8 the victim's death was known to the authorities or agents, his relatives were not informed despite their unstinting efforts to discover his whereabouts, and because attempts had been made to dispose of the remains. The Commission also claims that there were further violations of the American Convention connected with these events. 35. In the first cases of disappearance of persons submitted to it this Court maintained that: [t]he forced disappearance of human beings is a multiple and continuous violation of many rights under the Convention that the States Parties are obligated to respect and guarantee... The practice of disappearance, in addition to directly violating many provisions of the Convention, such as those noted above, constitutes a radical breach of the treaty in that it shows a crass abandonment of the values which emanate from the concept of human dignity and of the most basic principles of the inter-American system and the Convention. The existence of this practice, moreover, evinces a disregard of the duty to organize the State is such a manner a to guarantee the rights recognized in the Convention (Velásquez Rodríguez Case, Judgment of July 29, 1988. Series C No. 4, paras. 155 and 158, and Godínez Cruz Case, Judgment of January 20, 1989. Series C No. 5, paras. 163 and 166). 36. There is no treaty in force containing a legal definition of forced disappearance of persons which is applicable to the States Parties to the Convention. However, note should be taken of the texts of two instruments, the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, of December 18, 1992, and the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons, of June 9, 1994. Although the latter has not yet entered into force for Guatemala, these instruments embody several principles of international law on the subject and they may be invoked pursuant to Article 29(d) of the American Convention. In the terms of that article, no provision of this Convention shall be interpreted as “excluding or limiting the effects that the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other international acts of the same nature may have.” 37. Article 17(1) of the United Nations Declaration states that: Acts constituting enforced disappearance shall be considered a continuing offense as long as its perpetrators continue to conceal the fate and the whereabouts of persons who have disappeared and as long as these facts remain unclarified. Article III of the aforementioned Inter-American Convention provides that: The States Parties undertake to adopt, in accordance with their constitutional procedures, the legislative measures that may be needed to define the forced disappearance of persons as an offense and to impose an appropriate punishment commensurate with its extreme gravity. This offense shall be deemed continuous or permanent as long as the fate or whereabouts of the victim has not been determined. 38. In addition, in Guatemala's domestic legislation, Article 201 TER of the Penal Code amending decree No. 33-96 of the Congress of the Republic approved on May 22, 1996stipulates in the pertinent part that the crime of forced disappearance “shall be deemed to be continuing until such time as the victim is freed.” 39. The foregoing means that, in accordance with the aforementioned principles of international law which are also embodied in Guatemalan legislation, forced disappearance implies the violation of various human rights recognized in international human rights treaties, including the American Convention, and that the effects of such infringements even though some may have been completed, as in the instant case- may be prolonged continuously or permanently until such time as the victim's fate or whereabouts are established.