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UN rights office praises identification of 114th Argentinian 'Grandson of Plaza de Mayo'
an article by UN News Centre
The United Nations human rights office today [August 8]
called on authorities around the world to redouble their
efforts to find people missing due to enforced disappearances
following reports that an Argentine grandmother discovered
the identity of a grandson born during the military
dictatorship in the country 37 years ago. 
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina, and Estela Carlotto, founder and president of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, receiving UNESCO’s Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize on 14 September 2011 - © UNESCO/Danica Bijeljac
click on photo to enlarge
“Enforced disappearance is a human rights violation that
repeats itself daily for the families of the disappeared,” said
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the UN Human Rights
Office (OHCHR). “We call on authorities in all parts of the
world to redouble their efforts to discover the fate of such
individuals and to ensure that the rights to justice and
reparation are realized.”
The grandson of Estela de Carlotto, the president of the
Association of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, was reportedly
identified through a DNA test.
Ms. Carlotto never met her grandson, who was born in 1978
during her daughter's clandestine detention by the military.
The daughter was killed two months after the birth, with the
body returned to Ms. Carlotto. The father was illegally
detained by the Government and also killed.
The grandson is one of an estimated 500 children who
disappeared during Argentina's 1976-1983 military
dictatorship. Only 114 children have been located.
“The courage, perseverance and determination that the
grandmothers of missing children in Argentina have shown in
the last three decades continue to inspire human rights
defenders around the world,” Ms. Shamdasani said in
reference to the Association of Grandmothers of Plaza de
Mayo.
Ms. Carlotto founded that non-governmental organization in
1977. It aims to ensure that violations of children's rights
such as those that occurred during the military dictatorship
never happen again by demanding the prosecution of all those
responsible for the tragedy.
In 2010, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)
awarded the Grandmothers its Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace
Prize for their “tireless battle for human rights and
peace by standing up to oppression, injustice and impunity.”
In today's press briefing, the OHCHR spokesperson stressed
that the Grandmothers and other associations in the region
have made great contribution to the human rights system, and
have advanced the application of scientific methods towards
resolution of human rights issues.
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DISCUSSION
Question(s) related to this article:
Rights of the child, How can they be promoted and protected?
* * * * *
Latest reader comment:
The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, as an important addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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