Uncovering the Evidence

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:19 -0500

Uncovering the Evidence

by Luis Fondebrider

Download full notebook in English and a brief summary in Armenian and Russian below.

Forensic science has been a powerful tool in the scientific documentation of human rights violations around the world, and especially in Latin America. The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team has been in the forefront of efforts to train human rights NGOs to use forensic tools to advance their investigations, to provide more support for victims and to strengthen the credibility of their work against impunity. EAAF uses independent investigations to mobilize and persuade both local and international audiences. The information obtained can also provide useful evidence for future prosecutions. This notebook addresses how human rights organizations can make optimal use of forensic science to advance their work for justice and against impunity.

Over the last fifteen years, the scientific investigation and documentation of human rights violations has become a valuable tool in the search for truth and justice in societies emerging from periods of political, ethnic and religious violence. Forensic expertise has served human rights investigations led by official justice systems of states, historical truth-seeking processes, international tribunals and commissions and human rights NGOs. A forensic scientist can answer some questions with a certain degree of precision:

Was the person tortured?
What was the cause of death?
Was the death accidental or intentional?
Can the unearthed bodies be positively identified?

Such answers offer victims’ families and the judicial process convincing proof of what happened. In an objective, concrete way, scientific analysis complements the testimony of a witness, a photograph or a document related to an incident. This kind of scientific evidence may prove to be fundamental for a ruling on whether an accused person is innocent or guilty. In cases of rape, for example, it can be crucial to discover traces of semen that can be compared with the genetic pattern of the accused person. In recent years, the application of the forensic sciences has had a significant impact in countries where abuses were committed by the government or agencies connected to it, be it for political or other reasons. Official versions of events, often false, can be contrasted with physical evidence and their analysis. This allows a tribunal to establish, for example, that a group of people was executed, and in fact did not die in an armed encounter. In this tactical notebook we show how families of victims, their communities and the organizations that they form–human rights NGOs–can use the forensic sciences in their struggle for truth and justice and prevent the impunity that those responsible for human rights abuses often enjoy.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.

The Human Rights Education Program for Women in Turkey

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:18 -0500

The Human Rights Education Program for Women in Turkey

By Liz Ervecik Amado
Download full notebook in english and a brief summary of the notebook in Russian and Armenian below.

In this notebook we learn about how effective and beneficial building collaborative relationships with government institutions can be to advancing human rights education. Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR)-New Ways in Turkey gained the support and use of government resources for furthering human rights education of women at the local level.

WWHR-New Ways developed a highly successful human rights education curriculum for women but needed an accessible, structured and sustainable way to reach women in need of learning about their rights. They found and developed an excellent partnership through government run, local level community centers. These community centers offered not only professional social workers who could be trained by WWHR-New Ways in facilitating the human rights education curriculum, but also a safe and accessible place for women to learn about their rights. We hope this notebook will provide ideas and insights for others as they seek opportunities for building mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships with government bodies for furthering human rights efforts.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.

Armenian, English, Russian

Uncovering the Evidence