(SILAS) Society for Irish Latin American Studies

18 Jan 2018

2nd Annual SILAS/UCC Lecture 2018, 4 p.m. 25th January 2018 in the O'Rahilly Building, G27, UCC.

Living Memory: Law, Politics, and Forensics in the search for Latin America’s Disappeared

Enforced disappearance is one of Latin America’s most emblematic human rights violations, and a source of ongoing, continuous harm for those left behind. Most Latin American states have ratified international obligations requiring them to set up national search plans, care for affected families and communities, and investigate and punish past perpetrators. Nonetheless, in practice the work of search and identification is mostly left to activists, relatives and a handful of nonstate forensic teams, with unreliable international support. This presentation, based on recent close participation and observation of grassroots and state initiatives in Chile, Peru and elsewhere, will name and discuss current challenges arising from mass disappearances perpetrated in the recent past.

Cath Collins is Professor of Transitional Justice at Ulster University, Northern Ireland and Director of the Transitional Justice Observatory at the Universidad Diego Portales, Chile. She is a founder member of the Latin American Transitional Justice Network and is presently working to promote region wide dialogue between forensic, social and judicial actors around legacies of enforced disappearance.

25 January 2018 at 4 pm, College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences Seminar Room, G27 O’Rahilly Building, UCC.

Hosted by:

Spanish Portuguese & Latin American Studies, UCC (SPLAS)

& the Society for Irish Latin American Studies (SILAS)