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State repression is a prominent feature of nondemocracies, but its effectiveness in quieting dissent and fostering regime survival remains unclear. We exploit the location of military bases before the coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile in 1973, which is uncorrelated to precoup electoral outcomes, and show that counties near these bases experienced more killings and forced disappearances at the hands of the government during the dictatorship. Our main result is that residents of counties close to military bases both registered to vote and voted “No” to Pinochet’s continuation in power at higher rates in the crucial 1988 plebiscite that bolstered the democratic transition. Potential mechanisms include informational frictions on the intensity of repression in counties far from bases and shifts in preferences caused by increased proximity to the events. Election outcomes after democratization show no lasting change in political preferences.

This article discusses the role of archives of transitional justice and “dealing with the past” (DWP) mechanisms when determining the fate of missing persons. The concept of dealing with the past, the terms “enforced disappearance” and “missing person”, and the specific role of archives in periods of transition are examined. Subsequently, specific questions and challenges related to access and use of archives by DWP mechanisms, including those mechanisms with a mandate to determine the fate of missing persons, are described. Many questions related to access to archives, information management and preservation of records are similarly applicable to DWP mechanisms in general and to specific mechanisms mandated to search for missing persons. The article provides some examples of States’ obligations related to maintaining and providing access to archives that could assist in the search for missing persons under international law and policy. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of the preservation and protection of archives relevant for dealing with the past. It further highlights the need to grant DWP mechanisms, especially those aimed at determining the fate of missing persons, access to those archives.

Throughout Spain's transition years (1975-1985), the country has maintained an \"agreement to forget\" and consequently failed to prosecute any perpetrators of crimes during the Franco dictatorship. This Note examines Franco-era forced disappearances in Spain and argues that the ICC has ratione temporis jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute perpetrators under the application of the continuing crimes doctrine, which is consistent with the principle of nullum crimen sine lege.

Medicolegal systems investigate the cause and manner of death, particularly differentiating between unintentional and intentional deaths. The examination of remains from unlawfully killed individuals is critical in exposing human rights violations. However, forensic medical investigations of these human remains can face multiple challenges, especially in contexts marked by limited resources, political influence, and sub-optimal investigative procedures. When killings are state-sanctioned or facilitated by well-resourced non-state actors, the clandestine disposal of remains can create a culture of impunity, leaving affected families and communities without recourse or resolution. This study aggregates articles in English and Spanish, examining the current state of how forensic medical research on extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances informs practice. It highlights critical gaps in the empirical literature, particularly in the reporting of the scientific findings that impact the investigation of victims of these unlawful killings. These cases' inherently non-linear and unpredictable nature, often influenced by chaotic and unstable conditions, can create disproportionate challenges for forensics practitioners. To address these gaps, this review suggests leveraging epidemiological frameworks to track data trends in these unlawful killings, supporting public health initiatives in prevention and policy. It emphasises the need for comprehensive documentation, robust databases, and adaptive forensic methodologies to navigate uncertainties and systemic limitations inherent in this complex and unpredictable domain of medicolegal death investigation.

The disappearance of 43 students of the teachers’ training college at Ayotzinapa in 2014 has inspired a broad social movement. Ethnographic work and interviews conducted at several of the demonstrations to show solidarity with the parents of the students reveal that their forced disappearance has been framed by participants as a collective cultural trauma. The politicization of this trauma has led to a change in the relationship between citizens and public institutions and produced a new social narrative. La desaparición de 43 estudiantes de la escuela de formación de profesores en Ayotzinapa en 2014 inspiró un amplio movimiento social. Trabajo etnográfico y entrevistas realizadas durante varias de las manifestaciones para mostrar solidaridad con los padres de los estudiantes revelan que su desaparición forzada ha sido enmarcada por los participantes como un trauma cultural colectivo. La politización de este trauma ha llevado a un cambio en la relación entre los ciudadanos y las instituciones públicas y ha producido una nueva narrativa social.

Bangladesh celebrated its 50th year in 2021, marking significant improvement in the lives of its citizens. However, the celebrations were muted by not just the ongoing pandemic but also increasing authoritarianism. The economy was hit hard by the pandemic, but a recovery appears to be underway. A resolution to the Rohingya refugee crisis remains elusive, and in the long run the country remains acutely vulnerable to climate change.

Enforced disappearances occur almost every year in democratic Argentina (over 200 since 1983). Yet Argentina has made extensive legal commitments to end the practice and its strong human rights movement has pushed for these commitments and subsequent compliance. So, why has compliance been so difficult to achieve in Argentina? I argue that enforced disappearances in democracy produce powerful government counterframes that significantly impede human rights advocates’ efforts to ensure treaty compliance. These counterframes are reinforced by judicial ambiguity and fragment human rights advocates’ responses. This article contributes to the literature on how countries move from human rights commitment to compliance. It is based in a qualitative case study of Argentina, drawing on an analysis of 3,565 news articles on five cases of enforced disappearance that occurred under democratic governments, 22 in-depth interviews, secondary material, and two decades of research on police violence in Argentina.

PurposeThis study aims to explore and identify the information-seeking process and practices of those searching for the forcefully disappeared in Colombia. It answers the questions; how do families in Colombia seek information about a disappearance, how is this seeking process mediated and how are information barriers dealt with?Design/methodology/approachBased on document analysis and interviews with families and NGO representatives, this bottom-up study explores the trajectory of the families' information-seeking process to highlight the most salient information practices.FindingsA general trajectory of a search for information is laid out. The overwhelming barriers to information forces families to carry the burden of becoming information providers. NGOs provide situated learning on how to document a disappearance and deal with the state. This knowledge is passed on to families creating communities of practices. The information produced here becomes the main source of knowledge about this crime.Originality/valueIt makes a new contribution to the field of information practices by introducing the context of enforced disappearances using the example of Colombia, identifying a significant information-seeking process.

Abstract Why do citizens support violations of their own rights? We know a good deal about why governments sometimes restrict access to information and political participation through censorship, repression, or forced disappearances. But we know little about why citizens sometimes support these government encroachments on their own freedoms. We test one conventional explanation for this phenomenon—that individuals trade freedom for security—by conducting a survey experiment that examines public support for limits on freedom of speech. Our results suggest that external threats do, in fact, increase the willingness of citizens to accept curtailments of their right to free speech. They provide strong evidence that citizens respond to risk with an increased desire for security, even when that security comes at the expense of their individual freedoms. This finding suggests a research agenda examining the interactions between governance and threat perception, including how states manipulate demand for human rights in practice, how citizens evaluate threats to security in the context of conflicting information, and how fluctuating demand for rights influences the dissent-repression nexus.

Does violent repression strengthen the state? In this article we explore the legacies of repression by the Mexican government on subsequent patterns of state consolidation. We investigate how a particular form of state repression, forced disappearances of alleged leftist dissidents during the ‘Dirty War’, had path-dependent consequences for different dimensions of state capacity nearly 50 years later. To do so, we rely on data gathered from suppressed Mexican human rights reports of forced disappearances which, to our knowledge, have not been analyzed by social scientists before. Controlling for a rich set of pre-disappearances covariates we find that forced disappearances are positively correlated with contemporary measures of fiscal, territorial, and bureaucratic capacity. However, historical forced disappearances do not help the state to provide security, to consolidate its monopoly over the use of force, or to provide welfare-related public goods in the long run. Moreover, disappearances are negatively correlated with various measures of trust in the government. Forced disappearances committed by the state appear to have long-term yet heterogeneous effects on state consolidation.