Скачать или смотреть The search for disappeared persons – local empowerment and international cooperation

by Dejusticia, Pro-Búsqueda, University of Lausanne, University of Warwick, swisspeace

This video is about enforced disappearance, a heinous human rights violation which is considered to be ongoing until the disappeared person is found. Given its destructive effect on the families, other victims and communities, the importance of addressing it in an appropriate manner while taking into account the victims' needs is crucial for building peace in societies.

In the first part, the video illuminates the problem of enforced disappearances and the search for disappeared persons in El Salvador, as an example of a country with an ongoing struggle to resolve cases of enforced disappearance. This is followed by inputs by some of the members involved in two projects on the search for disappeared persons that have allowed to gain academic insights on the subject matter and to bring them into discussions on the international policy level. The inputs tackle different questions regarding the consequences of enforced disappearances for the victims that are trying to uncover the truth about what happened to their loved ones.

Featuring:

Pamela Favre, Psychologist, Asociación Pro-Búsqueda de Niñas y Niños. Pamela Elizabeth Favre is a psychologist graduated from Universidad Centoramericana “José Simeón Cañas” in 2015, in El Salvador. She has worked mainly in investigation on social phenomena, such as Forced Displacement, and attention to victims, specifically of Enforced Disappearance. She currently works in Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, a non-profit organization that searches for the missing children during the war in El Salvador, founded by mothers of the disappeared. From 1994 to date, 451 cases have been solved out of the 1005 registered, propitiating 282 family reunions. Pamela is part of the psychosocial team, where they try to address the affectations of family separation and the effects of the permanent torture of Enforced Disappearance, the challenges around family reunions or lack of knowledge about the whereabouts of their loved ones, also addressing the impact on the new generations.

Alejandro Jiménez-Ospina, Lawyer and Researcher, Dejusticia. Alejandro Jiménez-Ospina coordinates the litigation team at Dejusticia (Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad). A Colombia-based NGO and think tank that promotes human rights and the rule of law in Colombia and the Global South through a combination of academic research and activism. The main focus of Alejandro´s work at Dejusticia is related with transitional justice, the ending of Colombia’s internal armed conflict and victims’ rights during the transition. There, the question on victims’ rights regarding the search of those who suffered enforced disappearances has been in the center.

Dr. Briony Jones, Associate Professor in International Development, University of Warwick. Briony Jones is an Associate Professor in the Politics and International Studies department of the University of Warwick, and Deputy Director of the Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development. She is also an Associated Researcher in the Dealing with the Past Program at swisspeace. Briony currently leads the research project ""Knowledge for Peace: Understanding Research, Policy, Practice Synergies"" which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Development Cooperation

Dr. Mina Rauschenbach, Researcher and Lecturer, University of Lausanne. Dr. Mina Rauschenbach is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lausanne and a Research Associate at the Leuven Institute of Criminology, University of Leuven. Her main areas of research concern the role of collective constructions of victimhood and rights, with a particular focus on how they shape various stakeholders’ (victims, perpetrators, diasporas) justice practices and perceptions in the aftermath of serious human rights violations.

Ana Srovin Coralli. Ana Srovin Coralli is a Teaching Assistant at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and a PhD candidate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, where she conducts research on evidentiary issues in international sexual crime cases. In addition to sexual violence, Ana’s main research focus has been on enforced disappearances, in particular questions related to the search for disappeared persons, the coordination between the search and criminal investigations concerning disappeared persons and the prohibition of retroactive application of laws in enforced disappearance cases. In recent years, Ana has also worked with swisspeace, UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and International Law Commission.

Contributions to the Geneva Peace Week 2020 Digital Series do not necessarily represent the views of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, its partners, or the partners of Geneva Peace Week.