for Psychosocial Work in Exhumation Processes of Serious Human Rights Violations

Introduction. 3

Definition of minimum standards. 8

Minimum Standards and Good Practice Recommendations. 10

I. Victims / Community.. 10

Accompanying relatives and victims. 10

Identification of expectations and needs. 14

Cultural context 17

Community process. 19

II. Institutions. 23

Coordination, communication and security. 23

Forensic anthropological considerations. 26

Self-support for teams. 28

III. The State.. 30

Role of the State. 30

Juridical and legal aspects. 34

Integral Reparation. 38

Annex 1. Compilation of minimum standards. 40

Annex 2. Matrix of possible actions to be implemented in psychosocial work in exhumation processes and the search for disappeared or executed persons. 42

Annex 3. Process of drawing up Standards. 51

GLOSSARY. 56

International Consensus on Minimum Standards for Psychosocial Work in Exhumation Processes for the search for Disappeared Persons

Introduction

The exhumation and forensic anthropological investigation processes are ways of discovering the whereabouts of individuals who have disappeared, been extra judicially murdered or who are victims of other human rights violations, as well as for public recognition of the circumstances of the individual’s disappearance or death and to dignify the memory of the individual. Throughout the document processes are discussed to emphasize the idea that exhumations and the search for disappeared persons and for those who died because of other human rights violations are based on the will to search and proceed with the collection of information, the recovery of remains, the work of identification and the restitution of human remains to relatives, re-burial and justice, reparation, clarification of the truth, and social recognition of events. The processes of exhumation and the search for disappeared persons should not be understood as being limited to excavation or the recovery of remains. This is only a small part of the whole process.

In some contexts psychosocial work has been developed related to the practice of exhumations. By psychosocial work[1] in exhumation processes we understand the process of providing accompaniment for individuals, relatives, the community or the society in order to cope with the consequences of the impact of serious human rights violations suffered by individuals, promoting well-being, and social and emotional support for victims and urging them to take action. The psychosocial dimension not only takes into account the individual, but also the family and the rebuilding of social support networks which have very often been destroyed as a consequence of violations.

Work with a psychosocial focus is not the exclusive responsibility of specific teams of mental health professionals or community workers, but it is understood as being an element, which should permeate every action taken by the different inter-disciplinary team members who intervene in an exhumation (anthropologists, legal experts, lawyers, social workers, odontologists, ballistics experts, etc.). A psychosocial perspective during an exhumation is understood as being the whole range of actions and processes which should be taken into consideration and/or developed in relation to an exhumation at the level of the individual, the family, the community and the society by all the institutions, teams and professionals who intervene in order to guarantee its reparative nature both for direct and indirect victims as well as for the society as a whole.

In exhumation processes psychosocial work should contribute to opportunities for expression in an environment of trust, respect and confidentiality in order to promote the search for meaning in the painful experience. Opportunities should be given to individuals, families and the community for expressing and understanding the emotions and expectations generated, advocating social and collective recognition for victims and the contribution of their relatives to the search for truth and justice. This will allow them to be subjects of rights and dignity.

Psychosocial work is part of the search, exhumation and identification processes and may be extended over time depending on the needs of individuals, relatives and the community, with or without the discovery or identification of remains. It should also include organisations of victims’ relatives, relatives who are not organized and, if possible, the community as a whole.

The process of searching for disappeared or murdered persons and when relevant exhumation should be understood above all as being a social process with multiple personal and collective dimensions. It is a process that is in a state of constant development, of which may extend over a long period of time, and negotiation of interests in view of the investigative, legal and psychological possibilities and requires great flexibility from all parties to interpret and satisfy the needs of families.

Exhumation processes are not always the same and there are certain elements to consider. From a psychosocial viewpoint there may be important differences depending on the socio-political context in which the human rights violations occurred.  Whether the violations were extrajudicial executions, massacres, forced disappearance (see glossary), or deaths, the impact of the political violence and said differences, exist in both individual and collective terms.  Other elements to consider are the existence of violence, insecurity or fear; the time that has passed since the disappearances; the level of cohesion or division in the community; the traditional way of dealing with violence and death, etc.

In all processes of exhumation and search for persons who have disappeared or been executed the specific characteristics and circumstances of life in each country should be taken into account, because while some countries are involved in processes to develop and consolidate democracy, others continue to suffer from armed conflicts and political violence with systematic human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law. This also assumes that there are contexts in which the security, political will and the presence or absence of allies to carry out these actions may influence the development of the processes.

International human rights law is a reference point which guides States to comply with their responsibility to respect human rights, prevent violations and protect citizens. This document is in line with the Interamerican Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons adopted in Bélem do Pará (Brazil) on 9 June, 1994, and particularly the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on 29 June, 2006 and signed in Paris on 6 February, 2007. Likewise, international humanitarian law, found in the document “The Missing, The right to know” by the International Committee of the Red Cross – ICRC, was referenced for this theme.   These resolutions conventions and documents provide the framework in which Minimum Standards should be understood.

According to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance “enforced disappearance” is considered to be the “arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.” (Article 2).

Furthermore, and according to article 24 of the Convention “victim” is understood as being the “disappeared person and any individual who has suffered harm as the direct result of an enforced disappearance.”

The terms family and relatives is understood in a larger sense and includes not only family members, but also close friends, taking into account the cultural context.

In accordance with the ICRC, all relatives have the right to know the whereabouts or what has become of their family member, disappeared person, or in the case of death, the circumstances and the cause of death.  The violation of a person’s right to inform relatives about the whereabouts of their family member, or the families’ right to receive information about what has happened to the disappeared persons as a result of an armed conflict or of internal violence should be considered a violation of the rights of family life.  Similarly, the systematic or persistent violation of these rights should be considered cruel or inhumane treatment.

In this sense, it is essential that the families receive information about the whereabouts of their disappeared family members.  For the families and communities, it is also necessary to recognize the events that lead up to the disappearances and to hold the authors accountable for these disappearances.

According to the Convention it is the obligation of the States to investigate the whereabouts of disappeared persons: “Each State Party shall take appropriate measures to investigate acts defined in article 2 committed by persons or groups of persons acting without the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State and to bring those responsible to justice” (Article 3) and more specifically in article 24.3 “each State Party shall take all appropriate measures to search for, locate and release disappeared persons and, in the event of death, to locate, respect and return their remains.”

The responsibility for truth, justice and integral reparation that has often fallen on the victims and organisations providing assistance should lie with the State, the institutions and the society as a whole in each country so that actions undertaken are not isolated as a result of the commitment of certain social sectors.

In an exhumation process legal aspects of the judicial investigation should not be the only aspects considered, with an analysis of the remains of the disappeared person being used only for scientific evidence. The humanitarian needs of families to find their loved ones, their right to truth and justice, as well as the compilation of their experiences, should all be taken into consideration, requiring not only a general analysis of the remains, but also specific work to identify them and return them to the relatives of the disappeared or executed persons; these aspects are just as important as making a thorough analysis of the remains to discover the truth of what happened and document a possible legal process.

In general terms a forensic anthropological investigation consists of several stages:

1)      Contact with relatives or persons who have reported the probable existence of a clandestine grave

2)      The collection of ante mortem information: historical documentation, the identification of possible relatives and ante mortem data

3)      Archaeological excavation and the recovery of findings

4)      Analysis of the remains to establish a biological profile

5)      Identification; comparison of ante mortem, archaeological and anthropological data

6)      Preparation of a forensic report

7)      Returning the remains to relatives

Each of these phases requires experts to have different skills so forensic anthropology is usually understood as being an applied and multi-disciplinary science.

Together with the work of forensic anthropologists for locating disappeared persons, very often relatives’ organisations have also worked hard to enforce their demands for access to truth, justice and reparation. Furthermore, psychosocial work has become more important in exhumation processes and in the search for persons who have disappeared or been executed extra judicially.

In addition to the work of documenting the recent history of countries that have suffered political violence, forensic work and the demands of relatives, psychosocial work provides for relatives of disappeared or executed persons and for survivors of terror particularly, as well as for the rest of the society in general, elements which help to interpret the dynamics of political violence and its specific forms of expression, for the purpose of reflecting on the past, present and future.

Psychosocial work in processes of exhumations and disappearances should contribute to this process being reparative in itself for relatives, groups and communities. The following principles should be considered to achieve this as part of all the tasks involved in exhumations and all the institutions, teams and professionals that intervene.

1. Human Rights: All the teams involved in the exhumation process should promote the human rights of all persons affected, both from the viewpoint of doctrine as well as the regulatory and legal viewpoint.  The different actions taken should respect the rights of the affected persons and relatives.  Protection strategies should be developed for individuals and groups throughout the process.
2. Equity. All teams involved in the exhumation process should take action to avoid any type of discrimination, including those based on gender, ethnic group, or ideology, and they should promote equity.
3. Participation: All teams participating in the exhumation process should maximise the participation of the persons affected at each stage. This in itself is a key element in reparation.
4. Guarantee minimum conditions. All the teams participating in the exhumation process should guarantee, above all, not to worsen harm to victims and the reparative nature of the actions they take. The exhumation process may cause harm to victims so it is essential to be attentive and when minimum conditions are absent for guaranteeing that this will not occur, the process should not be undertaken. Examples of this principle could be that efforts have not been made to locate relatives, the appropriate materials and technology are unavailable, or there are serious conflicts in the community, which may become worse with the exhumation. The State is obliged to implement adequate protection policies for the graves and concealed burial sites until minimum conditions exist for an appropriate exhumation.
5. Coordination of activities. All activities associated with the forensic anthropological investigation process should be coordinated to avoid duplication of diagnoses, plans or activities and they should be consulted on a permanent basis and approved by the persons affected.

This is why it is fundamental that the rights of individuals, relatives and the communities be respected and that they be given clear and precise information about the events, as well as coherent and viable forms of reparation in the appropriate context, taking into account the specific characteristics of the situation that has affected them. This is why psychosocial work should include the facilitation of spaces or accompaniment of victims’ organisations and their work to provide emotional support during the different stages of the process, contributing to the right to truth, justice and reparation of individuals when their human rights have been violated.

Definition of minimum standards

• They are a consensus for defining under what conditions the search and/or exhumation processes can respond to certain guarantees or needs of the relatives, communities and the society in terms of emotional well-being and in compliance with the rights to truth, justice and reparation.
• They improve the coordination and quality of psychosocial work in search and/or exhumation processes.
• They provide rules for basic conduct established by consensus and which guide the work of State institutions, survivors’ and victims’ associations, legal, forensic anthropological or psychosocial non governmental institutions, and human rights groups involved in this work.

They consist of:

Good practice standards for psychosocial work in exhumations and search processes: Rules which should be followed and to which behaviour, tasks and activities should adhere in exhumation processes in the context of the search for the disappeared or for persons who have been executed extra judicially, in order to guarantee the reparative nature of the process for direct and indirect victims as well as for the society as a whole.

Good Practice Recommendations: Specific actions which guide the appropriate application of the standards.

Indicators: Objective ways of checking compliance with standards, guaranteeing the monitoring, follow-up and evaluation of standards.

This document is structured in 2 parts:  A) a detailed description of the standards, recommendations and good practice indicators, referring specifically to the articles of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, when relevant, B) a summary of standards (annex 1), an application matrix (annex 2) and a description of the process of formulating the standards (annex 3).

Minimum Standards and Good Practice Recommendations

I. Victims / Community

Accompanying relatives and victims

Introduction

The victims, their families and the communities have not only experienced painful losses and abrupt changes as a result of violence, they also experience uncertainty because of the absence of remains and the absence of one of the main funeral rites (the burial of remains or other cultural processes). In addition to processes of re-victimization because of accusations, threats and conditions that make it difficult to lead a stable and dignified life, their emotional stability, trust and basic beliefs about the world are affected.

Victims and their families have suffered their losses in different ways, which is closely related to considerations such as: the type and quality of emotional bonds, relationships and feelings for deceased relatives; the way violent events have occurred; the support and accompaniment of neighbours and close relatives; the time that has lapsed between the loss of the relative and the exhumation; participation in organizations; access to justice and reparation.

The current situation of the armed, social or political conflict in which the violations occurred, security guarantees for victims and witnesses, the place victims and perpetrators occupy in the society and in public discourse, actions undertaken in the justice system, and reparation are all aspects which have a powerful impact on the expectations of relatives, on their demands and their confidence in the process.

Minimum standards

Good practice recommendations

• Psychosocial work should be carried out only if offered, if people are informed and if their consent is obtained.

• Psychosocial work recognises the political and legal importance of the category (condition) of victim and promotes the victim’s understanding as a subject of rights.

• Psychosocial work should prevent any kind of re-victimisation of individuals, families and communities.

• Coordinated structures should be established to avoid duplicating documentation and analysis processes with relatives (eg. taking declarations, ante mortem interviews).

• The endorsement of victims should be obtained in relation to information use, clarifying its limitations and scope. Those who have information about victims should commit to using it only as agreed.

• Testimonial information about the events, experience and impact of the disappearance should be considered as important as ante mortem information, regardless of whether the remains are recovered.

• Information about the findings of the exhumation process should be provided to help those affected to process and understand the experience.

• Psychosocial work should contribute to critical reflection and to the emotional well-being of individuals, families and communities if they decide to seek legal sanction against perpetrators.

• Psychosocial work in exhumation processes should be the responsibility of teams that are close to the cultural realities of the families and which have a psychosocial, community and human rights perspective leading to an approach based on personal, family, group or collective considerations.

• Psychosocial work in processes of exhumation and forced disappearance will be based on planning, monitoring and an evaluation of the impact on individuals, families and communities affected.

Indicators

• All possible efforts are being made to locate relatives, using community networks or reliable intermediaries for support.

• The expectations of the family and the community should be taken into consideration in all exhumations.

• The participation of all significant actors is guaranteed, including individuals, families, communities, State entities, international agencies and non governmental organisations.

• Information related to search and exhumation processes is clear, relevant and strictly confidential; it includes actions, implications, consequences and corresponding rights, and is appropriate for developing emotional well-being.

• There is a climate of respect in each action implemented, including testimonies which are not only seen as being a source of information.

• Monitoring mechanisms are established with the participation of NGOs, relatives’ organisations and professional organisations to guarantee and evaluate the independence and effectiveness of the search and/or exhumation process.

• Strategies for psychosocial work are defined on the basis of the socio-cultural and political context.

Identification of expectations and needs

Introduction

An exhumation is one way of discovering the fate of disappeared or executed persons, permitting the location, identification, determination of the cause of death and devolution of the remains. It can also lead to public recognition, justice and a process of dignifying victims. Not all people start an exhumation with the same aim in mind. This is why it is important to understand the expectations and needs of families.

It involves a process of communication and transmission of accessible, culturally appropriate information in accordance with the real possibilities of the search for and exhumation of disappeared persons and the methodologies that can be used. The aim is for families to be able to take informed decisions on the possible search and exhumation, but also to establish the priorities of the investigation, either for purposes of identification, for legal reasons or in general to learn the truth.

Before the process starts it is essential that the teams do their best to find all the relatives that might be affected by a process of exhumation and search for the disappeared, including relatives that have been displaced, moving to remote communities or living far from the place where their relative disappeared, in order to maximize investigation and dissemination efforts. Efforts should be thorough, using communication methods appropriate to the cultural and political context with support from local community networks and reliable interlocutors for continuous dissemination.

Methodologies for obtaining information relevant to the exhumation and search process for disappeared or executed persons should not be rigid. They may consist of either ante mortem information or testimonies about the event. Time constraints related to the legal investigation should not be imposed on work with families.  It is necessary to work with the families while taking into careful account the legal time frame of the investigation, which should also be articulated to the family (anti   cipate time constraints, allow time for dialogue or testimonies, etc).  Methods used for obtaining information should be flexible, keeping in mind the socio-cultural context and the particular emotional situation of individuals, and considering that the families themselves are involved in an investigation process, which gives meaning to their search.

Minimum standards

Good practice recommendations

• Before the exhumation process is started the teams should analyse the context. Search and exhumation processes should not be started without obtaining as much information as possible beforehand.

• Before the exhumation process is started possible victims should be identified. Search and exhumation processes should not be started without a guarantee that the maximum effort has been made to do so.

• It should be made transparently clear to the affected individuals what the legal and technical possibilities and limitations are as well as the possibilities and limitations for accompaniment during the search and exhumation process.

Indicators

• Relatives, the community and other individuals involved have all the information necessary for interpreting the dynamics of the exhumation processes and are able to establish their priorities and adapt their expectations to the reality of the exhumation.

• Evaluations are made to see if the expectations of the individuals affected are being met during the main phases of the process, in a participatory way and establishing short, medium and long term indicators.

Cultural context

Introduction

The victims, their families and the communities are all part of the cultural context; they have particular world visions which attach different meanings to life, death, funeral rites and justice. Culture also conditions suffering and ways of expressing and dealing with suffering. Culture contributes valuable resources for dealing with loss and accepting critical situations related to death that should be recognized and appreciated in psychosocial work during exhumation processes and the search for the disappeared.

For psychosocial work it is necessary to have teams of professionals who have a close understanding of the cultural realities of the families and who have the recognition and trust of families for working on private and personal issues. The families should know who the people performing the exhumation process are and the institutions that are participating should be legitimate and credible.

It is important to bear in mind that the process continues even after exhumation and burial, that there may be renewed feelings of sadness and mourning and the expectation of new realities, which will provide the opportunity for accompaniment aimed at rebuilding individual and collective projects.

Likewise it is important to prepare actions which are symbolic in nature, accompanying the process with a solemnity which is appropriate for the burial of remains. Public funerals contribute to humanising the process and honouring the memory of disappeared victims and this in turn provides solace and moral support for the families. These are elements which should be respected and supported by the psychosocial work team.

Minimum standard

Good practice recommendations

• The work teams have sufficient relevant information on the socio-political conditions which surround their work as well as an understanding of the cultural context.

• The work teams have great respect for the culture of the individuals affected, avoiding actions perceived as being invasive. This includes respect for the testimonies and version of the people affected and not letting them feel as if they are just a source of information.

• Cultural wisdom and local resources (healers, elders, local health resources) are recognised and included in the processes of assisting and accompanying the families; joint work is promoted and feedback provided on information obtained.

• Flexibility is important in the methods used to obtain information, keeping the socio-cultural context in mind.

Indicators

• An evaluation of the social and cultural context is made before starting the process of psychosocial accompaniment.

• The design of the psychosocial program has been shared and discussed with the people affected and organisations participating in the process, analyzing the cultural relevance of the program.

Community process

Introduction

Human rights violations not only concern the direct victims or disappeared persons, but they also affect circles close to them as well as the society as a whole. As presented in this document the processes of exhumation and the search for disappeared persons contribute to revealing the truth and to the search for reparation and justice, as well as to dignifying the disappeared victims. In this context these processes are not, nor should they be, private only for the relatives; they should also involve the community and the society as a whole.

In processes of exhumation and the search for disappeared or executed persons the sense of community and collective identity should be addressed and respected. In contexts in which violence has caused people to privatise their suffering part of the reparation process consists of making it visible and giving back to disappeared victims and indirect victims their place in the society. This is why it is important to work with relatives and victims, providing social support and contributing to the understanding that those who were not directly affected have of the victims and the processes.

For an exhumation to be reparative in a community it is fundamental to involve local inhabitants in the process as well as others who are living in the place where relatives of the disappeared victims live. These actions are based on understanding the exhumation, not only as a technical-legal process, but as a measure of individual and collective reparation in a context of violence.

This is why all actions should be encouraged which promote, stimulate or reinforce forms of organisation for victims as well as forms of support by the State or the civil society.

Minimum standard

Good practice recommendations

• Psychosocial work aims to strengthen the community and empower people to demand their rights.

• It improves training for individuals or institutions involved (promoters, teachers, parents, community leaders) to support and accompany boys, girls, adolescents, women and senior citizens in these processes.

Indicators

• Community participation in exhumations is promoted.

• Information is provided about the implications, procedures and consequences of the search process for disappeared or executed persons.

• All possible ways are undertaken to locate relatives with the support of community networks and reliable interlocutors.

Working with children

Introduction

All psychosocial work should consider adequate accompaniment for children and their specific needs during all stages of the exhumation process.

Children and adolescents have a specific view of reality and of their environment which the adult population is usually unaware of and fails to appreciate in many cases. This is the case particularly when considering political violence, which has left its mark on adults and frequently makes them deny or conceal these events and the emotional impact on their lives. Children and adolescents are frequently excluded from social processes in the society, so their desires and possibilities for future participation as citizens in the society are limited.

One of the problems of war and violence is not usually an excessive expression of feelings, but the apparent absence of all emotion. Some children completely deny their fantasy world; others show indifference when they discover that they have lost a member of their family or when they are witnesses to executions or the destruction of their homes, etc. The emotional impact is too great, to the extreme that very often the child or young person is not capable of expressing the terror experienced and shows no apparent signs of it in play. It is possible to tell, remember, imagine and represent traumatic experiences only when feelings of fear and anxiety are under control.

In this context, and considering that political violence has affected the lives of girls, boys and young people who were often witnesses to these events and that these events have largely influenced certain areas of their lives (family, school and community), opportunities should be encouraged for them to voice their opinions about the violence experienced in their communities, how they currently perceive the effects this has had and their perceptions about the role they can play in this new stage of their lives.

Minimum standard

Good practice recommendations

• The higher interest of children prevails over all circumstances.

• The rights of boys and girls are guaranteed before, during and after the exhumation process.

• Psychosocial work is designed and implemented with a gender focus.

• Psycho-legal counselling and support is provided for processes when children are witnesses.

• Truth reports and information about human rights, humanitarian assistance and prevention are included in the school curriculum to reinforce the values of non violence, solidarity and respect.

• Pedagogical activities are developed in schools in the areas where exhumations are being carried out to help boy, girls and youth to understand and give meaning to the experience to which they are community witnesses.

Indicators

• Psychosocial programs exist which are differentiated according to gender and generation.

• A specific plan for working with children is incorporated into psychosocial work.

II. Institutions

Coordination, communication and security

Introduction

An essential element for effective joint work in exhumation processes and the search for disappeared or executed persons is coordination between all actors involved. Even when this element is accepted as being essential it is not always easy to achieve. In practice many elements of coordination that have focused on logistical aspects have overlooked other elements related to an understanding of the work others are doing and the aims of each party.

It should be kept in mind that the more reliable and certain the information the relatives have and the more they participate in the process, the more reparative it will be for them.

A good coordination and communication strategy among the actors will avoid duplication of work and confusion (especially for family members) and it will permit gaps to be identified where there is a potential need to increase coordination. It will also make it possible to share the information available and for all individuals participating in the work to be aware of the context and special features. The best teams are those whose members can agree and respect the strength that each discipline and each individual contributes to the process.

It is important to have regular evaluations which will make it possible to agree on decisions and adjustments immediately. Evaluations at the end of the process are also important – especially for teams that will be working together in the future.

An exhumation process requires secure conditions to guarantee protection for victims, for the community, for technical personnel working on the exhumation processes, and for national and international organisations providing accompaniment. These secure conditions depend partly on the existence or eradication of the causes that gave rise to human rights violations. That is why integral prevention and protection policies and measures should be designed and strategies applied, based on the principles of the social rule of law, to make sure that exhumation processes progress under the universal principles of truth, justice and reparation.

Minimum standards

Good practice recommendations

• Create different levels of execution for coordination, specifying who should be at each level (family, State, international community and non governmental organisations…) to address planning, execution and monitoring of the process.

• Ensure coordination and communication with relatives to strengthen their participation in the process of exhumation and the search for disappeared or executed persons, as well as permitting decision making in relation to the process itself.

• Give back the information to the people affected. This should be coordinated in a multidisciplinary way for it to be appropriate.

• Guarantee the security of victims and organisations.

• Ensure transparency and independence in the process in compliance with international standards and State obligations.

• Guarantee the safety of remains, relatives, witnesses and other participants in the exhumation from any intrusion by those responsible for the crimes being investigated.

Indicators

• Agreements are reached to coordinate the work and mechanisms of internal communication, guaranteeing confidentiality and respect for victims, among the professional and personal teams involved in the exhumation process.

• The processing of detailed information is thorough and any use of information other than for the exhumation is authorised by the persons affected.

• Measures are taken to maintain confidentiality and safeguard information which will guarantee the safety of relatives and witnesses.

Forensic anthropological considerations

Introduction

Forensic anthropology forms part of a broad legal investigation process. Contributions are made –through established methodologies and instruments- to the search, analysis and identification of human skeletal remains or remains in an advanced stage of decomposition in different contexts, such as an alleged crime, natural disaster or accident. This is why the possibility is provided for the population in general –and particularly for relatives of disappeared victims- to confirm or establish the fate of the dead.

Forensic anthropological investigation is not only an administrative-legal proceeding, but also forms part of efforts to clarify crimes committed against life. It is linked to human feelings and cultural and religious values. In the case of violent deaths, the forensic expert should understand the current situation and social context of the place where the investigation will be made in order to obtain extensive information about the circumstances of the disappearance, the somatic characteristics of victims and legal procedures for the search, excavation and analysis of human remains.

For this reason, community intervention requires a participatory strategy which respects individuals and peoples, recognising their culture and world vision, their opinions, suggestions, doubts, fears and needs.

Minimum standard

Good practice recommendations

• Create minimum agreements to coordinate work among the professional teams and/or personnel involved in the exhumation process.

• Facilitate for forensic anthropological, legal and psychosocial teams a basic understanding of the other disciplines related to the exhumation process and the search for the disappeared.

• Joint participation of the forensic anthropological teams and of psychosocial workers in the collection and transmission of information to relatives and the community, to encourage possibilities of reparation for families.

• Facilitate participation and access to information for families and communities involved in exhumation processes.

• Promote a positive role for the different State agencies involved in the exhumation process.

Indicators

• Anthropological processes respond at all times to international protocols on good praxis (Eg. the Minnesota Protocol).

• There is a Grave Protection Plan when minimum conditions for an excavation are not present.

• Respect for the chain of custody for remains is adequate to guarantee the legal value of expert evidence.

• Forensic anthropological work takes into consideration cultural and religious elements in the handling and care of remains.

Self-support for teams

Introduction

Exhumation processes represent difficult times and conditions for the teams working on them. The different actors (forensic anthropologists, psychosocial workers, human rights organisations, victims’ organisations, etc.) are working in conflict and post-conflict regions and may be exposed to risks of hostility and threats, in many cases with no protection from State authorities. Furthermore, they must deal with the emotional burden of human rights violations and the expectations victims have of an exhumation process which may go beyond the real possibilities of the teams.

These aspects need to be taken into account in the dynamics of teams and individuals involved in the work.

Appropriate training of teams has been considered in the following areas to contribute to improving interpretation and attention given to situations which may arise in the teams:

• Psychological first aid and stress management
• Understanding the risk of re-traumatisation for relatives
• Understanding basic psychosocial and community intervention tools
• Understanding the potential effects of emotional exhaustion on the individual
• Preparing contingency plans and corresponding measures

Minimum standard

Good practice recommendations

• Access is available for external psychological supervision, opportunities for discussion and other opportunities which, if necessary, will help with psychological aspects related to the process.

• An integral health approach should be adopted, taking into consideration physical, psychological and social aspects.

• It is necessary to have an external opinion, making sure that the person providing psychological supervision is from outside the institution and accepted by all the people he/she is supporting.

Indicators

• Individual, group and institutional support is available for the inter-disciplinary search and/or exhumation teams.

• There are protection and security measures available which are appropriate for all team members.

III. The State

Role of the State

Introduction

The study and description of enforced disappearance, extrajudicial execution and torture have shown how many states, in spite of being the guarantors of the rights to life, liberty and integrity of their citizens, have been responsible for serious human rights violations, either because of the direct participation of State agents or the participation of private individuals with the tolerance, consent or protection of the State. Therefore, as with individual and collective harm caused by enforced disappearance, extrajudicial execution and torture, international human rights standards and the International Criminal Tribunal have classified this behaviour as a crime against humanity which affects the dignity of victims and their relatives, as well as the dignity of humanity as a whole.

The fact that exhumation processes and the search for disappeared or executed persons are being implemented in different countries implies: first that States are not fulfilling their obligation to prevent human rights violations and infringements of international humanitarian law, or the obligation to protect all citizens; these are constitutional obligations that have been ratified in many countries through international agreements which are binding; and, secondly, crimes against humanity, genocide or war crimes may have been committed and so to overcome impunity it is necessary to clarify who is responsible and create conditions and procedures for reparation or compensation for individuals and communities that are victims of these actions.

Under international law the States have the obligation to investigate the scope of these violations, identify those responsible, impose corresponding sanctions, and produce the legal, political and economic conditions, and the scenarios and procedures necessary for victims to exercise and enforce their legitimate rights. These include the right to truth (clarification of events), justice (investigation and sanction for the intellectual and material perpetrators) and integral reparations (compensation for the moral and material damages as a result of violations). Despite this there are countries in which it is the State that has been responsible for promoting impunity.

In this context there is an on-going debate about whether exhumation processes should be an exclusive State function or whether the State’s role should be limited to producing budgetary and operational conditions so that non governmental organisations can carry out exhumations. This debate has been settled to a certain extent in some countries, but in the majority there continues to be no clear solution. One possibility is that the roles of the State and of different sectors be taken into consideration in accordance with the requirement of an exhumation process which respects victims.

Minimum standard

Good practice recommendations

• The State’s obligation to provide reparation includes the search for and restitution of the remains of disappeared or executed persons to their relatives, providing psychosocial work for the individual, the family and the community as required.

• The State guarantees the relatives’ right to information, creating or strengthening agencies which specialise in this field.

• As part of reparation the State should consider psychosocial work for individuals and groups involved in the search and exhumation processes (the form this work will take is based on considerations related to law, emotional well-being and dignifying victims).

• The State accepts the participation of victims and civil society organisations in the process and guarantees the protection of all participants in the process.

• Active State policies should be promoted in the different government branches according to the needs and rights of relatives.

• The State should facilitate international monitoring when requested.

• The State should guarantee and maintain investigation of disappearances by enough competent, qualified and independent experts who can be vouched for by international organisations.

• The States should facilitate transparent access to documents and data related to the process when these are not legal secrets.

Indicators

• Exhumation processes are declared officially legitimate by the State or States involved.

• Reparation policies are binding for the State as a whole and they should be adapted to the needs and rights of relatives.

• Relatives have access to clear and precise information which will allow them to understand and evaluate the quality of the process.

Juridical and legal aspects

Introduction

Considering the individual and collective dimensions of crimes such as enforced disappearance and extrajudicial executions, it is appropriate to ask what relatives of disappeared victims require to put an end to their suffering, what they might need to perceive that they have received reparation with regard to the damages they have suffered, what type of actions would contribute to the society recovering trust that this type of event will not be repeated.

The relatives, communities or victims’ organisations should be asked these questions directly, since they should be the ones to first propose what type of actions could be taken to locate their relatives, dead or alive, as well as processing the experience, based on an understanding of their rights and the national and international mechanisms available to protect them,.

The enforced disappearance of individuals is a crime against humanity, and extrajudicial execution is a serious human rights violation. Consequently, all processes of search for disappeared persons or persons who have been extra judicially executed should include criminal justice proceedings, to investigate, identify and prosecute the perpetrators or the individuals who ordered or instigated them to commit the crimes, especially when it is understood that enforced disappearance and summary executions are crimes against humanity. Even when relatives do not wish to prosecute (a decision which should of course be respected), there are valuable psychological and legal reasons why the individuals participating in psychosocial or community work in these cases should not be ignorant of or reject the national and international standards applicable to these issues and turn to State entities that are responsible for enforcement.

Enforced disappearances and clandestine graves offend the ethical and moral conscience of humanity and are acts of aggression which should not be kept private, because they do not only affect the victim and his or her relatives, but other sectors, including communities and the society in general.

The State, therefore, has the obligation to recognise and re-establish the rights which have been violated, and this cannot end with finding the individual or his/her remains. It also entails identifying those responsible and discovering the reasons for this kind of behaviour, aspects which are related to the disappeared victim, the perpetrator and the society as a whole.

Minimum standard

Good practice recommendations

• Depending on specific characteristics psychosocial work and training processes should be available for legal professionals in the search and/or exhumation team.

• The training process should include psychosocial tools for maintaining an appropriate relationship with the victims.

• As far as possible duplication in testimonies or expert evidence should be avoided.

• Basic information, not protected as part of legal records, should be centralized and accessible for the public affected and for all involved in the search and exhumation process. The processing of detailed information should be thorough and with the authorisation of the individuals affected and it should not influence the investigation or security of persons affected and/or witnesses.

• Psychosocial work should contribute to the emotional well-being of individuals, families and communities when they choose legal sanction for perpetrators.

• The security of the remains of victims, of relatives, witnesses and teams participating in the exhumation should be guaranteed, protecting them from all intrusions by the perpetrators of the crimes being investigated.

• Traditional justice systems should be respected since in any case they do not replace or substitute criminal prosecution.

Indicators

• Exhumations comply with minimum legal and scientific, national and international standards.

• All relatives are informed about their legal rights and how to exercise these rights.

• The State takes ex officio action against the perpetrators of crimes against humanity.

• Search and exhumation processes include the work of verification of psychosocial damage which can be used for historical reconstruction as well as possibly establishing reparation measures or others.

Integral Reparation

Introduction

Reparation should be understood as all the measures and policies implemented by the State to restore the rights and improve the situation of victims as well as promoting political reforms which prevent the repetition of violence.

All reparation processes should be in the context of strict observance of human rights: the right to knowledge, the right to justice, the right to reparation and a guarantee of non repetition are fundamental elements in a reparation and compensation process. These rights are essential elements that should be included in any type of process to assist victims of political violence. In the context of exhumations we assert that simply starting the process is a reparative action which is concluded insofar as it leads to truth, justice and a guarantee of non-repetition.

Acknowledgment of events by the perpetrators and of responsibility by the State, as well as actions which will help to accept the truth as part of the moral conscience of society are all part of reparation, the dignification of disappeared victims and an improvement in the lives of survivors. In this context another form of reparation for victims of political violence is the State’s commitment to discovering the whereabouts of all disappeared persons.

Forms of reparation must avoid intensifying social differences or introducing new conflicts in families or communities. This will be achieved by promoting the participation of persons affected, emphasizing their decision making capacity, permitting a clear dissemination of criteria and the equity of these, as well as their recognition as a contribution –not a substitution- to the need for justice.

Minimum standard

Good practice recommendations

• Expectations of and needs for reparation should be agreed on through a participatory process with all persons affected.

• Psychosocial work should aim to fulfil the right to reparation of individuals, families and communities, in accordance with their expectations and context.

• Psychosocial work should have an impact on the transformation of social perceptions which may limit adequate reparation.

Indicators

• The psychosocial work process makes it possible to design proposals for integral reparation in a participatory way.

Annex 1. Compilation of minimum standards

Accompanying relatives and victims 1. Psychosocial work shall contribute to developing elements necessary for the exhumation process and the search for the disappeared to be reparative as a whole for individuals, relatives, communities and the society. 2. Psychosocial work shall aim to strengthen the capacity of victims to demand their rights to truth, justice and reparation.

Identification of expectations and needs 3. From the standpoint of psychosocial work, the significance of undertaking search and exhumation processes lies in the expectations and needs of individuals involved in the search for the disappeared. 4. All efforts shall be made to identify and locate relatives before starting the excavation process.

Cultural context 5. The sociopolitical and cultural context of the individuals affected shall be taken into account as well as the significance that families and communities attach to these processes in order to facilitate justice, truth, memory and integral reparation.

Community process 6. Psychosocial work shall facilitate organisational possibilities for the individuals affected, so that exhumations and the search for the disappeared can be reparative in themselves.

Working with children 7. Psychosocial work shall consider accompanying children and adolescents and taking into consideration their specific needs during the processes of exhumation and the search for disappeared persons.

Coordination, communication and security 8. Work teams involved in the process of exhumation and the search for the disappeared shall guarantee the coordination of all actors involved: individuals, families, communities, the State, international agencies and non governmental organisations at all levels of the process. 9. All actors shall guarantee clear and precise information for individuals affected about the exhumation process or the search for disappeared persons, and about their actions, implications, consequences and rights. This is particularly significant in aspects related to reparation and the right to justice. 10. During an exhumation process and the search for the disappeared, adequate security conditions shall be permanently guaranteed for families, witnesses and participants.

Forensic anthropological considerations 11. During exhumation processes and the search for disappeared persons, compliance with legal and scientific, national and international standards shall be guaranteed for forensic anthropological work.

Self-support for teams 12. Integral care shall be available for the interdisciplinary teams intervening in exhumation processes.

Role of the State 13. The State shall guarantee control and oversight mechanisms by victims, local organisations and international agencies, thus ensuring transparency in the exhumation processes and the search for the disappeared. 14. The State shall take legislative, administrative, judicial or any other steps to fulfil the rights of individual and collective victims.

Juridical and legal aspects 15. Information shall be provided for relatives about the legal and social context of exhumations and their judicial consequences, contributing to decisions about future actions by relatives. 16. Judicial personnel participating in the search and exhumation shall have enough basic knowledge to respond to the psychosocial needs of relatives of the victims, adapting procedures to ethnic, gender and generational characteristics in each case.

Integral reparation 17. Individuals, relatives and communities shall be informed of their right to integral reparation, as contemplated in national and international legislation. 18. Expectations of and rights to reparation for individuals, families and communities shall be actively incorporated into psychosocial work, facilitating elements which will contribute to organisation for this purpose.

Annex 2. Matrix of possible actions to be implemented in psychosocial work in exhumation processes and the search for disappeared or executed persons.

The activities proposed below represent a framework for action which should be adapted to the reality of each country or region.

Basic matrix of work themes and possible actions	PREPARATORY WORK BEFORE EXCAVATION (previous months)	WORK AROUND TIME OF EXCAVATION (previous weeks, during excavation and subsequent weeks)	WORK DURING WAITING PERIOD AND INHUMATION	INTEGRAL MEDIUM AND LONG TERM ACTIONS
1. COORDINATION	- Determine national or international institutions that work in exhumations and seek possibilities of consensus and joint work. - Identify networks of institutions that can potentially provide support in exhumation processes. - Develop national exhumation policies in consensus with all actors, particularly victims’ associations, that respect the principles and standards agreed on in this guide. - Incorporate the exhumation policy into the agenda of national human rights agencies. - Find stable mixed sources of funding, preferably State sources. - Provide integral training for each professional sector on aspects of work related to other sectors, in accordance with the indications in this guide. - Promote training for legal entities, police, etc. on human rights and exhumation processes in this context. - Coordination of all institutions and organisations to develop the work of searching for and identifying possible relatives, with special emphasis on support and resources for the associations of individuals affected.	- Set up coordination systems between institutions: roles, responsibilities, meetings and decision making systems. - Establish coordinated diagnosis and evaluation systems (see section 2), avoiding duplication of actions (eg. interviews). - Encourage the participation of relatives in decision making at key times to adapt to the needs and desires of relatives: - excavation dates - starting time - presentation of clothing - closing of graves - symbolic rituals and ceremonies - Coordination to facilitate logistical support particularly for relatives with fewer economic resources: - transport from communities to the exhumation - support for lodging or meals if required - support with child care or care for others - support with digging, etc.	- Coordination of activities during waiting periods (visits to laboratory and other activities). - Provision of information on the process in consensus. - Inhumation ceremony in consensus with all the institutions and in accordance with the religious or symbolic requirements of relatives. - Contribute to the process not being only a private affair.	- Develop a strategic plan with the organisations to: - provide information about the process - provide information about findings - promote strategic actions to achieve non-repetition - promote the inclusion of lessons learned in national policies on exhumations. - Encourage processes to develop historical memory (books, ceremonies, reminders…) throughout the country.
2. PARTICIPATORY DIAGNOSIS AND EVALUATION	- Understand the expectations of relatives or communities involved: Why exhume the remains? How do they imagine the process? What conditions should be present? - Revise and systematise information about the historical process and strengths and weaknesses observed in other situations. Learn from previous experiences.	- Identification of entities and organisations working in the region and their services. - Participatory diagnosis of: (a) reasons for the exhumation (b) expectations (c) perception of the social and political climate (d) perception of justice (see point (5), perception of reparation (see point 6) (e) cultural context. - Make a participatory diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of relatives for developing the process, and possible support and alliances necessary. - Create local strategies, systems and tools for monitoring the process (indicators, measures for real impact in terms of individual, family or community reparation).	- Maintain monitoring systems for community impact.	- Define opportunities for periodical meetings with victims to inform them about progress, concerns and prospects of the process. - Evaluation of the impact of the exhumation at the individual, social and community levels. - A report to give back to relatives, the community and institutions with information about the process and lessons learned from it. - Compare the results with those of other national and international experiences.
3. ACOMPANIMENT FOR RELATIVES AND VICTIMS	- Contribute to conditions and/or where necessary promote the creation or maintenance of organisational possibilities for relatives. - Coordinate all the mechanisms available in coordination with relatives and other institutions involved to guarantee maximum opportunities for locating relatives who could potentially have relatives in the exhumation process (snowballing methodologies and others). - Creation of a registry of relatives to permit fast dissemination of information.	- Guarantee a relationship of trust with relatives and with the community, following the “bond of commitment” principles. - Guarantee appropriate, reliable and understandable information on anthropological and legal considerations for relatives and the community (schools, community associations, etc.). - Promote mobilisation of relatives and ownership of the process as far as possible. - Understand the expectations and motivations of relatives (see point 2). Analyse and anticipate: - the possibility of no findings - the possibility of finding signs of ill-treatment, cruelty or torture. - Analyse the position of relatives in relation to the whole community (potential support and sources of rejection; strategies; threats; rumours; fear; conflict). - Emotional support during the excavation process and in view of possible findings. - Guarantee reliable and understandable information from the forensic anthropological and legal processes. - Support for the possible appearance of organisational processes or of new leaders. - Encourage the emergence of self-support groups. - Encourage conditions for cultural and religious practices to be adapted to the demands of relatives. -      -- Support and accompaniment during particularly significant symbolic times which are religious or social or related to the community. - Joint work with culturally recognised figures to provide attention and support for analysing dreams, nightmares, apparitions, ceremonies….	- Accompaniment in processes of identifying clothing or identifying skeletal remains. - Evaluate with participating relatives whether the process meets their expectations and possible sources of conflict or discomfort, particularly with regard to emotional and humanistic considerations. -  Work with relatives not found. Perception of the task as being completed or not. - Continuity of work: - organisational - local memory - search for justice (criminal or other). - Information about on-going forensic-anthropological aspects. -  Expectations and organisation of inhumation (individual – collective; civil – religious…). -  Give support and follow-up to self-support groups. - Continuation of the collective testimony. - Exchange with other working groups to share experiences and for mutual support so that experiences not be restricted to small groups.	- Contact with relatives to evaluate the impact of actions and the extent to which exhumations have met their expectations. - Findings and implications. - Contact in case of new exhumations in adjoining areas where there is a possibility of locating a relative. - Involve the more motivated relatives in compiling a historical memory (testimonies, books, ceremonies, remembering…) throughout the country. - Coordination with public health institutions or human rights agencies to provide care for relatives with serious traumas.
4. COMMUNITY PROCESS 4.1. Historical Memory / Truth 4.2. Support for victims and relatives 4.3. Attention for special groups: children, former perpetrators…	- Preparation (preferably with IAP techniques) of a map of networks of community authorities and institutions and their position in support or rejection of exhumation. - Analysis and documentation of the historical process and violent events. Actors and current status of conflict. - View of relatives in the community (support, stigmatisation…). Mapping of risks and potential coverage and management strategies. - Existence of groups particularly sensitive to the process (presence of perpetrators in the community…). - Detection of actors or community institutions with whom it would be possible to carry out coordination or awareness raising (schools, youth centres, historical or cultural associations, universities…).	- Promote community actions to provide psychosocial support for relatives and victims. - Learn and/or coordinate with culturally significant figures (traditional authorities, healers, spiritual or social leaders). - Involve different sectors (schools, churches, local or regional media). - Promote the participation of volunteers in the community in tasks related to exhumation, as a form of support and dignification for relatives (digging, assistance with shelter or food, cultural ceremonies or dissemination). - Promote local actions to recover the historical memory. - Identify the relation between the local context and possible conflicts in the national political context. - Analyse the presence of perpetrators in the community. Possible conflicts.	- Evaluation of the impact on the community of the exhumation in terms of community cohesion versus polarisation / conflict; opening of new organisational opportunities or others.	- Development of a sense of ownership of the process among community members. - Understanding the exhumation as an integral development process for the community. - Take steps to permit sectors of the community to “put a human face” on their recent history to understand the significance and scope of exhumations as well as the experience of relatives.
5. LEGAL ASPECTS 5.1. Legal process 5.2  Criminal proceedings	5.1. Legal process. - Coordinate accompaniment for legal formalities to start the process (complaint, ratification, testimony or others). - Accompaniment for a prior visit to the possible place of the exhumation. 5.2. Criminal proceedings. Discuss the right of relatives to have access to justice and possible coordination of actions with all institutions involved.	5.1. Legal Process. - Coordinate accompaniment for legal formalities with possible organisational or emotional implications. - Support for the legal team to achieve an appropriate and reliable understanding of technical legal aspects by relatives or the community. - In all processes guarantee appropriate respect for the human rights of relatives and victims (confidentiality, privacy, security…). - Guarantee adequate witness protection in places where massacres or war crimes occurred. 5.2. Criminal proceedings. Create opportunities for discussion of the possibility of relatives or the community initiating a lawsuit against perpetrators.	5.1. Legal process. - Explain and analyse the implications and consequences of identification. 5.2. Criminal proceedings. - Support the discussion and/or measures if any relatives decide to take this path. - Coordinate proceedings against perpetrators with relatives from other exhumations in the case of regional violence. - Design a psycho-legal strategy.	- Promote the ratification of international conventions on the prevention of torture or international criminal jurisdiction in the country. - Promote legal reforms to prevent impunity for acts of genocide or crimes against humanity.
6. FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASPECTS	- Make visual interdisciplinary inspections to establish communication and encourage initial contacts with relatives.	- Support for the anthropological team to achieve an adequate and reliable understanding by relatives or the community of technical forensic-anthropological aspects - ante mortem records - value of different evidence for identification (clothing, physical signs, DNA…) - custody and storage of remains - Presence during the preparation of ante mortem records.	- Accompany the process of identifying clothing or remains, seeking opportunities for emotional and community strengthening. - Psychosocial aspects related to looking after the remains and the laboratory procedure. Communication to relatives and the possibility of guided visits by groups of relatives to the laboratory.
7. COMPENSATION AND REPARATION 7.1. Relation with authorities 7.2. Compensation and reparation programmes	- Encourage an analysis of the right to integral reparation, this being understood not only as a possibility to relieve the effects of damages caused by the crimes, but also as a form of generating transformation of the conditions that led to violations, thus avoiding their repetition. - Work in a participatory way in relation to victims’ expectations of reparation. - Enable communication of victims with state entities responsible for reparation policies.	- Make the analysis and actions possible in relation to locating the whereabouts of disappeared persons, as a form of reparation. - Pay attention to all aspects related to respect for remains, dignified treatment of the deceased and of relatives.	- Involvement of state entities responsible for reparation policies in relation to actions by victims in exhumation processes.	- Memorials and monuments and other forms of symbolic reparation. - Define the actions necessary for adequate social, economic, educational or medical support for the survivors of massacres or relatives of victims. - Improve relations with state entities responsible for reparation policies. - Improve relations of victims with reparation programs so they can demand their right to integral reparation.
8. INFORMATION	- Make a map of the local and regional media and possible position in the process. - Existence and handling of rumours and other sources of division.	- Analyse the level of visibility that relatives and organisations involved wish the exhumation to have. - Guarantee reliable, respectful information in the appropriate political context for the local, national and international media. - Prevent unethical use of images.		- Improve or develop community structures which contribute to disseminating the collective memory of events and the process being carried out by relatives or organisations.
9. WORK TEAMS	- Develop training processes to accompany exhumations. - Promote the establishment of multicultural teams. - Promote teams with gender perspective.	- Steps to give attention to the teams. - Promote ethical and responsible behaviour in the teams (use of tape recorders or cameras, respect for local customs in clothing, attitude, etc.).
10. EDUCATION	- Find resources for formal and informal education in the area.	- Coordinate with teachers and institutions: - information about the process - participatory workshops with children and adolescents - accompany visits to the exhumation		- Promote human rights education in the curriculum.

Annex 3. Process of drawing up Standards

Different organisations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in its project, The Missing, the International UN Commission on Disappeared Persons, Physicians for Human Rights, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and others, emphasize the importance of psychosocial care for relatives of victims for the psychological and social processing of serious human rights violations. Psychosocial work is mentioned as forming a significant part of the exhumation process and the search for disappeared or executed persons. However, there are no systematised elements agreed on by the different public and private institutions working in this field to permit basic standards to be produced or a minimum consensus on what should be understood by psychosocial work in exhumation processes.

The scope and importance of the exhumation process and the urgent and priority need to delimit psychosocial criteria under which minimum conditions can be established for good praxis make it absolutely necessary to have opportunities for dialogue, discussion and reflection about psychosocial work and its links to the exhumation process and the search for disappeared or executed persons. With this aim in mind the Community Study and Psychosocial Action Team (ECAP) from Guatemala, the Community Action Group (GAC) from Spain and the North-South Institute from Austria wrote a report to present experiences of exhumations and models of psychosocial work in Latin America in a book, Resistencias frente al Olvido. Acompañamiento psicosocial a exhumaciones en América Latina (Gedisa, 2007) (Resistence to Oblivion. Psychosocial accompaniment for exhumations in Latin America). This book brings together experiences and lessons learnt from El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, Ecuador and Honduras, reaching consensuses among all institutions participating in the process.

At the same time these three institutions organised the I World Congress on Psychosocial Work in Exhumation Processes, Enforced Disappearances, Justice and Truth in Antigua Guatemala, Central America in February, 2007.

The idea of the congress was to provide the opportunity for sharing international experiences and creating networks. One of the objectives of the Congress was to start to produce the first International Consensus on Minimum Standards for Psychosocial Work in Exhumation Processes and the Search for Disappeared or Executed Persons, to establish an agreement on minimum standards for conditions in an exhumation process to respond with certain guarantees to the needs of relatives, the communities and the society in terms of truth, justice and reparation and to provide guidelines for basic conduct written in consensus in order to direct the work of State institutions, associations of survivors and victims, legal, forensic anthropological or psychosocial non governmental organisations and human rights groups working in this field.

145 people from 32 countries in America, Asia, Europe and Africa attended, thus providing broad representation. Institutions involved in psychosocial, forensic and legal work also participated as well as organisations of relatives.

Methodology for developing minimum standards

To achieve progress in drawing up the International Consensus on Minimum Standards for Psychosocial Work in Exhumation Processes and the Search for Disappeared or Executed Persons, a process was started with all participants before the congress consisting of a simple exercise, asking participants: “Based on your experience can you list 5 things that SHOULD NEVER OCCUR in an exhumation process and 5 things that SHOULD ALWAYS OCCUR in an exhumation process, whether from a psychosocial viewpoint or form the viewpoint of the professional field in which you work.”

Of the answers received a total of 465 quotes were selected, each consisting of between 1 and 10 lines. They were classified using the Atlas-ti 5.0 programme. A thesaurus was created and codes were assigned to each quote, resulting in a total of 93 different codes or key words. These key words were clustered in 11 conceptual families of Key Words or Conceptual Nodes.

01. Coordination (66 quotes). Proposals or comments related to the need for institutions to coordinate their activities among themselves, with the community, with relatives or with government institutions.

02. Participatory Diagnosis and Evaluation (111 quotes). Proposals or comments related to the process of preparing the diagnosis before the exhumation with special reference to preparation of ante mortem records, the efforts to locate relatives, reliability of data, etc.

03. Community Process (77 quotes). Proposals or comments related to the organisation of the community in relation to the exhumation, participation processes, etc.

04. Role of the State (41 quotes). Proposals or comments to start a discussion on what the State’s role should be in exhumations, including some who believed it was the State’s obligation and they should be the only people authorised to do it, to others who thought that since a large proportion of victims might proceed with lawsuits in which the State could hypothetically be a party, they should finance the processes, but leave exhumations in the hands of non governmental organisations.

05. Accompanying Relatives and Victims (164 quotes). Proposals or comments on how to do psychosocial work and aspects that should be kept in mind.

06. Juridical and legal aspects (85 quotes). Proposals or comments on the need, or otherwise, to incorporate the judicial component in all exhumation processes.

07. Forensic anthropological considerations (128 quotes). Proposals or comments on ways to incorporate anthropological and psychosocial work or to take into consideration psychosocial aspects in the work of archeological excavation.

08. Compensation / Reparation (98 quotes). Proposals or comments on a perspective based on human rights and reparations for exhumation processes.

09. Information and the media (40 quotes). Proposals and mention of information management, rumours, the media, social mobilisation and others related to information.

10. Work Teams – Self-support and training (64 quotes). Proposals and mention of self-support for teams (anthropological, legal and psychosocial).

11. Social and educational aspects. Children (14 quotes). Proposals and mention of the need to work with children, including some who believed their presence should be forbidden and others who proposed they should be present with materials appropriate to their age, as well as the need to incorporate educational work in schools in the area.

Subsequently some of the people who participated in the process were asked:

1. To draft a text with a maximum of 1500 words to serve as an introduction to a discussion about the conceptual area at the congress in order to progress with reaching a consensus.

1. To propose a maximum of 3 good practice principles or standards for the area. These standards should (a) be drafted positively (b) be brief and direct with a maximum of 25 words (c) indicate actions for the teams. These could be accompanied by a brief clarifying text.

For this work these people had the quotes from all who participated in the first round of questions with the understanding that there was a commitment to keep in mind the opinions and discussions reflected in them, but that the institution or individual drafting the text was not necessarily tied down to these. The idea was not to summarise, but to draft a text presenting the discussions and proposals aiming to incorporate the observations made by the rest of the organisations and individuals.

In the congress groups worked for two days on each of the 11 line texts prepared by participants in the process, in order to draft a Consensus based on discussion of the documents prepared.

To finish outlining the Consensus document a working group was set up to Develop Minimum Standards[3] which has worked by contributing internal coherence and peer revision.

The next step was to send the document back to all the participants in the congress for revision and then make adjustments for national and/or regional contexts.

After that it will be disseminated and implemented. We are hoping for support from the States, national and international entities and relatives’ organisations, and legal, forensic and psychosocial institutions.

GLOSSARY

Psychosocial care during exhumation processes: The process of providing accompaniment for individuals, relatives, the community or the society in order to cope with the consequences of the impact of serious human rights violations suffered by individuals, promoting well-being, and social and emotional support for victims and urging them to take action.

Victim: The victim is understood as being “the disappeared person and any individual who has suffered harm as the direct result of an enforced disappearance”. In this context the document calls the person who has disappeared the “disappeared victim”.

Enforced disappearance: Arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such person outside the protection of the law.

Massacre: The term “massacre” is not included in international legal language. Its generalised use in many countries has led it to be adopted for this document. Massacre, as defined by the Commission for Historical Clarification of Guatemala,  is understood as being the arbitrary execution of over five individuals in one place and as part of the same operation, when the victims were in a state of absolute or relative defenclessness. The Commission indicates that the concept of “one place” can refer to physical spaces of different types (house, canton, neighbourhood, village or group of villages) as long as they are part of the same military operation. Massacres are usually associated with other serious human rights violations, such as torture, cruel treatment, enforced disappearance and sexual violations or aberrant conduct, such as the mutilation of cadavers and the destruction of property belonging to individuals, to the community or used for worship.

Standard: A rule which should be followed and to which behaviour, tasks and activities should adhere.

Good Practice Standards for psychosocial work in exhumations and search processes: Rules which should be followed and to which behaviour, tasks and activities should adhere in exhumation processes in the context of the search for the disappeared or for persons who have been executed extra judicially in order to guarantee the reparative nature of the process for direct or indirect victims as well as for the society as a whole.

Psychosocial perspective in the work of exhumations: The whole range of actions and processes which should be taken into consideration and/or developed in relation to an exhumation at the level of the individual, the family, the community and the society by all the institutions, teams and professionals who intervene in order to guarantee its reparative nature both for direct and indirect victims as well as for the society as a whole.

Good practice recommendations: Specific actions which guide the appropriate application of Good Practice Standards.

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[1] Different terms are used to refer to psychosocial work, including care, intervention or accompaniment. Although there are some subtle differences, in this text we use the term psychosocial work which in practice includes many of these elements.

[3] Coordination of Standards: Susana Navarro García (ECAP), Pau Pérez-Sales (GAC), Franc Kernjak (North-South Institute). Working Group for Minimum Standards: Shari Eppel (Solidarity Peace Trust -- Zimbabwe), Rosalía Chauca (Redinfa – Peru), Laurence de Barros (ICRC – Switzerland), Ben Moraleda (AFAD – Phillipines), Luis Bromley (IML – Peru), Elizabeth Lira (Univ Alberto Hurado – Chile), Jiovani Arias (Dos Mundos Foundation – Colombia), Susana Ansaloni (GAC – Argentina), Polly DeWhirst (CSVR – South Africa), Ute Hofmeister (ICRC – Switzerland) and Henriette Stratman (Physicians for Human Rights – Netherlands).

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