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Why the APDH?
The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (APDH) is the
result of a 1975 summons by Argentines from the most diverse social, political,
intellectual, vocational, and religious sectors of the country, in response to
the growing situation of violence and the country’s increasing failure to uphold
the most basic human rights. The APDH, along with other similar organizations,
was given the difficult and risky task of defending lives and rights during the
tragic years of the military dictatorship (1976-1983). Within this group of
human rights organizations, the APDH had certain characteristics which permitted
it to play a role of its own as well as be publically recognized, both within
the country and abroad:
1.) Built out of diverse parties and diverse social
sectors, the APDH was established as a meeting place for collaboration at a time
when political activity (in the broadest sense) in Argentina was frozen.
2.) For that exact reason, the APDH assumed the
responsibility of what would today be called “political” resistance to the
dictatorship: public denunciation within the country and in international
forums, legal initiatives, steps toward the defense of victims of state
terrorism, and above all, acting as the voice of society in the criminal
accusation of the terrorist regime.
3.) Finally, this broad scope allowed them the capacity
to make a popular summons, now that the diverse religious, political and social
sectors were able to participate in demonstrations, publications, and acts of
resistance without compromising their own convictions. The act of defining
themselves as one entity whose actions centered strictly around the base of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, their country’s own Constitution, and
recognized international legislation, established the limits of the APDH´s
actions, at the same time, securing the possibility of a broad spectrum of
participation and of a shared focus on a very broad set of problems. The various
human rights entities had not always been able to act as one unit. On occasion,
their positions did not coincide. The existence of disagreements was not
necessarily a negative because the diversity of the organizations and of their
different roles within the country allowed the APDH to have a multitude of foci
and actions, assuming many different responsibilities. The APDH has managed to
maintain its role as a place of meeting and discussion.
Because of the rampant human rights violations during the
dictatorship, human rights activity responded in kind by working on an
unprecedented level for the protection of life, human dignity, and social
coexistence, without which, rights and individual guarantees would lack meaning
and enforceability. Within Argentina, the APDH introduced the issues of
education, culture, mental health, economic and social rights, peace, and prison
conditions by means of a series of commissions which simultaneously carried out
studies and investigations, produced publications, conducted surveys of public
opinion, promoted education, all while instigating and supporting specific
projects. At least one hundred professionals with the same goals actively worked
ad honorem in these areas.
The works mentioned in the previous paragraph were
incredibly important to the reinstatement of democratic life in the country. The
minimum requirements for democratic success are:
a) An explanation of the immediate past, allowing the
population to confront the reality of having lived through it: the APDH helped
the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP), created by
the newly-formed civilian government, with its investigation of the military
dictatorship and their final report, ¨Nunca Más¨ (Never Again). The outcomes of
the trials that followed illustrated the overwhelming public opinion which
opposed the decrees of amnesty;
b) The development of the collective experience of the
dictatorship, as one that neither erased the memory nor transformed it into a
perpetual and negative pain, but rather kept the memory alive as a means of
reflection, and permanently weighed on the collective conscience of the
citizens, inspiring them to protect a more democratic and participatory future;
c) The organization and maintance of archives containing
documation of the repression under the last dictatorship which allows the study
of the repression, its characteristics, procedures, and effects. These archives
are a contribution to the international task of preventing and combating similar
situations in Latin America and around the world. In this sense, the APDH is in
the process of organizing its extensive archives and making them internationally
accessible, allowing the facts to be verified and used most efficiently;
d) The continuation of legal work designed to improve
national and international legislation that protects human rights in their
diverse forms and characterizes and sanctions the offenses that violate them:
the APDH has initiated or collaborated in national and international initiatives
and its Legal Commission will permanently continue working in this sense;
e) The continued representation of the APDH before the
government, in its various levels (executive, legislative, judicial, political,
etc.), serves to prevent and denounce human rights violations as well as to
propose and back initiatives in support of human rights.
The majority of this work is carried out by volunteers in
the APDH headquarters in Capital Federal (the city of Buenos Aires) and in other
branches throughout the country. Even so, it is necessary to maintain a minimum
infrastructure to oversee the organization and process its communications
(reception of information, reports, secretarial work, contact with the press),
to maintain the archives. A minimal legal body and a very limited physical
infrastructure (offices, machines, etc.) are also necessary. The financing of
this infrastructure comes exclusively from personal donations from members and
sympathizers of the APDH, and from international organizations with shared
goals. Based on our experience, we are convinced that this work must continue
and grow around this basic infrastructure and extensive volunteer force.
Therefore, we believe that our work provides an indispensable service promoting
the defense of life, the profound nature of an authentic democracy, and the
importance of human rights.
To get information about the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights in English,
please contact:
Gisela Cardozo
Press Secretary
prensa@apdh-argentina.org.ar |