Enforced disappearance not only violates the rights of the victim, but also causes severe psychological trauma to the relatives, who themselves are in a state of uncertainty and suffering because of the incident. Enforced disappearance is the detention or abduction of a person by state officials, or with their assistance and facilitation by other organized groups, and the subsequent refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts. It is therefore a serious violation of international human rights law, explicitly prohibited by international treaties such as the International Convention for the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and considered a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In Iraq, enforced disappearances have been an ongoing issue and have recurred in several waves. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Iraq (since the late 1960s) has the largest number of missing persons in the world, with 250,000 and nearly a million. The first wave is the time of Ba'athist oppression, the second phase was the 2003 occupation aftermath by the U.S. and its allies, then under the reign of ISIS after 2014, with the phase of liberation of areas from ISIS and the revenge of PMF forces on Sunnis, and the last time in October 2019 demonstrations when tens of demonstrators, dissidents and journalists were disappeared. The situation has been exacerbated by the lack of rule of law, lack of accountability within state institutions and the presence of supra-state forces. The Kurdistan Region has also seen cases of enforced disappearances, especially during political tensions between Kurdish parties in the 1990s as part of the civil war, as well as in armed clashes between Kurdish forces and the Baghdad government. In addition, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have faced strong criticism for their handling of the disappearances of Yazidi women and girls abducted by ISIS.
Data on enforced disappearances in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region remain incomplete due to fear of reprisals, lack of transparency, and weak judicial mechanisms. Addressing this issue requires strong legal reform, accountability for perpetrators and international support to ensure justice for victims and their families. Since 2019, there have been several attempts to pass the enforced disappearance law in Iraq, but so far they have failed due to tensions over the definition of the term and other technical issues. A bill is currently in the House of Representatives and is scheduled to be read and voted on soon.