EAAF has a permanent branch in Pretoria. At the request of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), relatives’ organizations and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), EAAF has been working in this country since 1995 to investigate cases of people who went missing during Apartheid and to provide training to local specialists.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended that the government continue efforts to trace what happened to those people who disappeared between 1960 and 1994 – a task carried out by the Missing Persons Task Team, which reports to the NPA. This unit conducts both investigations and forensic work related to the search for and recovery of human remains. Since 2005, EAAF has trained and supported the Missing Persons Task Team.
Between 2012 and 2019, EAAF ran the African School of Humanitarian Forensic Action each year. In partnership with the University of Pretoria, and in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Argentine government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Argentine Embassy in South Africa, the school became a venue for education and training for forensic professionals from across the continent, as well as from Asia. Its objectives and curriculum were approached from the legal and forensic perspective specific to African countries, with a strong focus on investigations into cases of human rights violations. Over the years, professionals from 28 countries have participated: Abkhazia, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
