COMPENSATION FOR CRIMES OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYTICAL STUDY IN LIGHT OF INTERNATIONAL AND EMIRATI LAW
1. Introduction. – 2. Literature Review. – 3. Methodology. – 4. The Nature of Compensation for Victims of Enforced Disappearance and its Forms. – 4.1. The Concept of Compensation for the Crime of Enforced Disappearance. – 4.2. Persons Entitled to Compensation. – 4.2.1. The Disappeared Person as a Direct Victim of Enforced Disappearance. – 4.2.2. The Indirect Victim of Enforced Disappearance. – 4.3. Forms of Compensation for Harm from the Crime of Enforced Disappearance. – 4.3.1. Restitution. – 4.3.2. Financial Compensation. – 4.3.3. Rehabilitation. – 4.3.4. Satisfaction. – 4.3.5. Non-repetition. – 5. Legal Regulations of Compensation for Enforced Disappearance in the UAE Compared to Other National Legislations. – 6. Compensation for Crimes of Enforced Disappearance in International Court Rulings. – 6.1. Applications of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. – 6.2. Applications of the European Court of Human Rights. – 7. Conclusions.
Background:
The crime of enforced disappearance is one of the most serious human rights violations, as it causes severe suffering to victims and their families. This crime involves depriving a person of their freedom and fundamental rights in secret, without any official recognition, leaving victims living in a constant state of isolation and anxiety. Addressing this crime has become not only a legal obligation but also a moral obligation for states and the international community to protect victims and ensure justice. Modern criminal policies attach special importance to victims of the crime, not only by punishing the perpetrator but also by seeking to achieve justice through fair compensation for victims and their families. This approach is reflected in international and national legislation and the trends of international human rights courts. The importance of this study lies in analysing the legal framework for compensation for crimes of enforced disappearance from a comparative perspective between international law, UAE legislation and other comparative legislation, with the aim of assessing the adequacy of these laws in protecting victims and ensuring their compensation.
Methods:
This study uses descriptive, analytical, and comparative methods to define compensation for enforced disappearance crimes, identify eligible recipients, and explore various compensation forms. Additionally, it analyses international court rulings on compensation for the crime of enforced disappearance, examines relevant provisions in Emirati law, and compares these with corresponding legal frameworks from other jurisdictions. The comparison of the legislations of Spain, the Philippines, Yemen, Qatar, and Venezuela with that of the UAE highlights the progress and gaps in the UAE's approach to compensating victims of enforced disappearance crimes. This method provides a legal model that the UAE legislator can benefit from in developing and expanding the legal foundations for compensation for the aforementioned crimes.
Results and Conclusions:
The research concluded with several findings, the most significant being the insufficiency of current Emirati legislation to comprehensively compensate victims of enforced disappearance, unlike other comparative legislations. Human rights courts, such as the Inter-American and European Courts of Human Rights, have played a crucial role in establishing principles related to comprehensive compensation for enforced disappearance crimes. The study recommends removing the statute of limitations on compensation claims, allowing victims or their families to seek justice regardless of when the crime occurred. It also suggests benefiting from international judicial trends and successful global experiences in drafting national punitive legislation related to the criminalisation of enforced disappearance.
The crime of enforced disappearance is one of the most serious human rights violations, as it causes severe suffering to victims and their families. This crime involves depriving a person of their freedom and fundamental rights in secret, without any official recognition, leaving victims living in a constant state of isolation and anxiety. Addressing this crime has become not only a legal obligation but also a moral obligation for states and the international community to protect victims and ensure justice. Modern criminal policies attach special importance to victims of the crime, not only by punishing the perpetrator but also by seeking to achieve justice through fair compensation for victims and their families. This approach is reflected in international and national legislation and the trends of international human rights courts. The importance of this study lies in analysing the legal framework for compensation for crimes of enforced disappearance from a comparative perspective between international law, UAE legislation and other comparative legislation, with the aim of assessing the adequacy of these laws in protecting victims and ensuring their compensation.
Methods:
This study uses descriptive, analytical, and comparative methods to define compensation for enforced disappearance crimes, identify eligible recipients, and explore various compensation forms. Additionally, it analyses international court rulings on compensation for the crime of enforced disappearance, examines relevant provisions in Emirati law, and compares these with corresponding legal frameworks from other jurisdictions. The comparison of the legislations of Spain, the Philippines, Yemen, Qatar, and Venezuela with that of the UAE highlights the progress and gaps in the UAE's approach to compensating victims of enforced disappearance crimes. This method provides a legal model that the UAE legislator can benefit from in developing and expanding the legal foundations for compensation for the aforementioned crimes.
Results and Conclusions:
The research concluded with several findings, the most significant being the insufficiency of current Emirati legislation to comprehensively compensate victims of enforced disappearance, unlike other comparative legislations. Human rights courts, such as the Inter-American and European Courts of Human Rights, have played a crucial role in establishing principles related to comprehensive compensation for enforced disappearance crimes. The study recommends removing the statute of limitations on compensation claims, allowing victims or their families to seek justice regardless of when the crime occurred. It also suggests benefiting from international judicial trends and successful global experiences in drafting national punitive legislation related to the criminalisation of enforced disappearance.
Abstract
Background:
The crime of enforced disappearance is one of the most serious human rights violations, as it causes severe suffering to victims and their families. This crime involves depriving a person of their freedom and fundamental rights in secret, without any official recognition, leaving victims living in a constant state of isolation and anxiety. Addressing this crime has become not only a legal obligation but also a moral obligation for states and the international community to protect victims and ensure justice. Modern criminal policies attach special importance to victims of the crime, not only by punishing the perpetrator but also by seeking to achieve justice through fair compensation for victims and their families. This approach is reflected in international and national legislation and the trends of international human rights courts. The importance of this study lies in analysing the legal framework for compensation for crimes of enforced disappearance from a comparative perspective between international law, UAE legislation and other comparative legislation, with the aim of assessing the adequacy of these laws in protecting victims and ensuring their compensation.
Methods:
This study uses descriptive, analytical, and comparative methods to define compensation for enforced disappearance crimes, identify eligible recipients, and explore various compensation forms. Additionally, it analyses international court rulings on compensation for the crime of enforced disappearance, examines relevant provisions in Emirati law, and compares these with corresponding legal frameworks from other jurisdictions. The comparison of the legislations of Spain, the Philippines, Yemen, Qatar, and Venezuela with that of the UAE highlights the progress and gaps in the UAE's approach to compensating victims of enforced disappearance crimes. This method provides a legal model that the UAE legislator can benefit from in developing and expanding the legal foundations for compensation for the aforementioned crimes.
Results and Conclusions:
The research concluded with several findings, the most significant being the insufficiency of current Emirati legislation to comprehensively compensate victims of enforced disappearance, unlike other comparative legislations. Human rights courts, such as the Inter-American and European Courts of Human Rights, have played a crucial role in establishing principles related to comprehensive compensation for enforced disappearance crimes. The study recommends removing the statute of limitations on compensation claims, allowing victims or their families to seek justice regardless of when the crime occurred. It also suggests benefiting from international judicial trends and successful global experiences in drafting national punitive legislation related to the criminalisation of enforced disappearance.
The crime of enforced disappearance is one of the most serious human rights violations, as it causes severe suffering to victims and their families. This crime involves depriving a person of their freedom and fundamental rights in secret, without any official recognition, leaving victims living in a constant state of isolation and anxiety. Addressing this crime has become not only a legal obligation but also a moral obligation for states and the international community to protect victims and ensure justice. Modern criminal policies attach special importance to victims of the crime, not only by punishing the perpetrator but also by seeking to achieve justice through fair compensation for victims and their families. This approach is reflected in international and national legislation and the trends of international human rights courts. The importance of this study lies in analysing the legal framework for compensation for crimes of enforced disappearance from a comparative perspective between international law, UAE legislation and other comparative legislation, with the aim of assessing the adequacy of these laws in protecting victims and ensuring their compensation.
Methods:
This study uses descriptive, analytical, and comparative methods to define compensation for enforced disappearance crimes, identify eligible recipients, and explore various compensation forms. Additionally, it analyses international court rulings on compensation for the crime of enforced disappearance, examines relevant provisions in Emirati law, and compares these with corresponding legal frameworks from other jurisdictions. The comparison of the legislations of Spain, the Philippines, Yemen, Qatar, and Venezuela with that of the UAE highlights the progress and gaps in the UAE's approach to compensating victims of enforced disappearance crimes. This method provides a legal model that the UAE legislator can benefit from in developing and expanding the legal foundations for compensation for the aforementioned crimes.
Results and Conclusions:
The research concluded with several findings, the most significant being the insufficiency of current Emirati legislation to comprehensively compensate victims of enforced disappearance, unlike other comparative legislations. Human rights courts, such as the Inter-American and European Courts of Human Rights, have played a crucial role in establishing principles related to comprehensive compensation for enforced disappearance crimes. The study recommends removing the statute of limitations on compensation claims, allowing victims or their families to seek justice regardless of when the crime occurred. It also suggests benefiting from international judicial trends and successful global experiences in drafting national punitive legislation related to the criminalisation of enforced disappearance.
About Authors
Mahmood Alblooshi
PhD (Law), Researcher, Public Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
u21200953@sharjah.ac.ae
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8022-7882
Co-author, responsible for conceptualization, formal analysis, validation, writing-original draft.
Jamal Barafi
PhD (Law), Associate Professor, Public Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
jbarafi@sharjah.ac.ae
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1551-7187
Corresponding author, responsible for research methodology, data curation, writing original draft, writing – review & editing.
Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Disclaimer: The authors declare that their opinion and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.
Copyright: © 2025 Mahmood Alblooshi and Jamal Barafi. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PhD (Law), Researcher, Public Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
u21200953@sharjah.ac.ae
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8022-7882
Co-author, responsible for conceptualization, formal analysis, validation, writing-original draft.
Jamal Barafi
PhD (Law), Associate Professor, Public Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
jbarafi@sharjah.ac.ae
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1551-7187
Corresponding author, responsible for research methodology, data curation, writing original draft, writing – review & editing.
Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Disclaimer: The authors declare that their opinion and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.
Copyright: © 2025 Mahmood Alblooshi and Jamal Barafi. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
References
1. Abdeen MA, Compensation between Material and Moral Damages (3rd edn, Manshat Al-Maaref 2020).
2. Abu Khawat MJ, ‘Protection from Enforced Disappearance in Light of International Law Rules’ (2017) 73 Egyptian Journal of International Law 68, doi:10.21608/ ejil.2017.297630.
3. Al-Baldawi HMA, ‘International and National Protection from Enforced Disappearance for Children’ (2020) 46 (1) Journal of the Iraqi University 420.
4. Al-Marri MSA, ‘The Crime of Enforced Disappearance in International and National Criminal Law: An Analytical and Comparative Study’ (College of Law, Qatar University 2024)
2. Abu Khawat MJ, ‘Protection from Enforced Disappearance in Light of International Law Rules’ (2017) 73 Egyptian Journal of International Law 68, doi:10.21608/ ejil.2017.297630.
3. Al-Baldawi HMA, ‘International and National Protection from Enforced Disappearance for Children’ (2020) 46 (1) Journal of the Iraqi University 420.
4. Al-Marri MSA, ‘The Crime of Enforced Disappearance in International and National Criminal Law: An Analytical and Comparative Study’ (College of Law, Qatar University 2024)
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Publication history
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Date of submission: 16 Nov 2024
Date of acceptance: 10 Jan 2025
Date of publication: 15 Feb 2025
Whether the manuscript was fast tracked? - No
Number of reviewer report submitted in first round: 2 reports
Number of revision rounds: 1 round, revised version submitted 08 Dec 2025Technical tools were used in the editorial process:
Plagiarism checks - Turnitin from iThenticate https://www.turnitin.com/products/ithenticate/ Scholastica for Peer Review https://scholasticahq.com/law-reviews
How to cite it?
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Alblooshi M and Barafi J, ‘Compensation for Crimes of Enforced Disappearance: A Comparative Analytical Study in Light of International and Emirati Law’ (2025) 8(1) Access to Justice in Eastern Europe 285-321 <https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-8.1-a000115>
