Ambassador
Ambassador Event
LATIN AMERICAN INITIATIVE FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF DISAPPEARED PERSONS
June 2, 2009
Ambassador Wayne participated on June 2 in a press conference offered by Argentina’s Humans Rights Secretariat in which the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (E.A.A.F.) announced the first identifications under the "Latin American Initiative for the Identification of Disappeared Persons," funded by the U.S. Department of State.
"I congratulate members of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team for the impeccable work and valuable contribution to the quest for truth and reconciliation with the past by relatives of disappeared persons. We are proud to support this valuable initiative,” said Ambassador Wayne.
Humans Rights Secretary Eduardo Luis Duhalde, Buenos Aires Province Human Rights Secretary Sara Cobacho, other officials and representatives of Human Rights institutions also attended. Patricia Bernardi, forensic anthropologist and Vice-President of EAAF, released a statement at the press conference to explain the first results of the initiative and Cecilia Ayerdi, also from EAAF, moderated the press conference.
Thanks to the support of the U.S. Congress and the State Department that granted US$ 1.4 million, EAAF implemented the Latin American Initiative for the Identification of Disappeared Persons (ILID). These funds, together with resources granted by different national, provincial and local institutions in Argentina, allowed for the matching of more than 5,000 blood samples from relatives of disappeared persons with samples of 598 remains recovered by EAAF and still pending identification.
Samples were sent to The Bode Technology Group laboratory in Lorton (VA, USA) for analysis. Although blood samples were mostly collected in the country, others collected in Chile, Bolivia, Spain, England and Sweden were also included.
EAAF’s efforts to identify remains of victims of human rights abuses have contributed to Argentina’s reconciliation process by capping years-long search by victim’s relatives.
During the press conference, Estela Carlotto from “Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo” also thanked the team for their unrelenting efforts to find answers to many families searching for the truth about what happened to their loved ones.
* About EAAF
EAAF is a non-governmental, non-profit, scientific organization that applies forensic sciences – mainly forensic anthropology and archeology – to the investigation of human rights violations in Argentina and worldwide. EAAF was established in 1984 to investigate the cases of at least 10,000 disappeared people in Argentina during the military dictatorship that ruled from 1976-1983.
