The truth about desaparecidos: missing bodies, concealed crimes

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO
Author/s Arianna Jacqmin
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2017/2 Language Italian
Pages 22 P. 131-152 File size 276 KB
DOI 10.3280/SD2017-002006
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The essay studies the role of truth and the right to truth during the Argentinian transition. It aims at clarifying the reasons why the issue of truth became so debated between victims and juridical and political institutions, since the Eighties. After discussing the historical context of dictatorship and of forced disappearances, the essay focuses on the practices to deal with the death of one’s own relative from a socio-anthropological, psychological and juridical point of view. The main factors that emerge in relation to truth in Argentina are the following: the ambiguous post-dictatorship policy and the specificity of the crime of forced disappearance.

Keywords: Desaparecidos - Right to truth - Forced disappearances - Victims - Transitional justice

  1. Andriotti Romanin, Enrique, 2013. Decir la verdad, hacer justicia: Los juicios por la verdad en Argentina. European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 94: 5-23.
  2. Belhasse, Patricia, 1997. La crémation. Droit et Cultures, 2, 34: 247-264.
  3. Blaauw, Margriet, & Virpi Lähteenmäki, 2002. “Denial and Silence” or “Acknowledgement and Disclosure.” International Review of the Red Cross, 84, 848: 767-783.
  4. Boss, Pauline, 2002. Ambiguous Loss: Working with Families of the Missing. Family Process, 41, 1: 14-17. DOI.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11815-0.
  5. —, 2007. Ambiguous Loss Theory: Challenges for Scholars and Practitioners. Family Relations, 56: 105-111.
  6. —, 2010. The Trauma and Complicated Grief of Ambiguous Loss. Pastoral Psychology, 59, 2: 137-145. DOI.org/10.1007/s11089-009-0264-0.
  7. CONADEP, [1984]1986. Nunca Más: Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas. Bologna: Emi.
  8. Crenzel, Emilio, 2008. Historia Política del Nunca Más. La Memoria de las Desapariciones en la Argentina. Siglo XXI.
  9. Eppel, Shari, 2014. “Bones in the Forest” in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe: Exhumations as a Tool for Transformation. The International Journal of Transitional Justice, 8: 404-425.
  10. Fornasari, Gabriele, 2013. Giustizia di transizione e diritto penale. Torino: Giappichelli.
  11. Foscolo, Ugo, [1807]2011. Dei Sepolcri. In Translation and Literature, 4, 1: 76-91.
  12. Fronza, Emanuela, 2012. Il negazionismo come reato. Milano: Giuffrè.
  13. Garibian, Sévane, 2012. Chercher les morts parmi les vivants. Donner corps aux disparus de la dictature argentine par le droit. In Elisabeth Anstett, Jean-Marc Dreyfus (dir.), Cadavres impensables, cadavres impensés. Approches méthodologiques du traitement des corps dans les violences de masse et les génocides. Parigi: Petra.
  14. —, 2014. Ghosts Also Die. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 12, 3: 515-538.
  15. González, Eduardo, & Howard Varney (eds.), 2013. Truth Seeking. Elements of Creating an Effective Truth Commission. Brasília and New York: Amnesty Commission of the Ministry of Justice of Brazil.
  16. Hamber, Brandon, 2003. Does the Truth Heal? A Psychological Perspective on Political Strategies for Dealing with the Legacy of Political Violence. In Nigel Biggar (ed.), Burying the Past. Making Peace and Doing Justice after Civil Conflict. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
  17. Hayner, Priscilla B., 1994. Fifteen Truth Commissions. Human Rights Quarterly, 16, 4: 597-655.
  18. —, 2001. Unspeakable Truths. Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. New York, London: Routledge.
  19. Herring, Jonathan, 2007. Crimes against the Dead. In Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Fatemeh Ebtehaj, Jonathan Herring, Martin H. Johnson & Martin Richards (eds.), Death Rites and Rights. Oxford and Portland: Hart Publishing.
  20. HRW/Americas & CELS, 1995. Memorial en derecho Amicus Curiae presentado por Human Rights Watch/Americas y el Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional a la Exma. Cámara Federal en lo Criminal y Correccional de la Capital Federal en el asunto Mignone, Emilio F., s/presentación en causa Nro. 761,“Hechos denunciados como occurridosen el ámbito de la escuela superior de mecánica de la armada” (E.S.M.A.). Disponibile alla pagina web https://cejil.org/sites/default/files/amicus-esma_0.pdf.
  21. Inter-Am.Comm.H.R., Informe No. 21/00. Case 12.059. Carmen Aguilar de Lapacó v. Argentina (29.2.2000).
  22. Inter-Am.Ct.H.R., (Ser.C) No.4 (1998). Velásquez-Rodríguez v. Honduras (29. 7.1988).
  23. —, (Ser.C) No.70 (2000). Bámaca-Velásquez v. Guatemala (25.11.2000).
  24. Jelin, Elizabeth, 1996. Vida cotidiana y control institucional en la Argentina de los ‘90. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editor Latinoamericano.
  25. Junta Militar, (1983). Documento final sobre la guerra contra la subversión y el terrorismo.
  26. Jupp, Peter C., 2007. Religious Perspectives on the Afterlife: Origin, Development and Funeral Rituals in the Christian Tradition. In Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Fatemeh Ebtehaj, Jonathan Herring, Martin H. Johnson & Martin Richards (eds.), Death Rites and Rights. Oxford and Portland: Hart Publishing.
  27. Malinowski, Bronisław, 1948. Magic, Science, and Religion and Other Essays. Glencoe: The Free Press. Beacon Press. DOI.org/10.2307/2181808.
  28. Mallinder, Louise, 2009. The Ongoing Quest for Truth and Justice: Enacting and Annulling Argentina’s Amnesty Laws. Beyond Legalism: Amnesties, Transition and Conflict Transformation, 5: 1-157.
  29. Memoria Abierta, 2010. Abogados, derecho y política. Buenos Aires.
  30. Mendeloff, David, 2004. Truth-Seeking, Truth-Telling, and Postconflict Peace-building: Curb the Enthusiasm? International Studies Review, 6, 3: 355-380.
  31. —, 2009. Trauma and Vengeance: Assessing the Psychological and Emotional Effects of Post-Conflict Justice. Human Rights Quarterly, 31, 3: 592-623.
  32. Moon, Claire, 2012. ‘Who’ll Pay Reparations on My Soul?’: Compensation, Social Control and Social Suffering. Social & Legal Studies, 21, 2: 187-199. DOI: 10.1177/0964663911433670
  33. —, 2013. Interpreters of the Dead: Forensic Knowledge, Human Remains and the Politics of the Past. Social & Legal Studies, 22, 2: 149-169. DOI.org/10.1177/0964663912463724.
  34. Naftali, Patricia, 2014. ‘Toute la vérité, rien que la vérité’? Les mobilisations du ‘droit à la vérité’ dans les affaires Mignone et Lapacó en Argentine. Recherches et Travaux du REDS à la Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 30 : 73-93.
  35. Naqvi, Yasmin, 2006. The Right to the Truth in International Law: Fact or Fiction? International Review of the Red Cross, 88, 862: 245-273. DOI.org/10.1017/S1816383106000518.
  36. Nino, Carlos S., 1991. The Duty to Prosecute Past Abuses of Human Rights Put into the Context: the Case of Argentina. Yale Law Journal, 100: 2619-2640.
  37. OHCHR, 2008. Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States. Reparations Programmes. New York, Geneva.
  38. Robins, Simon, 2011. Towards Victim-centered Transitional Justice: Understanding the Needs of Families of the Disappeared in Postconflict Nepal. The International Journal of Transitional Justice, 5, 1: 75-98.
  39. Rodotà, Stefano, 2012. Il diritto alla verità. In Giorgio Resta & Vincenzo Zeno-Zencovich (a cura di), Riparare Risarcire Ricordare. Un dialogo tra storici e giuristi. Napoli: Editoriale Scientifica.
  40. Stockwell, Jill, 2014. Reframing the Transitional Justice Paradigm. Women’s Affective Memories in Post-Dictatorial Argentina. Springer Series in Transition-al Justice, 10: 1-170. DOI.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03853-7.
  41. United Nations General Assembly, A/RES/61/177. International Convention for the Protection of All the Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 20.12.2006.
  42. Verbitsky, Horacio, 1995. The Flight: Confessions of an Argentinian Dirty Warrior. New Press: New York.
  43. Webster, Donna M., & Arie W. Kruglanski, 1994. Individual Differences in Need for Cognitive Closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 6: 1049-1062. DOI.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1049.

Arianna Jacqmin, La verità sui desaparecidos: salme disperse e reati insabbiati in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL DIRITTO " 2/2017, pp 131-152, DOI: 10.3280/SD2017-002006