On Locating the Rights of Lost

This Article investigates the status and scope of the right to know the truth. It asks the question: What is the nature of the violation that the denial of the truth about disappeared and missing persons constitutes, and how has international law responded to this nature? In the process, the Article explores the need for complete recognition in international human rights law of a distinct right to know the truth and, in this context, critically examines the express guarantee of this right embodied in Article 24(2) of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The Article analyzes the specific dimensions of the violation that a denial of the truth about the disappeared and missing constitutes and examines the extent to which international law and jurisprudence adequately reflect its full nature.