In September 2023, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) published a report on the advantages and disadvantages of new technologies in cases of enforced disappearances.

The report introduced its concerns regarding new technologies in paragraph 4, stating that new technologies can be used by repressive governments, criminal networks, and armed groups against human rights defenders and the relatives of disappeared persons. This can be done through surveillance, monitoring, intrusion, disinformation campaigns, online harassment and cyber attacks. Additionally, technology corporations can hamper the activity of human rights defenders and the relatives of the disappeared through the development of hardware and software.

In paragraph 5, the report recognised the advantages of new technologies when used properly, pointing out how indispensable they are in documenting and investigating human rights violations, obtaining and preserving evidence and promoting accountability.

Section II details how states can misuse new technologies to the detriment of the search of missing persons, inversely protecting its perpetrators, mostly by addressing internet access (or lack thereof) and the cyber attacks to which the disappeared, their relatives, and human rights defenders are subjected.

Regarding access to the internet, it explains that:

• Disrupted internet access and mobile data, limited internet access or complete shutdown can help conceal enforced disappearances.
• Shutdowns or similar disruptions prevent monitoring, documentation and rapid reporting of these crimes, hindering investigations and search activities, while jeopardising the right to know the truth and favouring impunity.

Significantly, Latin America as a whole is still far from having total access to the internet, with only 10 percent of its total population connected to fifth generation technologies. Moreover, there is a big digital divide between cities and rural areas, with little to no access to the internet in the latter, which makes it much more difficult to investigate disappearances and prosecute culprits in those areas.

Misuse
Regarding cyber attacks, the report states that:

• Human rights defenders, including relatives of disappeared persons, have been charged and prosecuted under domestic legislation on cybersecurity, either because they published information on their social media or criticised the government for its alleged involvement or impunity in cases of enforced disappearances.
• Social media has been used against human rights defenders and/or the relatives of the disappeared to conduct smear campaigns, cyber attacks, targeted defamation, disinformation campaigns, stigmatisation on the disappeared persons or their families, online harassment, sexual harassment, and hate speech, by digitally-enabled tools, including troll farms, botnets, and fake accounts.
• Cyber attacks conducted against human rights defenders, including relatives of disappeared persons, encompass sabotage via phishing, malware and ransomware, espionage and supply of disinformation, as well as tainted leaks and doxxing.
• Websites set up by relatives of disappeared persons or their associations, either to honour and preserve the memory of their loved ones or on the issue of enforced disappearance in general, have been subjected to cyber attacks such as unjustified interferences, re-victimisation and violations of the dignity and reputation of the disappeared persons and their relatives.
• ITCs were used to spy on relatives of disappeared persons, their representatives, associations, and human rights defenders.

These WGEID findings are even more worrying given that Latin America occupies second place regarding the number of attacks on institutions/organisations and third place in year-on-year growth in attacks globally. In 2022, the amount of cyberattacks on institutions increased by 28 per cent. The sector that receives the most attacks is education and research followed by the government and health sectors.

There is still much work to do in the region regarding safety on the internet, and Latin American countries need to pass laws that protect people in cyberspaces, otherwise, cyber-attacks are bound to keep happening to relatives of the disappeared and those trying to bring awareness to the cases, such as human rights defenders.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) observes that there is a need throughout the region to make an extra effort to support to institutions in both the public and private spheres with regulations and laws that are updated and timely, making it possible to generate preventive actions aimed at hindering activities criminal activities in cyberspace, enabling rapid recovery scenarios and data protection. This protection must include non-governmental and civil society organisations.

Advantages
Not everything is bad news, though. Section III discusses the use of new technologies that aid in cases of enforced disappearances, such as:

• Information processing, which must include exhaustive search for details about the person (before/during and after disappearance) with a gendered lens and use of this information across the entire process.
• Open-source intelligence, which relies upon technology to gather and analyse publicly available data, such as social media, satellite imagery or mapping tools, both in the search for disappeared persons and in securing evidence to identify and prosecute perpetrators.
• Early tracking of digital traces of the disappeared.
• Satellite imagery can facilitate the search for disappeared persons, by locating torture sites and identifying mass graves or burial sites.
• Advances in forensic science can help determine the fate and whereabouts of disappeared persons, including through use of biometric data and setting up of genetic databases.
• CCTV footage in the place where the disappeared person was allegedly taken can help identify the number plate of the vehicle used and its subsequent itinerary. Cross-referencing this information with call-logs and mobile data of the disappeared, can provide more clues.
• Geo-location programmes, flight tracking, network analysis, 3D modelling, remote sensing, audio analysis, synchronisation and photogrammetry – have already proven effective in reconstructing crime scenes and tracking alleged perpetrators.

It is important to note that while these technologies have proven to be extremely useful in the search of missing persons, it is usually up to volunteers, non-governmental organisations, civil society or relatives to use these technologies in the search and/or rescue of victims, to publicise the cases and help identify the perpetrators. This means that civil society is exposed to risks when engaging in such activities.

On this point, the WGEID states that members of civil society organisations and relatives of disappeared persons must be provided with adequate training on digital hygiene, data sensitivity and minimisation of harm. These programmes should allow civil society organisations to integrate security methods in their work and acquire in-house capacity to diagnose existing risks and recover from threats or attacks.

This topic is of particular relevance in Latin America. Civil society organisations, and search commissions or Comisiones de Búsquedaare historic social movements and organisations that have, since the era of military regimes in Latin America, fought to find their missing loved ones. These commissions and civil society organisations were born in several countries of Latin America with the objective of providing a response to the serious crises of impunity regarding disappearances perpetrated by state officials, their botched investigation and the search of those who disappeared. One of the best-known civil society organisations is Madres [Mothers] y Abuelas [Grandmothers]de Plaza de Mayo in Argentina.

Social movements, civil society organisations, nonprofits and search commissions have uniquely shaped the way disappearances are addressed in Latin America, and because their work is still highly influential, they are key actors in cases of enforced disappearances, thus they need support, protection, and knowledge of new technologies in order to avoid risks and attacks.

States must take the lead
Lastly, the WGEID recommends that states:

• Refrain from imposing internet shutdowns and restrictions to the access to communications or specific social media platforms and maximise internet access.
• Adopt all necessary measures to ensure that human rights defenders, relatives of disappeared persons, journalists and social-media users can freely express opinion online, through social media, blogs or similar accounts, without being criminalised for reporting or denouncing enforced disappearances.
• Take all measures to prevent cyber attacks, smear or disinformation campaigns against human rights defenders, including relatives of disappeared persons, and investigate all relevant instances with a view to identifying, prosecuting and sanctioning those responsible and offering redress to victims.
• Ensure that individuals or civil society organisations targeted can exercise their right to an effective remedy and obtain reparation.
• Proactively search for the disappeared person alive and adopt measures and resources necessary to develop and apply new technologies at an early stage.
• Adopt all necessary measures, including through new technologies, to preserve and facilitate access to archives that may contain relevant information on enforced disappearance.

It also recommends that development agencies and donors:

• Work to close the global digital divide.
• Take all measures necessary to secure affordable Internet access for the greatest number of people to increase the use of internet-based technologies as facilitators for human rights, including with regard to the search for disappeared persons and the documentation of the corresponding crimes.
• Support training programmes on digital literacy and hygiene, as well as on open-source intelligence, directed at civil society organisations and, in particular, at associations of relatives of disappeared persons, to raise awareness on existing risks and ensure they build core skills, including the ability to diagnose, respond to and recover from adverse digital events.

In July of this year, the WGEID presented its report to the UN General Assembly, reflecting on the activities carried out in 2024, and stated that, following on from its previous report on new technologies and enforced disappearances, it had developed the simulation of a case study to illustrate the step-by-step process to investigate a case of enforced disappearance through the use of new technologies. With this, they aim to show the implications of new technologies in terms of advantages and existing obstacles. When the outcomes of this project will be made available and publicly presented, they will provide a clearer landscape of the real impact and effects of new technologies on enforced disappearances, and how they shape and influence the search and investigation.

In the meantime, the WGEID released a video in November of this year, which presents a summary of new technologies available, and how they can be used in cases of enforced disappearances. The video represents a very important source of information and space of education for civil society organisations, search commissions, and relatives, as it provides valuable findings in terms of what tools, technologies, and applications can be used, are the safest, and the most helpful to carry out the search and investigation of cases of missing persons.

New technologies are already changing the landscape of how enforced disappearances are being addressed by both state and non-state actors. Their use in the investigation of enforced disappearances will undoubtedly continue, but in the case of Latin America, civil society organisations, non-governmental associations and search commissions will take the lead, as they have been doing all these years. Whilst the Working Group encourages civil society organisations to get involved, it reaffirms that the search for the disappeared and the corresponding criminal investigations are international obligations of states: they cannot leave the burden entirely on civil society and relatives of the disappeared.

In order to accomplish that, Latin American states must invest in new technologies for the search activities and investigations, cooperate with one another, and pass laws to protect individuals, organisations, associations and Commissions from cyber attacks while aiding them to update their knowledge in order to prevent risk.

This week we are delighted to publish the first of a number of posts by Sara Cristina Benítez-Mongelós, the blog’s regional correspondent for Latin America. Upcoming posts by Sara will examine issues concerning the UN Cybercrime Convention as well as attacks on civil and non-governmental organisations.

The GCHRP Editorial Team

Cite as: Benítez-Mongelós, Sara. "The use of new technologies in cases of enforced disappearances: Its pros and cons", GC Human Rights Preparedness, 7 November 2024, https://gchumanrights.org/gc-preparedness/preparedness-civil-and-political-rights/article-detail/the-use-of-new-technologies-in-cases-of-enforced-disappearances-its-pros-and-cons.html