This chapter of a major forthcoming AI report examines the duty of the state to put an end to extrajudicial executions and “disappearances”. It reports on such mechanisms as official condemnation, prohibition in law, chain of command control, the right and duty to disobey, restraints on lethal force and the disbanding of “death squads”. It goes on to detail safeguards on the arrest, detention and release of prisoners, including notification of relatives, the use of habeas corpus and other judicial remedies, putting an end to the use of secret detention, registers of prisoners, and ensuring they are brought before a judicial authority, allowing access to prisoners, and visits of inspection. It concludes with certain human rights education measures.
