions during the 1970s, both in general terms and with regard to specific cases in
Chile since the military coup d’état of 11 September 1973. 147
88. In 1978, the General Assembly, deeply concerned by reports from various parts of the
world relating to enforced or involuntary disappearances of persons as a result of excesses on the
part of law enforcement or security authorities or similar organizations, adopted a resolution
dealing specifically with disappeared persons and requested the Commission on Human Rights
to make appropriate recommendations. 148 On 6 March 1979, the Commission established a
mandate for experts to study the question of the fate of missing and disappeared persons in Chile.
In his report, Felix Ermacora, the expert in charge of the study, proposed, inter alia, a number of
preventive measures, such as the prohibition of secret places of detention, the maintenance of a
central register of arrest and detention, the right of civilian judges to visit all places of
detention. 149
89. Subsequently, the Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 1979/38, requested the
Commission on Human Rights to consider, as a matter of priority, the question of disappeared
144
European Court of Human Rights, Lütfi Celul Karabardak and others v. Cyprus, application
no. 76575/01, and Baybora and Others v. Cyprus, application no. 77116/01, admissibility
decisions of 22 October 2002.
145 European Court of Human Rights, Cyprus v. Turkey, application 25781/94, judgement of 10
May 2001.
146
European Court of Human Rights, Varnava v. Cyprus, applications nos. 16064/90, 16065/90,
16066/90, 16068/90, 16069/90, 16070/90, 16071/90, 16072/90 and 16073/90, judgement of
18 September 2009.
147 Wilder Tayler, “Background to the elaboration of the draft international convention for the
protection of all persons from forced disappearance”, ICJ Review No. 62-63, September 2001, p.
63.
148
General Assembly resolution 33/173.
149
A/34/583/Add.1, paras. 193-197.