Article 9

1. Each State Party shall take the necessary measures to establish its competence to

exercise jurisdiction over the offence of enforced disappearance:

(a) When the offence is committed in any territory under its jurisdiction or on board a

ship or aircraft registered in that State;

(b) When the alleged offender is one of its nationals;

(c) When the disappeared person is one of its nationals and the State Party considers it

appropriate.

2. Each State Party shall likewise take such measures as may be necessary to establish

its competence to exercise jurisdiction over the offence of enforced disappearance

when the alleged offender is present in any territory under its jurisdiction, unless it

extradites or surrenders him or her to another State in accordance with its international

obligations or surrenders him or her to an international criminal tribunal whose

jurisdiction it has recognized.

3. This Convention does not exclude any additional criminal jurisdiction exercised in

accordance with national law.

Article 10

1. Upon being satisfied, after an examination of the information available to it, that the

circumstances so warrant, any State Party in whose territory a person suspected of

having committed an offence of enforced disappearance is present shall take him or

her into custody or take such other legal measures as are necessary to ensure his or her

presence. The custody and other legal measures shall be as provided for in the law of

that State Party but may be maintained only for such time as is necessary to ensure the

person’s presence at criminal, surrender or extradition proceedings.

2. A State Party which has taken the measures referred to in paragraph 1 of this article

shall immediately carry out a preliminary inquiry or investigations to establish the

facts. It shall notify the States Parties referred to in article 9, paragraph 1, of the

measures it has taken in pursuance of paragraph 1 of this article, including detention

and the circumstances warranting detention, and of the findings of its preliminary

inquiry or its investigations, indicating whether it intends to exercise its jurisdiction.

3. Any person in custody pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article may communicate

immediately with the nearest appropriate representative of the State of which he or she

is a national, or, if he or she is a stateless person, with the representative of the State

where he or she usually resides.

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