35th anniversary of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team
The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), founded in 1984, celebrated its 35th anniversary on May 23rd at the Scientific Center in the city of Buenos Aires, surrounded by relatives of the disappeared, members of human rights organizations, artists and scientists, among others.
After remembering the American anthropologist Clyde Snow, the EAAF's mentor who passed away in May 2014, Mercedes Doretti, one of the founders, spoke about the team's work in Central America and the United States focused on missing migrants and victims of femicide, called "Proyecto Frontera" (Border Project). This project seeks to identify those who die in the migration corridors of Mexico or Arizona after traveling from Central American countries. She also referred to the team's participation in the investigation of the Cocula landfill in the state of Guerrero, which allowed them to refute the official version of the Mexican government that claimed the 43 students from Ayotzinapa had been incinerated there.
“Everything achieved in Argentina in terms of truth, justice, reparation and memory is the result of the perseverance and mobilization of civil society; it had to be fought for in the streets, sometimes accompanied by governments and other times not,” highlighted Luis Fondebrider, director of the EAAF, who stated: “A country without science is not a country.”
The event concluded with remarks by Estela de Carlotto, president of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who recalled their initial efforts in 1982 "to see if it was possible for our blood samples to help identify the grandchildren." She concluded, "With their respect, their kindness, their sacrifice, the anthropologists gave us the satisfaction of having been instrumental in shaping this cause; that is why we feel they are like our own children."
Founded in Buenos Aires, the EAAF quickly gained international recognition for its professionalism and compassion, attracting calls from organizations and families across five continents. Among the organizations that have requested its services are: the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; the Truth Commissions of the Philippines, Peru, El Salvador, and South Africa; the Public Prosecutor's Offices of Ethiopia, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, and Romania; the International Committee of the Red Cross; the Presidential Commission for the Search for the Remains of Che Guevara; and the Bi-Communal Commission for the Disappeared of Cyprus, among many others.
JUAN GELMAN AWARD
Within the framework of the First World Forum of Critical Thinking of CLACSO, in November 2018, the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team was recognized with the “Juan Gelman Latin American Award” for its demonstrated and indisputable expertise and scientific rigor; its commitment, honesty and ethics, in the task dedicated to the search for Truth and Justice in the field of Human Rights, with an active and enormous relevance.
Co-organized by the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the National University of Quilmes (UNQ), the designation of the award winners was carried out by an Academic Council composed of Carlos Fidel (UNQ, Argentina), Dora Barrancos (UNQ, Conicet, Argentina), Mirtha Guianze (Former President of the National Institute of Human Rights and Ombudsman, Uruguay) and Mercedes Olivera Bustamante (University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas, Mexico).
