in an isolated, divided, and fragmented way only on the detention or possible torture, or the risk of loss of life,
but to focus instead on all of the facts present in the case under consideration.69 In this way, the
comprehensive consideration of forced disappearance as a complex human rights violation has led the
Commission and the Court to examine altogether the violations of various rights recognized by the
Convention.70
86.
In that sense, the Court has taken a comprehensive approach to the forced disappearance of persons,
due to the multiple behaviors which, joined together for a single purpose, permanently violate the legal rights
protected by the American Convention.71 More specifically, in these cases the Court has analyzed together
violation of the rights to recognition as a person before the law, to life, to humane treatment, and to personal
liberty, enshrined in Articles 3, 4, 5, and 7 of the Convention, respectively.72
87.
The Commission has established that disappearance as a violation of multiple rights seeks and
results in the annulment of the legal personality of the victim.73 It has also considered that the connection
between forced disappearance and the right to legal personality lies in the fact that the precise objective of
the practice of forced disappearance is to remove the individual from the protection due to him or her74, to
keep him or her out of the real and juridical world and hide his or her final destination.75
88.
In the case of Anzualdo Castro vs. Peru, the Court considered the following:
[I]n cases of forced disappearance, in view of the multiple and complex character of this
serious human rights violation, it may also entail a specific violation of the right to
recognition as a person before the law. Over and above the fact that disappeared persons
are unable to continue enjoying and exercising other, and possibly all, rights to which they
are entitled, their disappearance is not only one of the most serious forms of removing a
person from the protection of the legal system, but also denies them their very existence and
leaves them to the fate of a state of limbo or a situation of legal uncertainty vis-à-vis society
and the State.76
89.
With regard to violations of the right to life and humane treatment, from the beginning of forced
disappearance, the Tribunal has determined as follows:
Submission of detainees to repressive officials, state agents, or individuals acting with the
acquiescence or tolerance of the former, who, engage in torture and murder with impunity,
constitutes in and of itself a violation of the duty to prevent violations of the rights to
69 Inter-American Court, Case of Ticona Estrada Vs. Bolivia. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 27, 2008,
Series C No. 191, para. 56.
70IACHR, Report No. 101/01, Case 10247, Extrajudicial Executions, Forced Disappearances of Persons, Peru, October 11, 2001,
para. 178, available at www.IACHR.oas.org/annualrep/2001sp/Peru10247.htm; any Inter-American Court., Case of Tiu Tojín Vs.
Guatemala. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 26, 2008. Series C No. 190, and Case of Ticona Estrada Vs. Bolivia. Merits,
Reparations, and Costs. Judgment of November 27, 2008. Series C No. 191.
71 Inter-American Court, Case of Radilla Pacheco Vs. Mexico. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of
November 23, 2009. Series C No. 209, para. 138.
72 Inter-American Court, Case of Anzualdo Castro Vs. Peru. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of
22 de September de 2009. Series C No. 202, paras. 51-103; Case of Radilla Pacheco Vs. México. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations
and Costs. Judgment of November 23, 2009, Series C No. 209, paras. 138-59.
73
CIDH. Report 93/08. Case 12.529. Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas and José Luis Ibsen Peña. Peru. October 31, 008, para. 278
74
CIDH. Report 93/08. Case 12.529. Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas and José Luis Ibsen Peña. Peru. October 31, 008, para. 277
75
CIDH. Report 93/08. Case 12.529. Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas and José Luis Ibsen Peña. Peru. October 31, 008, para. 277
Inter-American Court, Case of Anzualdo Castro Vs. Peru. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of
September 22, 2009. Series C No. 202, para. 90.76
76
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