Wednesday 31,  August 2016
Información para la Prensa N°: 290/16

   Yesterday evening a ceremony was held at the Palacio San Martín in commemoration of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

   The ceremony was presided over by Leandro Despouy, the Special Representative for Human Rights at the international level of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

   In the presence of representatives of human rights organizations, members of the Argentine Congress and the Judiciary, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to our country, Despouy stated that the ceremony was meant to remember the pain felt by the victims and their families and, at the same time, the fight to establish national and international mechanisms to eradicate the scourge of enforced disappearances. As a result of the fight of human rights organizations and many States –including Argentina– that were determined to put an end to this methodology, the United Nations created an International Convention against enforced disappearances and declared 30 August as the international day of the victims.         

   In addition, Despouy said that yesterday’s ceremony ratifies Argentina’s willingness to reaffirm its commitments at the international level and to continue prosecuting crimes against humanity, entrusting independent justice with this important task, in order to avoid revenge.

   The commemoration ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Growth, Rabbi Sergio Bergman, the Undersecretary for Human Rights Protection, Brian Schapira, the Vicepresident of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo  Association, Rosa Roisinblit, Ida Iburrusteta de Micucci, from Mothers of Plaza de Mayo (Founding Line), Gisela Cardozo, from APDH (Permanent Assembly for Human Rights), Valeria Barbuto, Director of Memoria Abierta (Open Memory), and Graciela Lois, from Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos (Association of Families of the Detained and Disappeared). 

   The Convention on Enforced Disappearances adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006 imposes an obligation on States to classify enforced disappearance as an autonomous crime and urges them to adopt a series of measures for the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of those responsible for the crime. Argentina participated in the elaboration of said Convention, appointed an expert to serve in the Follow-Up Committee and promotes its ratification globally.