Misplaced Pages

#207792

158-485: Among other things, the commission revealed that over 200,000 people were killed or disappeared during the conflict and attributed 93% of the violations to state forces and related paramilitary groups. The commission noted that during the conflict the distinction between combatant and non-combatant was not respected and as a result many children, priests, indigenous leaders, and innocent women and men were killed. The CEH aimed to instill national harmony, promote peace, foster

316-628: A car bomb in Buenos Aires , Argentina , in 1974. A year later, the deaths of 119 opponents abroad were claimed as the product of infighting between Marxist factions, the DINA setting up a disinformation campaign to propagate this thesis, Operation Colombo . The campaign was legitimized and supported by the leading newspaper in Chile, El Mercurio . Other prominent victims of Operation Condor included, among thousands of less famous persons, Juan José Torres ,

474-602: A crime against humanity , not subject to a statute of limitations , in international criminal law . On December 20, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance . In international human rights law , disappearances at the hands of the state has been labelled as "enforced" or "forced disappearances" since

632-469: A Rwanda, to a Srebrenica – to gross and systematic violations of human rights that affect every precept of our common humanity?" In September 2001, the Canadian government established an ad hoc committee to address this balance between state sovereignty and humanitarian intervention . The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty published its final report in 2001, which focused not on

790-484: A United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) communication base in Panama . Pinochet justified these operations as being necessary in order to save the country from communism . Some political scientists have ascribed the relative bloodiness of the coup to the stability of the existing democratic system, which required extreme action to overturn. Some of the most famous cases of human rights violations occurred during

948-541: A consortium of high-tech volunteer corps, including NetCorps Canada and Net Corps America, which United Nations Volunteers (UNV) would coordinate. In the "Report of the high-level panel of experts on information and communication technology", suggesting a UN ICT Task Force , the panel welcomed the establishment of UNITeS. It made suggestions on its configuration and implementation strategy, including that ICT4D volunteering opportunities make mobilising "national human resources" (local ICT experts) within developing countries

1106-531: A convention within the framework of the United Nations. This was followed by the deliberations of the 1981 Paris Colloquium submitted by Louis Joinet in the form of a draft subcommittee in August 1988. Several governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations responded to the invitation of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to provide comments and observations to the project. On 20 December 2006,

1264-488: A culture of mutual respect regarding human rights, and preserve the memory of the conflict's victims. Guatemala is a multiethnic, pluricultural and multilingual nation and has been plagued by violence and exclusion directed at the poorest and most vulnerable, specifically the indigenous (Mayan) communities. A colonial legacy left power in the hands of an elite minority, much like many other Latin American countries. Repression

1422-519: A favourite of the United States. According to Richard Holbrooke , Annan's "gutsy performance" convinced the United States that he would be a good replacement for Boutros-Ghali. He was appointed a special representative of the Secretary-General to the former Yugoslavia , serving from November 1995 to March 1996. In 2003, retired Canadian general Roméo Dallaire , who was force commander of

1580-569: A five-point "Call to Action" to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic . Stating it was a "personal priority", Annan proposed the establishment of a Global AIDS and Health Fund , "dedicated to the battle against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases", to stimulate the increased international spending needed to help developing countries confront the HIV/AIDS crisis. In June of that year, the General Assembly of

1738-596: A human rights issue in the 1970s as a result of its use by military dictatorships in Latin America during the dirty wars. However, it has occurred all over the world. According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court , which came into force on July 1, 2002, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed at any civilian population, enforced disappearance qualifies as

SECTION 10

#1732852403208

1896-612: A letter transmitting the report to the General Assembly and Security Council, Annan stated that the Panel's recommendations were essential to making the United Nations truly credible as a force for peace. Later that same year, the Security Council adopted several provisions relating to peacekeeping following the report, in Resolution 1327 . In 2000, Annan issued a report titled We the Peoples:

2054-400: A long-serving staff member's allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against Werner Blatter , director of UNHCR personnel. The investigation found Lubbers guilty of sexual harassment; no mention was made publicly of the other charge against a senior official or two subsequent complaints filed later that year. During the official investigation, Lubbers wrote a letter which some considered

2212-539: A path of peace and reconciliation. These recommendations were created in accordance with the UN draft "Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparations for Victims of Violation of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law" (E/CN.4/Sub2/1996/17). Throughout the recommendations the CEH highlights the need for indigenous political participation. The Guatemalan army

2370-724: A press conference "They are just that… desaparecidos . They are not alive, neither are they dead. They are just missing". It is thought that between 1976 and 1983 in Argentina, up to 30,000 people (8,960 named cases, according to the official report by the CONADEP ) were killed and in many cases disappeared. In an originally classified cable first published by John Dinges in 2004, the Argentine 601st Intelligence Battalion, which started counting victims in 1975, in mid-1978 estimated that 22,000 persons had been killed or "disappeared". Since 2010, under

2528-773: A priority for both men and women. The initiative was launched at the UNV and was active from February 2001 to February 2005. Initiative staff and volunteers participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in December 2003. In an address to the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, Annan argued that the "goals of the United Nations and those of business can, indeed, be mutually supportive" and proposed that

2686-430: A reflection of its colonial history. In addition, they found the absence of effective state social policy to have accentuated the historical dynamic of exclusion. In fact, they state, most recent state policy has produced inequality and endemic institutional weakness perpetuates the discrepancies among demographics. Leading up to the conflict, civil and political rights were suppressed and public venues were closed to prevent

2844-534: A result, the UN and its member states had to consider a willingness to act to prevent conflict and civilian suffering, a dilemma between "two concepts of sovereignty" that Annan also presented in a preceding article in The Economist on 16 September 1999. In the March 2000 Millennium Report to the UN, Annan asked: "If humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to

3002-510: A speech to the General Assembly on 20 September 1999, "to address the prospects for human security and intervention in the next century", Annan argued that individual sovereignty —the protections afforded by the Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of the UN —was being strengthened, while the notion of state sovereignty was being redefined by globalisation and international co-operation. As

3160-527: A threat to the female worker who had brought the charges. On 15 July 2004, Annan cleared Lubbers of the accusations, saying they were not substantial enough legally. The internal UN–OIOS report on Lubbers was leaked, and sections accompanied by an article by Kate Holt were published in a British newspaper. In February 2005, Lubbers resigned as head of the UN refugee agency , saying he wanted to relieve political pressure on Annan. In December 2004, reports surfaced that

3318-553: A weapons depository; such weapons could have helped Dallaire defend the endangered Tutsis . In 2004, ten years after the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed, Annan said: "I could and should have done more to sound the alarm and rally support." In his book Interventions: A Life in War and Peace , Annan again argued that the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations could have made better use of

SECTION 20

#1732852403208

3476-408: Is a plethora of root causes of Guatemala's 36 year civil war. Guatemala's economy, heavily based on coffee and sugar exports, relied on the exploitation of indigenous labour and land. A democratic regime and Marxist insurgencies posed a direct threat to the political and economic elite as well as their main trading partner — the United States. As a result, the state magnified the military threat posed by

3634-573: Is estimated that 500 babies born in this way were given for informal adoption to families with close ties to the military. Eventually, many of the captives were heavily drugged and loaded onto aircraft, from which they were thrown alive while in flight over the Atlantic Ocean in " death flights " ( vuelos de la muerte ) to leave no trace of their death. Without any bodies, the government could deny any knowledge of their whereabouts and accusations that they had been killed. The forced disappearances were

3792-456: Is never repeated". Annan supported sending a UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, Sudan . He worked with the government of Sudan to accept a transfer of power from the African Union peacekeeping mission to a UN one. Annan also worked with several Arab and Muslim countries on women's rights and other topics. Beginning in 1998, Annan convened an annual UN "Security Council Retreat" with

3950-452: Is particularly relevant in Guatemala considering 83% of the victims in the conflict were indigenous. In addition, Rachel Sieder has investigated judicial reform and violence in postwar Guatemala and states that homicide rates in fact were higher in 2011 than during the height of the armed conflict. The effectiveness of the CEH is highly contested, however it has seen successes — particularly with

4108-532: Is the worst mistake by a senior UN official that I have seen in that entire time." Observers from other nations supported Malloch's view that conservative politicians in the US prevented many citizens from understanding the benefits of US involvement in the UN . On 19 September 2006, Annan gave a farewell address to world leaders gathered at the UN headquarters in New York in anticipation of his retirement on 31 December. In

4266-522: Is working towards universal ratification of the convention. Disappearances work on two levels: not only do they silence opponents and critics who have disappeared, but they also create uncertainty and fear in the wider community, silencing others they think would oppose and criticize. Disappearances entail the violation of many fundamental human rights declared in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) . For

4424-591: The Akan names tradition, some children are named according to the day of the week they were born, sometimes in relation to how many children precede them. Kofi in Akan is the name that corresponds with Friday, the day on which Annan was born. The last name Annan in Fante means fourth-born child. Annan said that his surname rhymes with "cannon" in English. From 1954 to 1957, Annan attended

4582-587: The Algerian Civil War , which began in 1992 as militant Islamist guerrillas attacked the military government that had annulled an Islamic Salvation Front victory, thousands of people were forcibly disappeared. Disappearances continued up to the late 1990s, but thereafter dropped off sharply with the decline in violence in 1997. Some of the disappeared were kidnapped or killed by the guerrillas but others are presumed to have been taken by state security forces under Mohamed Mediène . This latter group has become

4740-567: The Awami League regime, at least 500 people – most of whom are opposition leaders and activists – have been declared disappeared in Bangladesh by the state security forces . According to the report of a domestic human rights organization, 82 people have disappeared from January to September 2014. After the disappearances, at least 39 of the victims were found dead while others remained missing. On 25 June 2010, an opposition leader Chowdhury Alam

4898-869: The Chilean military coup of September 11 , 1973. The report of the Working Group to Investigate the Situation of Human Rights in that country, which was submitted to the United Nations Commission on February 4, 1976, illustrated such a case for the first time, when Alfonso Chanfreau , of French origin, was arrested in July 1974 at his home in Santiago de Chile. Earlier, in February 1975, the UN Commission on Human Rights had used

Historical Clarification Commission - Misplaced Pages Continue

5056-648: The Christian Democrat President of Chile from 1964 to 1970, may have been poisoned in 1982 by a toxin produced by DINA biochemist Eugenio Berrios . Berríos himself is reputed to having been assassinated by Chilean intelligence in Uruguay , after being spirited away to said country in the early 1990s. Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan ( / ˈ k oʊ f i ˈ æ n æ n / KOH -fee AN -an , US also /- ˈ ɑː n ɑː n / -⁠ AH -nahn ; 8 April 1938 – 18 August 2018)

5214-683: The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, became a single permanent and binding court for all the Member States of the Council of Europe. Although the European Convention does not contain any express prohibition of the practice of enforced disappearance, the Court dealt with several cases of disappearance in 1993 in the context of the conflict between

5372-500: The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri , Annan recalled President Truman 's leadership in the founding of the United Nations. He called for the United States to return to Truman's multilateralist foreign policies and to follow Truman's doctrine that "the responsibility of the great states is to serve and not dominate the peoples of the world". He also said that

5530-603: The Independent Inquiry Committee , which was led by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker , then the director of the United Nations Association of the US . In his first interview with the Inquiry Committee, Annan denied meeting with Cotecna. Later in the inquiry, he recalled having met with Cotecna's chief executive Elie-Georges Massey twice. In a final report issued on 27 October,

5688-669: The Institute des droits de l'homme du Barreau de Paris (Institute of Human Rights of the Paris Law School) organized a high-level symposium to promote an international convention on disappearances, followed by several draft declarations and conventions proposed by the Argentine League for Human Rights, FEDEFAM at the annual congress of Peru in 1982 or the Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo from Bogotá in 1988. In that same year,

5846-877: The Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearances , the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights regarding social economic and cultural rights, and the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights . In 2002 it ratified the Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child , regarding the participation of children in armed conflicts and

6004-726: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights promulgated the first convictions declaring the State of Honduras guilty of violating its duty to respect and guarantee the rights to life, liberty, and personal integrity of the disappeared Angel Manfredo Velásquez Rodríguez . Rodríguez was a Honduran student kidnapped in September 1981 in Tegucigalpa by heavily armed civilians connected with the Honduran Armed Forces and Saúl Godínez Cruz. Since

6162-790: The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology of Ghana . He received a Ford Foundation grant, enabling him to complete his undergraduate studies in economics at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota , US, in 1961. Annan then completed a diplôme d'études approfondies DEA degree in International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland , from 1961 to 1962. After some years of work experience, he studied at

6320-589: The MIT Sloan School of Management (1971–72) in the Sloan Fellows program and earned a master's degree in management. Annan was fluent in English, French, Akan , and some Kru languages as well as other African languages . In 1962, Annan started working as a budget officer for the World Health Organization , an agency of the United Nations (UN). From 1974 to 1976, he worked as a manager of

6478-482: The Oil-for-Food Programme , but was largely exonerated of personal corruption. After the end of his term as secretary-general, he founded the Kofi Annan Foundation in 2007 to work on international development . In 2012, Annan was the UN– Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria to help find a resolution to the Syrian civil war . Annan quit after becoming frustrated with the UN's lack of progress with regards to conflict resolution. In September 2016, Annan

Historical Clarification Commission - Misplaced Pages Continue

6636-407: The State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB) had had them under constant surveillance, the official investigation announced that the case could not be solved. The investigation of the disappearance of journalist Dzmitry Zavadski in 2000 has also yielded no results. Copies of a report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which linked senior Belarusian officials to

6794-523: The US and to the extradition of Michael Townley , a US citizen who worked for the DINA and had organized Letelier's assassination. Other targeted victims, who survived assassination attempts, included Christian-Democrat politician Bernardo Leighton , who barely escaped an assassination attempt in Rome in 1975 by the Italian neo-fascist terrorist Stefano delle Chiaie (the assassination attempt seriously injured Leighton and his wife, Anita Fresno, leaving her permanently disabled); Carlos Altamirano ,

6952-463: The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), claimed that Annan was overly passive in his response to the imminent genocide . In his book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2003), Dallaire asserted that Annan held back UN troops from intervening to settle the conflict and from providing more logistical and material support. Dallaire claimed that Annan failed to respond to his repeated faxes asking for access to

7110-402: The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action . For example, the practice is specifically addressed by the OAS 's Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons. There is also evidence that enforced disappearances occur systematically during armed conflict, such as Nazi Germany's Night and Fog program, which constitutes war crimes. In February 1980, the United Nations established

7268-406: The World Health Organization 's Geneva office. He went on to work in several capacities at the UN Headquarters , including serving as the Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping between March 1992 and December 1996. He was appointed secretary-general on 13 December 1996 by the Security Council and later confirmed by the General Assembly , making him the first officeholder to be elected from

7426-524: The 15 states' council representatives. It was held at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) Conference Center at the Rockefeller family estate in Pocantico Hills, New York , and was sponsored by both the RBF and the UN. In June 2004, Annan was given a copy of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) report on the complaint brought by four female workers against Ruud Lubbers , UN High Commissioner for Refugees , for sexual harassment , abuse of authority , and retaliation . The report also reviewed

7584-455: The CEH was with regards to human rights violations during the civil war. They registered a total of 42,275 casualties by human rights violations and acts of violence, of that 23,671 were victims of arbitrary execution and 6,159 by forced disappearance. Estimates of those killed or disappeared during the conflict reach as high as 200,000. In terms of demographics, the CEH found that 83% of "fully identified" victims were Mayan and 17% Ladino . 93% of

7742-400: The CEH's statement that the state was obligated to investigate crimes committed during the conflict, José Efraín Ríos Montt — former military dictator — was tried and convicted for genocide and crimes against humanity. However, for multiple reasons his trial was suspended until January 2015, then further suspended until January 2016. A closed-door trial began in March 2016. Rios Montt died while

7900-531: The Chilean military's seizure of power on 11 September 1973, the military junta led by the then commander-in-chief Augusto Pinochet banned all the leftist parties that had constituted the democratically elected president Salvador Allende 's UP coalition. All other parties were placed in "indefinite recess", and later banned outright. The regime's violence was directed not only against dissidents, but also against their families and other civilians. The Rettig Report concluded 2,279 persons who disappeared during

8058-423: The Citizen , formulated on August 26, 1789, in France by the authorities that emerged from the French Revolution , where it was already stated in Articles 7 and 12: Art. 7. No person may be charged, detained, or imprisoned except in cases determined by the law and in the manner prescribed therein. Those requesting, facilitating, executing, or executing arbitrary orders must be punished... Art. 12. The guarantee of

SECTION 50

#1732852403208

8216-464: The Commission were as follows: responsibility could not be attributed to any individual — naming names was not allowed; the findings and conclusions of the CEH could not have judicial repercussions; and the commission would have a six-month mandate — extendable to 18 months. The final restriction was not upheld as the commission duration lasted two years. In addition, the CEH had no subpoena powers. The CEH's report, Memory of Silence (Memoria del Silencio)

8374-467: The Declaration included as the primary obligation of States to enact specific criminal legislation, unlike the Convention against Torture, the principle of universal jurisdiction was not established nor was it agreed that the provisions of the Declaration and the recommendations of the Working Group were legally binding so that only a few states took concrete steps to comply with them. The United Nations Declaration, despite its shortcomings, served to awaken

8532-423: The French expert in the then Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities , Louis Joinet, prepared the draft text to be adopted in 1992 by the General Assembly with the title Declaration on the Protection of All Persons Against enforced disappearances. The definition presented was based on the one traditionally used by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Although

8690-463: The General Assembly his proposals for a fundamental overhaul of the United Nations Secretariat . The reform report is titled Investing in the United Nations, For a Stronger Organization Worldwide . On 30 March 2006, he presented to the General Assembly his analysis and recommendations for updating the entire work programme of the United Nations Secretariat. The reform report is titled Mandating and Delivering: Analysis and Recommendations to Facilitate

8848-484: The Guatemalan government employed counter-insurgency tactics, and state-based violence and terror began to escalate. The conflict intensified in the 1970s and saw the height of its destruction and casualties in the 1979 - 1984 period. Guatemala's civil war concluded with the 1996 Oslo Agreement which declared a formal ceasefire between the Guatemalan government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity ( Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, URNG ) forces. There

9006-423: The Holocaust , and on the then-upcoming International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust , an Iranian Holocaust denial conference in 2006. During a visit to Iran instigated by continued Iranian uranium enrichment , Annan said: "I think the tragedy of the Holocaust is an undeniable historical fact and we should really accept that fact and teach people what happened in World War II and ensure it

9164-432: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to monitor compliance by states parties with their obligations, issued in March 1982 and July 1983, two sentences condemning the State of Uruguay for the cases of Eduardo Bleier, a former member of the Communist Party of Uruguay, residing in Hungary and Israel, disappeared after his arrest in 1975 in Montevideo , and Elena Quinteros Almeida, missing since her arrest at

9322-405: The Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel had made an international appeal that, with the support of the French government, obtained the response of the General Assembly in the form of resolution 33/173 of 20 December 1978, which specifically referred to "missing persons" and requested the Commission on Human Rights to make appropriate recommendations. On 6 March 1979, the Commission authorized

9480-449: The Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance , adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 20, 2006, states that the widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearances constitutes a crime against humanity. It gives victims' families the right to seek reparations and to demand the truth about the disappearance of their loved ones. The convention provides the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance, as well as

9638-446: The Review of Mandates . Regarding the UN Human Rights Council , Annan said "declining credibility" had "cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system. Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself." He believed that, despite its flaws, the council could do good. In March 2000, Annan appointed the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations to assess

SECTION 60

#1732852403208

9796-408: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century . The report called for member states to "put people at the centre of everything we do": "No calling is more noble, and no responsibility greater, than that of enabling men, women and children, in cities and villages around the world, to make their lives better." In the final chapter of the report, Annan called to "free our fellow men and women from

9954-422: The Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court , enforced disappearances constitute a crime against humanity when committed as a part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population with the knowledge of the attack. The Rome Statute defines enforced disappearances differently than international human rights law: [T]he arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with

10112-427: The Secretary-General's son Kojo Annan received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna Inspection SA , which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Programme . Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations. On 11 November 2005, The Sunday Times agreed to apologise and pay a substantial sum in damages to Kojo Annan, accepting that the allegations were untrue. Annan appointed

10270-422: The Turkish security forces and members or supporters of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) from the Kurdish region to the southeast of Turkey. Another body providing the basis for the legal definition of the crime of enforced disappearance was the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina , a human rights tribunal established under Annex 6 of the Dayton Peace Agreement of 14 December 1995 which, although it

10428-470: The UN General Assembly on 21 March 2005. Annan recommended Security Council expansion and a host of other UN reforms . On 31 January 2006, Annan outlined his vision for a comprehensive and extensive reform of the UN in a policy speech to the United Nations Association UK . The speech, delivered at Central Hall, Westminster , also marked the 60th anniversary of the first meetings of the General Assembly and Security Council. On 7 March 2006, he presented to

10586-401: The UN Secretary General and the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), signed the "Agreement on the establishment of the Commission to clarify past human rights violations and acts of violence that have caused the Guatemalan population to suffer," which led to the creation of the CEH. Aside from pressure from the UN Secretary General to work towards truth and reconciliation,

10744-470: The UN almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while failing to stand up for it against its domestic critics is simply not sustainable. You will lose the UN one way or another. [...] [That] the US is constructively engaged with the UN [...] is not well known or understood, in part because much of the public discourse that reaches the US heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News ." Malloch later said his talk

10902-400: The UN staff itself. He was re-elected for a second term in 2001 and was succeeded as secretary-general by Ban Ki-moon in 2007. As secretary-general, Annan reformed the UN bureaucracy, worked to combat HIV/AIDS (especially in Africa ) and launched the UN Global Compact . He was criticised for not expanding the Security Council and faced calls for his resignation after an investigation into

11060-433: The United Nations General Assembly adopted the text of the International Convention on the Forced Disappearance of Persons after more than 25 years of development and was signed in Paris on 6 February 2007 at a ceremony to which representatives of the 53 first signatory countries attended and in which 20 of them immediately ratified it. On 19 April 2007, the Commission on Human Rights updated the list of countries that ratified

11218-444: The United Nations committed to creating such a fund during a special session on AIDS, and the permanent secretariat of the Global Fund was subsequently established in January 2002. Following the failure of Annan and the international community to intervene in the genocide in Rwanda and in Srebrenica , Annan asked whether the international community had an obligation in such situations to intervene to protect civilian populations. In

11376-583: The United States and the United Kingdom not to invade without the support of the United Nations. In a September 2004 interview on the BBC , when questioned about the legal authority for the invasion, Annan said he believed it was not in conformity with the UN charter and was illegal. In 1998, Annan was deeply involved in supporting the transition from military to civilian rule in Nigeria . The following year, he supported

11534-502: The United States must maintain its commitment to human rights, "including in the struggle against terrorism". After he served as UN secretary-general, Annan took up residence in Geneva and worked in a leading capacity on various international humanitarian endeavours. In 2007, Annan established the Kofi Annan Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit organisation that "works to promote better global governance and strengthen

11692-685: The Venezuelan Embassy in Montevideo in June 1976, in an incident that led to the suspension of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In its judgments, the Committee relied on a number of articles of the International Covenant, in particular, those relating to "the right to liberty and personal security", "the right of detainees to be treated humanely and with respect to the inherent dignity of

11850-443: The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, "the first United Nations human rights thematic mechanism to be established with a universal mandate." Its main task "is to assist families in determining the fate or whereabouts of their family members who have reportedly disappeared." In August 2014, the working group reported 43,250 unresolved cases of disappearances in 88 different states. The International Convention for

12008-809: The abject and dehumanizing poverty in which more than 1 billion of them are currently confined". At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, national leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration , which the United Nations Secretariat subsequently implemented as the Millennium Development Goals in 2001. Within the We the Peoples document, Annan suggested the establishment of a United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS),

12166-515: The appointment as experts of Dr. Felix Ermacora and Waleed M. Sadi, who later resigned due to political pressure, to study the question of the fate of disappearances in Chile , issuing a report to the General Assembly on 21 November 1979. Felix Ermacora's report became a reference point on the legal issue of crime by including a series of conclusions and recommendations which were later collected by international organizations and bodies. Meanwhile, during

12324-499: The areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption . Under the Compact, companies commit to the ten principles and are brought together with UN agencies, labour groups and civil society to implement them effectively. Towards the end of the 1990s, increased awareness of the destructive potential of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS pushed public health issues to the top of the global development agenda. In April 2001, Annan issued

12482-421: The authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, to remove them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time The crime of forced disappearance begins with the history of the rights stated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of

12640-475: The cases of disappearances, were confiscated. In December 2019, Deutsche Welle published a documentary film in which Yury Garavski, a former member of a special unit of the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs , confirmed that it was his unit which had arrested, taken away, and murdered Zecharanka and that they later did the same with Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krassouski. Almost immediately after

12798-481: The charges and argued that he was being made a " scapegoat ". The Volcker report was highly critical of the UN management structure and the Security Council oversight. It strongly recommended a new chief operating officer (COO) position to handle the fiscal and administrative responsibilities then under the Secretary-General's office. The report listed the Western and Middle Eastern companies that had benefited illegally from

12956-437: The commission and governments on the improvement of the protection afforded to miss persons and their families and to prevent cases of enforced disappearance. Since then, different causes began to be developed in various international legal bodies, whose sentences served to establish a specific jurisprudence on enforced disappearance. The United Nations Human Rights Committee , established in 1977 in accordance with article 28 of

13114-481: The commission faced were primarily based on political and ideological disagreements. In fact, although the CEH finally came to fruition, its progress was stalled when the army stated its clear opposition to the commission and the URNG affirmed its inclusion as non-negotiable. Since the report was released in 1999, progress has been made with regards to compliance of the aforementioned recommendations. In 2000 Guatemala ratified

13272-581: The commission, and the UN Secretary General promoted the project and facilitated the contribution of monetary resources and expert knowledge through various UN bodies. The commission, as outlined in its charter, was to be composed of the current moderator of the peace negotiations (appointed by the UN Secretary General), one Guatemalan citizen (appointed by the aforementioned moderator and agreed upon by both parties), and one academic (selected by

13430-568: The committee found insufficient evidence to indict Annan on any illegal actions but did find fault with Benon Sevan , an Armenian-Cypriot national who had worked for the UN for about 40 years. Appointed by Annan to the Oil-For-Food role, Sevan repeatedly asked Iraqis for allocations of oil to the African Middle East Petroleum Company. Sevan's behaviour was "ethically improper", Volcker said to reporters. Sevan repeatedly denied

13588-486: The convention, which included 59 nations. Since the establishment of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in 1980, the crime of enforced disappearance has proved to be a global problem, affecting many countries on five continents. It is the subject of a special follow-up by the HRC which regularly publishes reports on its complaint and situation, as well as

13746-449: The creation of a culture of mutual respect regarding human rights and the preservation of the memory of the victims was of paramount importance to the commission. Guatemalans and external actors in favour of the commission's work wanted to record Guatemala's bloody past. There is awareness with regards to the systematic violation of human rights during the civil war, but the acts committed and their consequences have yet to become entrenched in

13904-525: The crimes. During Argentina 's Dirty War and Operation Condor , many alleged political dissidents were abducted or illegally detained and kept in clandestine detention centers such as Navy Petty-Officers School or "ESMA", where they were questioned, tortured, and almost always killed. There were about 500 clandestine detention camps , including those of Garaje Azopardo and Orletti. These places of torture, located mostly in Buenos Aires , contributed up to 30,000 desaparecidos, or disappeared persons, to

14062-466: The demands for the government initiatives to probe such disappearances, investigations into such cases were absent. In 1999 opposition leaders Yury Zacharanka and Viktar Hanchar , as well as his business associate Anatol Krasouski, disappeared. Hanchar and Krasouski disappeared the same day of a broadcast on state television in which President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the chiefs of his security services to crack down on "opposition scum". Although

14220-499: The demands of the Clinton administration for regime removal and inspection of sites, often presidential palaces, that were not mandated in any resolution and were of questionable intelligence value, severely hampering UNSCOM's ability to co-operate with the Iraqi government and contributing to their expulsion from the country. Ritter also claimed that Annan regularly interfered with the work of

14378-467: The dictatorship to find the children born in captivity during the Dirty War, and later to determine the culprits of crimes against humanity and promote their trial and sentencing. Some 500 children are estimated to have been illegally given for adoption; 120 cases had been confirmed by DNA tests as of 2016 . The term desaparecidos was used by de facto President General Jorge Rafael Videla , who said in

14536-416: The disappeared person, these include the right to liberty , the right to personal security and humane treatment (including freedom from torture), the right to a fair trial , to legal counsel and to equal protection under the law, and the right of presumption of innocence . Their families, who often spend the rest of their lives searching for information on the disappeared, are also victims. According to

14694-692: The early period: in October 1973, at least 70 people were killed throughout the country by the Caravan of Death . Charles Horman , a journalist from the US , "disappeared", as did Víctor Olea Alegría , a member of the Socialist Party , and many others, in 1973. Mathematician Boris Weisfeiler is thought to have disappeared near Colonia Dignidad , a German colony founded by Nazi Christian minister Paul Schäfer in Parral , which

14852-520: The efforts of East Timor to secure independence from Indonesia. In 2000, he was responsible for certifying Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, and in 2006, he led talks in New York between the presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria, which led to a settlement of the dispute between the two countries over the Bakassi peninsula. Annan and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disagreed sharply on Iran's nuclear program , on an Iranian exhibition of cartoons mocking

15010-631: The elite Mfantsipim , an all-boys Methodist boarding school in Cape Coast founded in the 1870s. Annan said that the school taught him that "suffering anywhere, concerns people everywhere". In 1957, the year Annan graduated from Mfantsipim, the Gold Coast gained independence from the UK and began using the name " Ghana ". In 1958, Annan began studying economics at the Kumasi College of Science and Technology, now

15168-403: The establishment of the position of deputy secretary-general, a 10-per cent reduction in posts, a reduction in administrative costs, the consolidation of the UN at the country level, and reaching out to civil society and the private sector as partners. Annan also proposed to hold a Millennium Summit in 2000. After years of research, Annan presented a progress report, In Larger Freedom , to

15326-477: The exhortations of non-governmental organizations and family organizations of the victims, in the same resolution of 31 October 1979, the General Assembly of the OAS issued a statement, after receiving pressure from the Argentine government, in which only the states in which persons had disappeared were urged to refrain from enacting or enforcing laws that might hinder the investigation of such disappearances. Shortly after

15484-645: The express definition of the crime of enforced disappearance had not yet been defined, the Court had to rely on different articles of the American Convention on Human Rights of 1969. Other rulings issued by the Inter-American Court condemned Colombia , Guatemala (for several cases including the call of the "street children"), Peru , and Bolivia . In Europe, the European Court of Human Rights , established in 1959, in accordance with article 38 of

15642-553: The first formal endorsement by UN member states of the doctrine of RtoP. In the years after 1998, when UNSCOM was expelled by the government of Saddam Hussein , and during the Iraq disarmament crisis , in which the United States blamed UNSCOM and former IAEA director Hans Blix for failing to disarm Iraq properly, former UNSCOM chief weapons inspector Scott Ritter blamed Annan for being slow and ineffective in enforcing Security Council resolutions on Iraq and being overtly submissive to

15800-590: The first legally binding instrument on the subject, and entered into force on 28 March 1996, after its ratification by eight countries: Argentina, Panama, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia and Guatemala. In view of the meager success of the United Nations Declaration, a non-binding instrument that could only marginally influence the practice of enforced disappearances, a number of non-governmental organizations and several experts proposed strengthening protection against disappearances, adopting

15958-634: The former President of Bolivia , assassinated in Buenos Aires on 2 June 1976; Carmelo Soria , a UN diplomat working for the CEPAL , assassinated in July 1976; and Orlando Letelier , a former Chilean ambassador to the United States and minister in Allende's cabinet, assassinated after his release from internment and exile in Washington D.C. by a car bomb on 21 September 1976. This led to strained relations with

16116-621: The founding of the first humanitarian organizations known as the Red Cross in 1859, and the first international typification of abuses and crimes in the form of the 1864 Geneva Convention. In 1946, after the Second World War , the Nuremberg trials brought to public attention to the Nacht und Nebel decree, one of the most prominent antecedents of the crime of enforced disappearance. The trials included

16274-489: The human being" and "the right of every human being to the recognition of his juridical personality", while in the case of Quinteros, it was solved for the first time in favor of the relatives considered equally victims. In 1983, the Organization of American States (OAS) declared by its resolution 666 XIII-0/83 that any enforced disappearance should be described as a crime against humanity. A few years later, in 1988 and 1989,

16432-488: The inspectors and diluted the chain of command by trying to micromanage all of the activities of UNSCOM, which caused intelligence processing (and the resulting inspections) to be backed up and caused confusion with the Iraqis as to who was in charge and as a result, they generally refused to take orders from Ritter or Rolf Ekéus without explicit approval from Annan, which could have taken days, if not weeks. He later believed Annan

16590-512: The insurgency and launched attacks that lead to civilian massacres and violations of human rights of any suspected "supporters" of the guerrilla. In addition, under a Cold War context, anti-communist sentiment permeated the U.S. - Guatemalan discourse and thus counterinsurgency against the Marxist insurgency groups was more severe. In June 1994 the Guatemalan government and the URNG, under advisory by

16748-785: The leader of the Chilean Socialist Party, targeted for murder in 1975 by Pinochet; Volodia Teitelboim , writer and member of the Communist Party ; Pascal Allende , the nephew of Salvador Allende and president of the MIR , who escaped an assassination attempt in Costa Rica in March 1976; and US Congressman Edward Koch , who received death threats and was the potential assassination target by DINA and Uruguayan intelligence officers for his denunciation of Operation Condor. Furthermore, according to current investigations, Eduardo Frei Montalva ,

16906-623: The media to raise awareness of the violence in Rwanda and put pressure on governments to provide the troops necessary for an intervention. Annan explained that the events in Somalia and the collapse of the UNOSOM II mission fostered a hesitation among UN member states to approve robust peacekeeping operations. As a result, when the UNAMIR mission was approved just days after the battle, the resulting force lacked

17064-505: The military dictatorship were killed for political reasons or as a result of political violence, and approximately 31,947 were tortured according to the later Valech Report , while 1,312 were exiled. The latter were chased all over the world by the intelligence agencies . In Latin America , this was made under the auspices of Operation Condor , a combined operation between the intelligence agencies of various South American countries, assisted by

17222-463: The military junta's attempt to silence the opposition and break the determination of the guerrillas. Missing people who are presumed to have been murdered in this and other ways are today referred to as "the disappeared" ( los desaparecidos ). Activist groups Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo were formed in 1977 by mothers and grandmothers of the "disappeared" victims of

17380-471: The military threat of the insurgency to justify the crimes they committed. In the several years following the release of the CEH's report, scholars have analysed its effectiveness in preventing conflict and creating national harmony as highlighted in the commission's mandate. Jeff Corntassel and Cindy Holder argue that state-facilitated truth mechanisms are fundamentally flawed if they do not address historic and ongoing injustices against indigenous groups — this

17538-467: The monitor from a list comprised by Guatemalan university presidents and approved by both parties). At the height of the investigations, the commission had a staff of 269 and 14 field offices. The staff consisted of both national, and international commissioners — who accounted for just under half of employees. By the end of the CEH's duration, 2000 communities had been visited and testimonies were received from approximately 20,000 people. The restrictions of

17696-408: The most controversial. Their exact numbers remain disputed, but the government has acknowledged a figure of just over 6,000 disappeared, now presumed dead. The war claimed a total toll of 150,000–200,000 lives. In 2005 a controversial amnesty law was approved in a referendum. It granted financial compensation to families of the "disappeared", but also effectively ended the police investigations into

17854-499: The national consciousness and historical memory of Guatemalans. The commission's duration lasted two years, from February 1997 to February 1999. Its three commissioners were: The process of the commission was complex and was by no means solely a national effort. Throughout the two year mandate of the commission, multiple countries — including Austria, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom — provided monetary, political and moral support. The U.S. provided declassified documents crucial to

18012-505: The obligation of international cooperation, both in the suppression of the practice and in dealing with humanitarian aspects related to the crime. The convention establishes a Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which will be charged with important and innovative functions of monitoring and protection at an international level. Currently, an international campaign called the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances

18170-599: The office of Secretary-General for three consecutive terms. In 2001, the Asia-Pacific Group agreed to support Annan for a second term in return for the African Group 's support for an Asian secretary-general in the 2006 selection . The Security Council recommended Annan for a second term on 27 June 2001, and the General Assembly approved his reappointment on 29 June 2001. Soon after taking office in 1997, Annan released two reports on management reform. On 17 March 1997,

18328-721: The official UN report of 2009, of the 82 countries where the cases of missing persons were identified, the largest number (more than 1000) transmitted were: Iraq (16,544), Sri Lanka (12,226), Argentina (3,449), Guatemala (3,155), Peru (3,009), Algeria (2,939), El Salvador (2,661) and Colombia (1,235). Other countries with numerous cases under denunciation (between 1000 and 100) are: Chile (907), China (116), Congo (114), Ethiopia (119), Philippines (780), Honduras (207), India (430), Indonesia (165), Iran (532), Lebanon (320), Morocco (268), Mexico (392), Nepal (672), Nicaragua (234), Russian Federation (478), Sudan , Yemen (155) and East Timor (504). During

18486-399: The opening of spaces like 'La casa de la memoria' which exist to preserve the memory of the conflict's victims. Forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance ) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the intent of placing

18644-479: The overall count in the Dirty War. The victims would be shipped to places like a garage or basement and tortured for multiple days. Many of the disappeared were people who were considered to be a political or ideological threat to the military junta . The Argentine military justified torture to obtain intelligence and saw the disappearances as a way to curb political dissidence. Abducted pregnant women were kept captive until they gave birth, then often killed. It

18802-441: The previous report of 2007, the number of cases had been 51,531 and affected 79 countries. Many of the countries in the cases are affected internally by violent conflicts, while in other countries the practice of repressive policies towards political opponents is denounced. In other countries, generally in the western and European hemispheres, there are still historical cases that remain unresolved and constitute permanent crimes. In

18960-620: The private sector and the United Nations initiate "a global compact of shared values and principles, which will give a human face to the global market". On 26 July 2000, the United Nations Global Compact was officially launched at UN headquarters in New York. It is a principle-based framework for businesses which aims to "[c]atalyse actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)". The Compact established ten core principles in

19118-697: The program. In 2001, its centennial year, the Nobel Committee decided that the Peace Prize was to be divided between the UN and Annan. They were awarded the Peace Prize "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world", having revitalised the UN and prioritised human rights. The Nobel Committee also recognised his commitment to the struggle to contain the spread of HIV in Africa and his declared opposition to international terrorism . Soon after Annan

19276-466: The recognition of the competence of the Committee Against Torture to receive individual complaints in 2003. Although these accords have been signed and ratified, their content has yet to be integrated into current and future domestic plans. In addition, in 2003, 20 years after the majority of human rights violations occurred, a National Reparations Program was established. In accordance with

19434-673: The regional project for the American continent commissioned by the OAS General Assembly in 1987, which, although drafted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 1988, was subjected to lengthy discussions and modifications that resulted in their stagnation. In June 1994, the OAS General Assembly finally approved the Inter-American Convention on the Forced Disappearance of Persons, which would be

19592-513: The report Management and Organisational Measures (A/51/829) introduced new management mechanisms through the establishment of a cabinet-style body to assist him and the UN's activities in accordance with four core missions. A comprehensive reform agenda was issued on 14 July 1997 titled Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform (A/51/950). Key proposals included the introduction of strategic management to strengthen unity of purpose ,

19750-524: The report by Félix Ermacora, the UN Commission on Human Rights considered one of the proposals made and decided on 29 February 1980 to set up the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the first of the so-called thematic mechanisms of the commission and the most important body of the United Nations that has since been dealing with the problem of disappearances in cases that can be attributed to governments, as well as issuing recommendations to

19908-414: The response and action of the governments concerned. The report of the 2009 Working Group recorded a total of 53,232 cases transmitted by the Working Group to Governments since their inception in 1980 and affecting 82 states. The number of cases that are still under study due to lack of clarification, closed or discontinuous cases amounts to 42,600. Since 2004 the Working Group had clarified 1,776 cases. In

20066-412: The right for the relatives of the disappeared person to know the truth and ultimate fate of the disappeared person. The convention contains several provisions concerning the prevention, investigation, and sanctioning of this crime. It also contains provisions about the rights of victims and their relatives, and the wrongful removal of children born during their captivity. The convention further sets forth

20224-494: The right of states to intervene but on a responsibility to protect populations at risk. The report moved beyond military intervention , arguing that various diplomatic and humanitarian actions could also be utilised to protect civilian populations. In 2005, Annan included the doctrine of " Responsibility to Protect " (RtoP) in his report In Larger Freedom . When the UN General Assembly endorsed that report, it amounted to

20382-436: The rights of man and of the citizen needs a public force. This force is therefore instituted for the benefit of all, and not for the particular utility of those who are in charge of it. Throughout the nineteenth century, along with the technological advancements applied to wars that led to increased mortality among combatants and damage to civilian populations, movements for humanitarian awareness in Western societies resulted in

20540-681: The road to the CEH was influenced by the Catholic Church — specifically when it created the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala (ODHA) in the mid 1990s. With a belief that uncovering the truth would make national reconciliation a possibility and authentic democracy a reality, the CEH aimed not to judge but to clarify the past with "objectivity, equity and impartiality." The commission aimed to ask and answer questions such as: Instillation of national harmony, promotion of peace,

20698-497: The same year, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States adopted a resolution on Chile on 31 October, in which it declared that the practice of disappearances was "an affront to the conscience of the hemisphere", after having sent in September a mission of the Inter-American Commission to Argentina , which confirmed the systematic practice of enforced disappearances by successive military juntas. Despite

20856-769: The shortcomings of the then existing system and to make specific and realistic recommendations for change. The panel was composed of individuals experienced in conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The report it produced, which became known as the Brahimi Report , after the chair of the Panel Lakhdar Brahimi , called for "renewed political commitment on the part of Member States, significant institutional change, and increased financial support". The Panel further noted that to be effective, UN peacekeeping operations must be adequately resourced and equipped, and operate under clear, credible and achievable mandates. In

21014-490: The speech, he outlined three major problems of "an unjust world economy, world disorder, and widespread contempt for human rights and the rule of law", which he believed "have not resolved, but sharpened" during his time as secretary-general. He also pointed to violence in Africa and the Arab–Israeli conflict as two major issues warranting attention. On 11 December 2006, in his final speech as secretary-general , delivered at

21172-401: The spread of anti-government sentiment and other revolutionary thinking. During the armed conflict, the incapacity of the state to deal with political instability led to the creation of an intricate system of repression including an underground, illegal punitive system. Military intelligence was the conflict's driving force. Impunity permeated Guatemala's political system. The principal focus on

21330-687: The state-owned Ghana Tourist Development Company in Accra . In 1980 he became the head of personnel for the office of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva . Between 1981 and 1983, he was a member of the Governing Board of the International School of Geneva . In 1983 he became the director of administrative management services of the UN Secretariat in New York. In 1987, Annan

21488-566: The terms "persons unaccounted for" or "persons whose disappearance was not justified," in a resolution that dealt with the disappearances in Cyprus as a result of the armed conflict that resulted in the division of the island, as part of the two General Assembly resolutions adopted in December 1975 with respect to Cyprus and Chile. In 1977, the General Assembly of the United Nations again discussed disappearances in its resolution 32/118. By then,

21646-516: The testimony of 20 of those persons considered a threat to the security of Nazi Germany and whom the regime detained and condemned to death in the occupied territories of Europe. However, the executions were not carried out immediately; at one time, the people were deported to Germany and imprisoned at locations such as the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp , where they ended up disappearing and no information about their whereabouts and fate

21804-601: The time that enforced disappearances were crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Tribunal in Nuremberg found him guilty of war crimes. Since 1974, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights have been the first international human rights bodies to react to the phenomenon of disappearances, following complaints made in connection with

21962-407: The trial was still ongoing. One of the most controversial revelations of the commission was its statement that at no time during the conflict did guerrilla groups have the military potential to pose an immediate threat to the state or its army. The state was well aware that the insurgency did not represent a real threat to Guatemalan political order. It has been argued that they deliberately magnified

22120-415: The troop levels, resources and mandate to operate effectively. In 1996, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali ran unopposed for a second term. Although he won 14 of the 15 votes on the Security Council, he was vetoed by the United States. After four deadlocked meetings of the Security Council, Boutros-Ghali suspended his candidacy, becoming the only secretary-general ever to be denied a second term. Annan

22278-408: The victim outside the protection of the law. Often, forced disappearance implies murder whereby a victim is abducted , may be illegally detained , and is often tortured during interrogation, ultimately killed, and the body disposed of secretly. The party committing the murder has plausible deniability as there is no evidence of the victim's death. Enforced disappearance was first recognized as

22436-441: The violations were attributed to state forces and related paramilitary groups and 3% to insurgency groups. Among the victims of arbitrary execution, forced disappearance, torture, rape and other violations of fundamental rights were children, priests, indigenous leaders as well as non-combatant women and men with no ties to insurgency groups. The CEH highlighted seven main recommendations for Guatemala's government as it embarked upon

22594-407: Was a "sincere and constructive critique of U.S. policy toward the U.N. by a friend and admirer". The talk was unusual because it violated the unofficial policy of not having top officials publicly criticise member nations. The interim US ambassador John Bolton , appointed by President George W. Bush , was reported to have told Annan on the phone: "I've known you since 1989 and I'm telling you this

22752-401: Was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize . He was the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation , as well as chairman of The Elders , an international organisation founded by Nelson Mandela . Annan joined the United Nations in 1962, working for

22910-599: Was appointed as an assistant secretary-general for Human Resources Management and Security Coordinator for the UN system. In 1990, he became Assistant Secretary-General for Program Planning, Budget and Finance, and Control. When Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali established the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in 1992, Annan was appointed to the new department as Deputy to then Under-Secretary-General Marrack Goulding . Annan replaced Goulding in March 1993 as Under-Secretary-General of that department after American officials persuaded Boutros-Ghali that Annan

23068-584: Was appointed to lead a UN commission to investigate the Rohingya crisis . He died in 2018 and was given a state funeral . Kofi Annan was born in Kumasi in the Gold Coast (now Ghana ) on 8 April 1938. His twin sister Efua Atta, who died in 1991, shared the middle name Atta , which in the Akan language means "twin". Annan and his sister were born into one of the country's Fante aristocratic families; both of their grandfathers and their uncle were Fante paramount chiefs , and their brother Kobina would go on to become Ghana's ambassador to Morocco . In

23226-575: Was arrested by the state police and remained missing since then. His abduction was later denied by the law enforcing agencies. On 17 April 2012, another prominent leader, Ilyas Ali , of the main opposition parties Bangladesh Nationalist Party disappeared by unknown armed personnel. The incident received much media coverage. Before the controversial national election of 2014 , at least 19 opposition men were picked up by security forces. The incidents of enforced disappearances were condemned by both domestic and international human rights organizations. Despite

23384-406: Was awarded the Peace Prize, he was given a chieftaincy title by the Asantehene of Asanteman . The honour was conferred upon him for his "[selfless] contributions to humanity and promotion of peace throughout the world". Annan defended his deputy secretary-general Mark Malloch Brown , who openly criticised the United States in a speech on 6 June 2006: "[T]he prevailing practice of seeking to use

23542-445: Was declared incompetent by ratione temporis to deal with the majority of the 20,000 cases reported, it issued a number of sentences against the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which compensated several families of disappeared persons. In parallel with the resolutions of the international organizations, several non-governmental organizations drafted projects for an international convention. In 1981,

23700-402: Was given as per point III of the decree: III. …In case German or foreign authorities inquire about such prisoners, they are to be told that they were arrested, but that the proceedings do not allow any further information. German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel was condemned in connection with his role in the application of the "NN decree" by Adolf Hitler, although, as it had not been accepted at

23858-401: Was more flexible and more aligned with the role that the Pentagon expected of UN peacekeepers in Somalia. On 29 August 1995, while Boutros-Ghali was unreachable on an aeroplane, Annan instructed United Nations officials to "relinquish for a limited period of time their authority to veto air strikes in Bosnia ". This move allowed NATO forces to conduct Operation Deliberate Force and made him

24016-436: Was oblivious that the Iraqis took advantage of this to delay inspections. He claimed that on one occasion, Annan refused to implement a no-notice inspection of the Iraqi Special Security Organization (SSO) headquarters and instead tried to negotiate access. Still, the negotiation took nearly six weeks, giving the Iraqis more than enough time to clean the site. During the build-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq , Annan called on

24174-404: Was omnipresent — specifically with regards to insurgent groups. In 1954 Guatemala's democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz was overthrown by a U.S.backed right-wing military dictator, Carlos Castillo Armas , in a military coup d'état . The 36 year Guatemalan civil war began in the early 1960s with a military rebellion by left-wing insurgency groups against the new regime. In response,

24332-421: Was opposed to many human rights aspects of the 1996 Peace Accords including the creation and work of the CEH. They argued that these tools were to be used by the insurgency groups to garner political support and military strength. However, support for human rights focused accords and commissions were strongly supported by the URNG, the Catholic Church, and various civil society and human rights based groups. Problems

24490-402: Was presented in February 1999 in a 12 volume report to representatives of the URNG and the Guatemalan government as well as Kofi Annan , the UN Secretary General. The report is available online for public access in both English and Spanish. For the CEH it was clear that in order to understand the past and move forward on a trajectory for peace, an in-depth analysis of the causes of the civil war

24648-434: Was required. They concluded that the four main causes of the conflict were as follows: Structural injustice, closing of free, public spaces, anti-democracy trajectory, Cold War context and international influence. The CEH also investigated Guatemala's systemic problems. They concluded that the structure and nature of economic, cultural and social relations in Guatemala are marked by profound exclusion, antagonism and conflict —

24806-430: Was the leading candidate to replace him, beating Amara Essy by one vote in the first round. However, France vetoed Annan four times before finally abstaining. The UN Security Council recommended Annan on 13 December 1996. Confirmed four days later by the vote of the General Assembly, he started his first term as secretary-general on 1 January 1997. Due to Boutros-Ghali's overthrow, a second Annan term would give Africa

24964-415: Was used as a detention center by the DINA , the secret police. Furthermore, many other important officials of Allende's government were tracked down by the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) during Operation Condor . Thus, General Carlos Prats , Pinochet's predecessor and army commander under Allende, who had resigned rather than support the moves against Allende's government, was assassinated by

#207792