Salvadoran Groups Call for Justice for the Disappeared on Day of the Dead

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On Saturday, November 1, social movement groups in El Salvador commemorated the Day of the Dead by calling for justice for those executed and disappeared during the nation’s bloody civil war (1980-1992).

Organizations forming the Pro-Historical Memory Commission gathered at the memorial to the war’s dead and disappeared at Cuscatlán Park in San Salvador’s central district, demanding access to information and an end to impunity. Organizers called for the ratification of the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which establishes genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression as international crimes; both measures currently await discussion in committee at the National Legislative Assembly. The activists also renewed their demand that the military open its archives to the public, and urged for reparations for survivors of crimes against humanity.

“The truth can only be guaranteed through serious, exhaustive, responsible, impartial, comprehensive, systematic and conclusive investigations by the State,” said Miguel Montenegro of the Human Rights Commission of El Salvador. “By constructing our society against impunity, we make collective memory possible, which will allow us to build a future based on knowledge of the truth, the foundation necessary to avoid the violation of our human rights.”

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