Enforced disappearances in Europe: Shaping international standards of prevention and enforcement of state responsibility – Grażyna Baranowska, PhD.

The phenomenon of enforced disappearance in Europe has not been previously addressed in any Polish publication. Grażyna Baranowska, PhD, wrote the book based on her 2016 dissertation, entitled Enforced disappearances in Europe: Shaping international standards of prevention and response. The purpose of the monograph was to ‘examine the formation of international legal standards in Europe for the prevention of and response to enforced disappearances’.


The author has comprehensive knowledge, which she meticulously presents in the six chapters she has written. The first chapter is an introduction, which briefly outlines the historical background, the course of events, the scale of violations and the steps taken to resolve enforced disappearances in Europe. In the second chapter the author presents the treaty and non-treaty legal basis for the obligations of states in the context of enforced disappearances. The third chapter analyses the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the context of enforced disappearances; the fourth chapter addresses some of the most relevant decisions of the Human Rights Committee of European states. In the fifth chapter, the author examines three bodies established in connection with the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, while the last chapter discusses international mechanisms related to the study of the practice of enforced disappearances in Europe that were not previously analysed by the author. Each chapter ends with a conclusion, which improves and helps to summarise the individual chapters.

In a review of the publication Dr A. Szarek-Zawijacz writes:

‘Possessing very extensive general knowledge in the field of human rights protection (in particular the Strasbourg jurisprudence), the author is able to show particular aspects of the problem of enforced disappearance claims in the broader human rights context. The impressive sources used in the work – a very large number of documents and case law examples – as well as the wealth of literature constitute the high merit of the reviewed publication, which is further enhanced by the fact that the author, having had the opportunity to confront her research ideas with the reality of the families of victims and the experience of experts who have been providing assistance to such people for years, is able to draw conclusions that take this perspective into account.… Baranowska’s book is an in-depth and comprehensive study of an important topic in international human rights law. The passion and knowledge with which it was written should encourage not only lawyers to read it, but also other people interested in the issue of respect for human rights in Europe.’


Wydanie: Warszawa 2017
Stan prawny: 10 lipca 2017 r
Wydawca:C.H. Beck
Seria: Monografie Prawnicze
Autorzy: (red.) Grażyna Baranowska.
ISBN:  978-83-25593-40-7
Ilość stron: 267
Publikacja dostępna w Bibliotece INP PAN sygn. 54034