We find ourselves in a social and political context in which discourses and public attitudes tending towards trivialization, relativization, and denialism, or the open vindication of dictatorships and authoritarian pasts, are growing (Lvovich and Grinchpun, 2022).

In December 2024, the Argentine civil association Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo) presented a report to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) entitled "Current Situation on Policies of Memory, Truth, and Justice in Argentina" (Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, 2024). In a particularly sensitive political context, Abuelas presented an updated overview of the state of public policies, the progress and setbacks in human rights, and the challenges the country faces today in maintaining the democratic consensus built since 1983.

The report presents a detailed diagnosis of the impact of the current national government's regressive policies on the process of Memory, Truth and Justice, warning of a set of measures that jeopardize international obligations and historical achievements built over four decades.

Since December 2023, staff and resource cuts have been implemented in key state agencies responsible for investigating human rights violations committed during the last civic-military dictatorship. These decisions directly affect the national government's obligation to investigate, prosecute, and guarantee the non-repetition of crimes against humanity. Among the most serious measures highlighted in the Report is the repeal of the decree that created the Special Investigation Unit (UEI) within the National Commission for the Right to Identity (CONADI), which was tasked with investigating and expediting the search for grandchildren appropriated during the last dictatorship (CONADI, 2007).

The closure of the UEI, which investigated nearly 7.000 cases of child abductions and allowed for the filtering and focusing of suspicions before they were brought before the courts, is compounded by the decision of the Ministries of Security and Defense to stop handing over files from the Armed Forces and Security Forces, files that are fundamental for reconstructing repressive networks and cases of child abductions. Furthermore, the reduction in staff at CoNaDi (National Commission for the Investigation of Child Abductions) and the budget cuts to the National Genetic Data Bank (a 50,4% drop in its funding between 2023 and 2025) also affect crucial tools for clarifying child abductions.

The document also expresses concern about the lack of protection of the National Archive of Memory, where essential documentary collections are kept (including the archive of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons), and about the paralysis of works and tasks in Sites of Memory, affected by budget cuts.

Added to this is the dissolution of the Survey and Document Analysis Team (ERyA) of military archives, crucial for trials for crimes against humanity, and the discontinuation of the inter-institutional table for access to intelligence documentation.

On the other hand, the report records an increase in hate speech, particularly directed at human rights organizations. It includes examples of public attacks by officials against the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo and references to attempts to discredit them (for example, with unfounded accusations of corruption or partisan activism). These discourses, it should be noted, contribute to revictimization: they trivialize the crimes of the dictatorship and seek to erode the democratic consensus built since 1983.

It is also important to highlight events such as the visit of pro-government deputies to those convicted of crimes against humanity and the defense of theses such as the so-called "complete memory", which reinstate the theory of the two demons and relativize the genocide.

The document concludes with a strong appeal to leaders, organizations, and democratic states to raise awareness about the setbacks in Argentina and prevent violations of international human rights treaties. The Grandmothers recall their own history: during the dictatorship, international solidarity was key to bringing abuses to light; today they are once again requesting support in the face of measures that threaten to dismantle the policies that enabled hundreds of identity restitutions and an exemplary process of transitional justice.

The policies of Memory, Truth, and Justice do not belong to the past but to the present: they seek to guarantee non-repetition and provide reparations to victims and society as a whole. The current national government's lack of dialogue with organizations like the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo represents a break with 42 years of democratic tradition, during which successive governments welcomed and engaged with civil society in the design of public human rights policies.

It is within this context that academic teams are redoubling their efforts to strengthen ties between universities and the human rights movement. The repository "Identity in Networks" (IESCODE-UNPAZ, Argentina) has signed agreements with a dozen national universities, promoting collaborative work based on cooperation for the exploration and uploading of diverse academic publications on the right to identity (Bettanin, Laino Sanchis, Santamarina, and Zubillaga, 2023). In 2025, two competitions—"Places That Tell Stories" and "Art Creates Memory"—were held, open to the entire university community in Argentina. Given the broad participation, the possibility of expanding these competitions regionally is being considered. These are powerful educational initiatives that encourage creative writing about experiences of visiting sites linked to state violence. Sites of memory that, thanks to the struggle of the human rights movement, have been preserved and given new meaning, now welcome students and faculty at the university level. The experience of visiting these sites often remains within personal trajectories or as reflections in the classroom. The invitation to submit accounts of these visits has become a valued space for the communities and also for the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo Association. The public availability of these accounts in the repository provides an opportunity to highlight the efforts of faculty teams and survivors of these sites and to continue strengthening networks among universities. We place these strategies among many others that universities throughout the region are implementing regarding reflection on violent pasts and traumatic experiences. In some countries, as we have already noted, the threat of the advance of denialism and, consequently, the intention to dismantle memory policies positions universities as a fundamental actor in sustaining the struggle. In other countries, however, governments that support exploring the past and seeking reparations for crimes against humanity are making significant progress in acknowledging these crimes. There, in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, the role of universities is linked to raising awareness within academic communities so they can take on a formative role and contribute to generating value from the political opportunities that are emerging.

Human rights organizations emerged in Latin America in the 1960s. Over the years, those made up mostly of relatives of those affected by repression—exiles, political prisoners, the disappeared, the murdered—grew in number and gained prominence in places as diverse as Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala (Maier, 2001).

The Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared (FEDEFAM), established in 1981 amidst a backdrop of coups and dictatorships in the region, was the result of coordinated efforts by transnational networks of religious groups, exiles, human rights organizations, and local and exiled families of victims. Their goal was to build a regional human rights organization focused on denouncing enforced disappearances (Ayala, 2020). Thus, it was formed as a non-governmental organization comprised of associations from Latin American and Caribbean countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. FEDEFAM was created at the first Latin American Congress of Relatives of the Disappeared in 1981, convened by the Latin American Foundation for Human Rights and Social Development (FUNDALATIN) and the Ecumenical Committee for Human Rights of Costa Rica. At that time, FEDEFAM estimated 90.000 people detained and disappeared in Latin America. From its inception, it served as a tool for its various member associations, which used the platform to develop joint outreach strategies—such as the establishment of the Week and Day of the Detained and Disappeared—and to promote reports of enforced disappearances and human rights violations in their countries.

An important organization in Latin America has been the Peace and Justice Service (SERPAJ), formed in 1974. It was originally conceived as a network of cooperation and solidarity among various countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Colombia, among others, within a context of continental repression (Catoggio, 2016a). From its inception, SERPAJ sought to contribute to building a liberating, egalitarian, and participatory society based on respect for and promotion of the human rights of all its members, groups, and organizations. It created national and regional branches (Southern Cone; Andean; Central America and the Caribbean), while also supporting other movements, such as the Sebastián Acevedo Movement Against Torture in Chile and the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo in Argentina.

Among those who have studied the emergence, evolution and effectiveness of Latin American networks, Sikkink (1996) has pointed out three moments of the international human rights network in Latin America: its emergence between 1973-1981; its consolidation between 1981-1990; and its reorientation from the nineties onwards.

In Argentina, the human rights movement has developed internally, with diverse and heterogeneous approaches, encompassing different strategies, leadership styles, demands, and ways of engaging with the state. Some studies have defined the spectrum of groups that comprise the movement (Leis, 1989; Veiga, 1985; Jelin, 1985, 1987), focusing their analysis on events in the capital city, thus contributing to what some authors call a "canonical" view—in the sense of being typical or characteristic (Alonso, 2022). In recent years, a certain renewal of the topic has been observed, based on the scales of analysis used, the diversity of sources, and the formulation of new questions (Zubillaga, 2016). Differences have emerged regarding the challenges, achievements, impacts, experiences, and periodizations (Zubillaga, 2026, 2019).

One of the most emblematic organizations has been the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, which in its activism for the restitution of the children appropriated during the State terrorism developed a multifaceted conception of the right to identity, which it promoted at the local and global level (Laino Sanchis, 2020).

In other Southern Cone countries affected by the same policies, similar processes unfolded. SERPAJ, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the education, promotion, and defense of human rights, began its work in Uruguay in 1981, during the last Uruguayan dictatorship (1973-1985). Mothers and Relatives of Detained and Disappeared Uruguayans was consolidated in 1983 through the merger of the Association of Relatives of Disappeared Uruguayans (founded in Europe by exiles), Relatives of Disappeared Uruguayans in Argentina (which had been working since 1977), and Relatives of Detained and Disappeared Uruguayans in Uruguay (which had been working since 1982) (Bucheli et al., 2005). The movement experienced periods of demobilization following the defeat of the referendum in 1989. But the mobilization was reactivated and the visibility of the demands was recovered from 1996 onwards, with the first March of Silence and the creation of HIJOS Uruguay (Alonso, Larrobla and Risso, 2016).

Meanwhile, in Chile, during the dictatorship (1973-1990), the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared was formed (1975), shortly afterwards the Association of Relatives of Politically Executed Persons (1976) and from 1977 onwards a branch of SERPAJ was formed (Peñaloza, 2015).

In Brazil, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights for the Southern Cone (CLAMOR), linked to the Archdiocese of São Paulo's Pastoral Commission for Human Rights and the Marginalized, created in 1978, is one of the most important and well-known Brazilian human rights organizations (Catoggio, 2016b). The following year, the Movement for Justice and Human Rights was founded, which played a key role in denouncing human rights violations. After the end of the dictatorship (1964-1985), human rights organizations were the ones that produced reports on what had happened, given the absence of state initiatives.

In Central American countries, traumatic experiences included forced displacement due to armed conflict and paramilitary violence. Family organizations formed to promote peace processes developed their own distinct characteristics.

While developing knowledge about the recent past, particularly crimes against humanity, remains highly complex (Crenzel, 2025), the field of recent history and memory studies has undergone a process of legitimization and rapid expansion (Lvovich, 2023). With both similarities and differences, universities became spaces for promoting knowledge about social movements while simultaneously training actors whose affiliations were fluid (Laino Sanchis, 2020). Various academic initiatives, such as teaching, research, outreach, and volunteering, addressed topics related to human rights, collective memory, and particularly the right to identity (Ramírez and Pisarello, 2019; Badano and Cruz, 2021; Kandel, Manchini, and Penhos, 2017). In many of these initiatives, collaboration with human rights organizations was central, shaping the potential of the outcomes.

The "Identity in Networks" project (IESCODE/UNPAZ, Argentina) stands as a significant precedent in the exploration, identification, and public dissemination of this type of production. While translated into five languages, it currently draws primarily on productions created within the Argentine university and scientific-technological system. This highlights the need to further develop relevant collaborative initiatives with other countries to recover and build a regional perspective on these networks.