WUNRN
August 30 - International Day of the
Disappeared
ARGENTINA - HISTORY OF THE
GRANDMOTHERS OF PLAZA DE MAYO
History of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo
Children Who Disappeared or Who Were Born in
Captivity
The
drama of children who disappeared in our country, the
These
children are the children of our children, who have also disappeared. Many
babies were kidnapped with their parents, some after their parents were killed,
and others were born in clandestine detention centers where their mothers were
taken after having been sequestered at different states of their pregnancies.
We, the
babies' grandmothers, tried desperately to locate them and, during these
searches, decided to unite. Thus, in 1977, the non-governmental organization
called Abuelas (Grandmothers) de Plaza de Mayo was established, dedicated
specifically to fighting for the return of our grandchildren. We also
relentlessly investigated our children's and grandchildren's disappearances, in
hopes of finding them.
As
mothers our search is two-folded because we are demanding the restitution of
our grandchildren while simultaneously searching for these children's parents,
our sons and daughters.
From the
moment that our children (often with our grandchildren in their wombs)
disappeared, we visited every court, office, orphanage, day care center, and so
on, to locate them. We appeared before the courts, the successive military
governments, the Supreme Court, and the ecclesiastical hierarchies, never
obtaining a positive result. We finally directed our claim to international
organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization of American
States, again to no avail.
In 1977
we began our struggle with the claim for 13 children's restitutions. As of
August 2004, over 400 children have been recorded as missing. However, we know
that there are approximately 500 kidnapped children. In many cases, their
relatives did not declare such kidnappings, either due to ignorance of the
ability to do so or because they did not know that the mothers were pregnant at
the time of their disappearance.
The
disappeared children were deprived of their identity, their religion, and their
right to live with their family, in order words, all of the rights that are
nationally and internationally recognized as their universal human rights.
Our
demand is concrete: that the children who were kidnapped as a method of
political repression be restored to their legitimate families.
Procedures for the Search of Our
Grandchildren
Since
1976, we have pursued:
a.
Investigations at local and federal courts, including cases of
granted adoptions and also with regard to NN children (names unknown) who may
have been recorded at those courts.
b.
Investigations of all births registered in governmental offices
after the conclusion of the normal legal term for such registration.
c.
Beginning in 1997, we began informational campaigns to draw
young people (of an approximate age range of our grandchildren) that may have
doubts regarding their true identity to Abuelas. We have had very positive
results.
We
continually publish announcements in local newspapers read by individuals who
are aware of information relating to the kidnappings but who keep silent either
due to complicity or fear. In addition, we distribute posters and leaflets with
photographs and details of the disappearance of children.
When
reports are made, all information is filed into folders containing individual
accusations of each case, details of the disappearance, photographs of the
child and/or his/her parents, identification documents, and habeas corpus that
have been filed, among other information. Each person who makes the
denouncement signs all these documents. A certificate of the mother's pregnancy
is included, in a case where the detainee was pregnant, or a birth certificate
of the child, in the event that the child was kidnapped after birth.
In our
discourse, we make it clear that our grandchildren have not been abandoned;
they have the right to recover their roots and their history; they have
relatives who are constantly engaged in searching for them.
In the
30 years, we have been able to located 87 of the disappeared children,
including 4 found by governmental commissions and 2 located by CLAMOR, the
Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in the Southern Cone.
Some of
the children are already living with their legitimate families and have become
perfectly integrated. Others are still living with the families that have
raised them, but are in close contact with their true grandmothers and
relatives. By being a part of two families, the children have recovered their
identity.
There is
a large number of disappeared children whose identities were completely
annulled. In those cases, we use modern science to prove that they are members
of a particular family. For this purpose, we rely on support from the
scientific community in the field of genetics, hematology, morphology, and
others.
Through
our participation and effort in the International Convention on the Rights of
the Child, we were able to push for the inclusion of articles 7, 8 and 11,
which refer to the right to an identity and are known as the "Argentine
clauses." This International Convention was later incorporated into the
Argentine Constitution, via law number 23,849.
In 1992,
as a direct result of a petition we organized, the National Executive Power of
our government created CONADI, the National Committee for the Right to
Identity. The main objective of this organization is to assist young adults
who doubt their identities by investigating all existing documents and
referring them for blood analysis. Blood analyses are conducted by the National
Bank of Genetic Data, which has the power to perform such analyses without
legal intervention
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