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Human Rights Developments
Defending Human Rights
The Role of the International CommunityArgentina continued to benefit from an active human rights community, although with a reduced profile since the return to democracy in 1983. The principal human rights groups, most of them founded during the dictatorship, included the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Madres y Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo), the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights (Movimiento Ecuménico por los Derechos Humanos, MEDH), Peace and Justice Service (Servicio Paz y Justicia, SERPAJ), the APDH, the Argentine League for the Rights of Man (Liga Argentina para los Derechos del Hombre), and the Center for Legal and Social Studies (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, CELS). While all these groups continued to focus on past cases, including presentation of evidence to allow the relatives of the “disappeared” to receive compensation from the government, they also focused on human rights education, investigations of current abuses and, in particular in the case of CELS and the Liga, investigation and representation of victims of police violence. While human rights organizations did not face official legal obstacles to their activities in 1998, most have been the target of threats or raids on their offices in recent years. In 1998, a theft was reported at the offices of a Tucumán province-based NGO investigating recent cases of abducted children. One of the groups that faced increasing official pressure was HIJOS (Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio), formed by children of “disappearance” victims. HIJOS, together with other non-governmental organizations, staged protests outside the homes of human rights abusers, identifying their residences and painting the walls to indicate their whereabouts. Police repression of these actions became increasingly rigid, while members of both the government and the Catholic Church criticized the group’s actions. |
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