The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF – epafperu.org), in partnership with the government of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, completed the first phase of an international forensic training program in Hargeisa, Somaliland last October. The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA – cja.org) is a proud sponsor of this program, which will help determine the universe of missing people through a systematic approach, ante mortem data collection and research of mass and clandestine graves.
EPAF is currently accepting applications and has extended the deadline to March 30, 2013. Program participants will have the opportunity to join the second phase of this project, which will run from May 5 to May 31, 2013.
Applicants from all disciplines are welcome: Participation in the field school represents a fundamental experience for anybody interested in post-conflict studies, peace studies, human rights, forensics, transitional justice, memory, gender, or any related subject.
From 1969 to 1991, president and military dictator Siad Barre oversaw a campaign of widespread atrocities that decimated Somali civil society. To quash separatist movements in the 1980s, the Somali Armed Forces targeted civilians in the northwest, modern-day Somaliland, culminating in the bloody 1988 siege of the regional capital Hargeisa, which claimed at least 5,000 civilian lives.
This past August, U.S. Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema awarded $21 million in compensatory and punitive damages against former Somali General Mohamed Ali Samantar for his role in the slaughter. This judgment marks the first time that any Somali government official has been held accountable for the atrocities perpetrated under that regime.
About the Center for Justice and Accountability
The Center for Justice and Accountability is an international human rights organization dedicated to deterring torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world and advancing the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress. CJA uses litigation to hold perpetrators individually accountable for human rights abuses, develop human rights law, and advance the rule of law in countries in transition from periods of abuse.
About the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team
The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) is a non-profit organization that promotes the right to truth, justice, and guarantees of non-repetition in cases of forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution. EPAF seeks to contribute to the consolidation of peace and democracy where grave human rights violations have taken place by working alongside the families of the disappeared to find their loved ones, gain access to justice, and improve the conditions affecting their political and economic development.
