EAAF opens a building to house its International Center for Training in Forensic Sciences
Posted On 11/12/2020
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Last Friday, the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) opened a building in which it will offer seminars, courses and training to forensic experts from Argentina and the rest of the world.
The building to host the International Center for Training in Forensic Sciences is located on the premises of the Memory and Human Rights Space (former ESMA), in the city of Buenos Aires, where EAAF headquarters are based. On Monday, EAAF will begin its academic activities with the course “Introduction to the recovery and analysis of bone remains,” targeted for criminalists from Argentina.
“Since the founding of EAAF, we have transferred our knowledge to colleagues around the world. It is a way for our work to continue when we leave to assist in other projects. We have also welcomed them to EAAF and trained them. We have created forensic schools in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Now our International Center for Training in Forensic Sciences has adequate facilities, with the latest technology and a capacity for 80 attendees, which will allow us to offer more seminars, courses and trainings,” said Luis Fondebrider, EAAF’s founding member and executive director.
Participants in the opening ceremony of the building included the Minister of Justice, Marcela Losardo; the Secretary for Human Rights, Horacio Pietragalla Corti; the Ombudsperson of the City of Buenos Aires, Alejandro Amor; and Luis Fondebrider, from EAAF. Due to the pandemic, public attendance was restricted and the event was broadcast on social media.
Link to see the complete opening ceremony:
Minister Losardo stressed that “rebuilding this place of sadness and pain with actions, memory, truth and justice policies, is highly valuable. EAAF is a source of pride; we would not have been able to make progress in many human rights policies without it. EAAF has my thanks and commitment to its work.”
During the event, the Human Rights Secretariat and EAAF signed an agreement to create EAAF’s Documentation Fund. Secretary Pietragalla Corti said: “This agreement is another step in a long history of collaboration and joint work. Today, from the national state we reaffirm our commitment to the search for and identification of disappeared persons, as well as all our support to the tasks of an institution with such a track record and experience as EAAF, which is a source of pride at the international level.”
The “Truth, Justice and Memory” office of the Buenos Aires Ombudsperson’s Office will operate on the ground floor of the newly opened building. The Ombudsperson’s Office collaborated with EAAF in the financing the building, which also had the support of the Oak Foundation. During the ceremony, Ombudsman Amor presented the Alicia Oliveira award to nurse Claudio Lugo and to shanty priest Willi for their work during the pandemic. “We are proud to be here because it is something that the Ombudsperson’s Office wished for a long time. The purpose of our Office is to defend constitutional rights and guarantees, particularly human rights.”