Enforced disappearances are among the cruelest of crimes. To the kidnapping, torture, and in many cases, murder of the victim, perpetrators intentionally create fear and uncertainty about the fate of the missing person. There are tens of thousands of families around the world whose loved ones were picked up by security forces or armed groups never to be heard from again. Although men are predominantly targeted, the impact on women is severe and lasting. On this International Day of the Disappeared, we highlight the specific harms suffered by women in these crimes, which must be understood and recognized if they are to be accounted for and addressed.

Women themselves have been victims of enforced or involuntary disappearances in many places, from Latin America to Bosnia and Herzegovina to the ongoing tragedy in Syria. Although the perpetrators’ motives may vary, the plight of those forcefully taken from their homes, often not to be seen alive again, is a common one.

Where women themselves are not the direct targets of this heinous crime, they face specific hardships, economic and social, in rebuilding their life and caring for their family, even as they grapple with the emotional trauma of having lost a loved one and searching for answers, for weeks or years. This uncertainty stretches into a sometimes paralyzing limbo of not knowing if their loved ones are still alive or dead and the circumstances surrounding their death and what has happened to their body.

The financial impact of an enforced disappearance on families cannot be underestimated. For women, the negative effects range from dispossession, to lack of access to pensions, to discriminatory inheritance laws. In many cases, finding a reliable source of income to feed their family becomes an enormous challenge, usually further exacerbated by situations of inequality where women don’t have the same employment and earning opportunities as men.

Read the source article at huffingtonpost.com