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Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (or Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team – EPAF) applies forensic anthropology to the search for forcibly disappeared persons during the period of internal political conflict from 1982- 2000. It is their final goal to restore the identity of the thousands of missing Peruvians that rest in hidden burial sites across the country.
Since its inception in February 2001, the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF), a civil society non-governmental organization, has been the primary advocate for the search, recovery, and identification of missing individuals in Peru. EPAF was formed when a group of Peruvian professionals working for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia decided to apply their expertise in their own country. EPAF´s 17-member team applies scientific methods in the fields of forensic anthropology and archaeology in their attempt to restore the identify of thousands of missing Peruvians that rest in hidden burial sites across the country.
In Peru, as a result of the political violence that enveloped the country from 1980-2000, approximately 69,000 were killed and 8,500 people were disappeared according to the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Although the final truth commission report represented closure for some Peruvians, others - especially those who had yet to learn what had happened to their disappeared loved ones - found little resolution. Since the report´s release, EPAF has worked to confirm the actual number of disappeared individuals, traveling across the highlands of Peru gathering information from families residing within those areas hardest hit by the two-decade civil war. As of 2006, EPAF had compiled its own list of 13,000 missing individuals, and more recent estimates approach approximately 15,000.
Through its Memory Project, EPAF collects ante-mortem data from families of the disappeared to preserve the biological and social characteristics of missing persons, as well as the circumstances of their disappearance, death, and clandestine burial. The collection of ante-mortem data is the first step in the correct identification of exhumed, unidentified remains. EPAF uses this data within a comprehensive strategy designed to identify victims of the Peruvian conflict, which also includes the recovery and analysis of remains and the use of DNA testing to complement the identification process.
EPAF also incorporates an educational component into its work, helping different actors already involved in the search, recovery, and identification process understand the components of a forensic anthropology investigation. These efforts - explored through special targeted workshops - focus on the families of the disappeared as well as judicial and governmental organizations, the greater human rights community, and the press.
Outreach Partners
Contact:
Jose Pablo Baraybar
Jr. Mello Franco 341
Jesús María
Lima, Peru
Tel: (511) 424-5490 Back
Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense
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Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (or Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team – EPAF) applies forensic anthropology to the search for forcibly disappeared persons during the period of internal political conflict from 1982- 2000. It is their final goal to restore the identity of the thousands of missing Peruvians that rest in hidden burial sites across the country.
- Watch the film: If I Don't Come Back...Look for me in Putis and follow the excavation of the largest mass grave found in Peru.
Putis May 2008 |
The Exhumation |
The Morgue |
Situating the Killers  |
The Relatives Arrive  |
Reactions  |
Advocacy  |
Wrapping Up  |
Since its inception in February 2001, the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF), a civil society non-governmental organization, has been the primary advocate for the search, recovery, and identification of missing individuals in Peru. EPAF was formed when a group of Peruvian professionals working for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia decided to apply their expertise in their own country. EPAF´s 17-member team applies scientific methods in the fields of forensic anthropology and archaeology in their attempt to restore the identify of thousands of missing Peruvians that rest in hidden burial sites across the country.
In Peru, as a result of the political violence that enveloped the country from 1980-2000, approximately 69,000 were killed and 8,500 people were disappeared according to the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Although the final truth commission report represented closure for some Peruvians, others - especially those who had yet to learn what had happened to their disappeared loved ones - found little resolution. Since the report´s release, EPAF has worked to confirm the actual number of disappeared individuals, traveling across the highlands of Peru gathering information from families residing within those areas hardest hit by the two-decade civil war. As of 2006, EPAF had compiled its own list of 13,000 missing individuals, and more recent estimates approach approximately 15,000.
Through its Memory Project, EPAF collects ante-mortem data from families of the disappeared to preserve the biological and social characteristics of missing persons, as well as the circumstances of their disappearance, death, and clandestine burial. The collection of ante-mortem data is the first step in the correct identification of exhumed, unidentified remains. EPAF uses this data within a comprehensive strategy designed to identify victims of the Peruvian conflict, which also includes the recovery and analysis of remains and the use of DNA testing to complement the identification process.
EPAF also incorporates an educational component into its work, helping different actors already involved in the search, recovery, and identification process understand the components of a forensic anthropology investigation. These efforts - explored through special targeted workshops - focus on the families of the disappeared as well as judicial and governmental organizations, the greater human rights community, and the press.
- EPAF is looking to develop workshops on forensic anthropology given to judges, prosecutors and NGOs; so that they can gain access to the information and skills needed to understand and adopt efficient work strategies using forensic sciences, and improve communication between forensic anthropologists and judiciary agents in their joint work in the forensic investigation of human rights violations.
- The latest official number for documented disappearances in Peru is 13,721, a much larger number than the one originally projected. Still, EPAF believes the number will continue to rise. There is no mean to develop a real, effective strategy for the search of the missing without an approach to the real number, which is why EPAF is working to consolidate all data sources into one list and to collect ante mortem data on each missing person.
- In order to establish the real number of missing people in Peru, and to collect ante mortem data from these victims, EPAF is working to access the far regions that weren’t reached by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and in many cases by no other organization.
- EPAF is also working to establish a database for the disappeared/deceased that will enable to recover and maintain the biological memory of the missing persons, and to cross antemortem, postmortem and genetic data from all the missing persons and remains found during the investigation of Human Right violations.
- The Canines Searching for the Truth (CST) activity focuses on the use of highly trained human remains detection dogs to locate human remains at clandestine burial sites in Peru to support forensic investigations linked to human rights violations. EPAF has obtained dogs for this purpose and has begun using them to search for remains.
EPAF publishes news through “Correo EPAF,” a monthly publication distributed to the Human Rights network in Peru.
- Reports
Ciencia Forense y Derechos Humanos: Una Propuesta para la Investigación Forense Eficaz de Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos en el Perú
Manual para la investigación eficaz ante el hallazgo de fosas con restos humanos en el Perú
De los Balcanes a los Andes
Investigaciones Forenses y Derechos Humanos
EPAF has recently presented its report on the case of the death and disappearance of nine students and a professor of La Cantuta University, one of the most important cases against the former Peruvian President, Alberto Fujimori.
- AdvocacyNet
July 18, 2008
Grieving Relatives Seek Closure as University Massacre Victims are Reburied in Peru
June 4, 2008
Relatives Seek Justice as Peru’s Largest Mass Grave is Exhumed
May 21, 2008
Forensic Team Seeks to Exhume 120 Victims of Peru's Dirty War
October 2, 2007
Forensic Team Tracks Disappeared Peruvians as Fujimori Returns to Face Justice
- The Praxis Institute's complete coverage of the hearings:
Fujimori on Trial: Accountability in Action
Outreach Partners
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- EPAF was the first to introduce international standards for a Forensic Anthropology Investigation in Peru, during its intervention in the case of the Japanese Ambassador’s Residence Kidnapping, in the year 2001.
- Workshops and constant interaction with the families of the victims have allowed them to participate in the process in a different level, and helped them develop conscience of their right to the restitution of their loved ones.
- With EPAF’s impulse, the first Regional Office for the Missing Persons – OPD has been created this year by the Regional Government of Ayacucho, one of the regions most affected by political violence.
- Even though there are still many far regions EPAF is trying to reach, some of them have been reached, and people who had never spoken has been able to do it.
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Contact:
Jose Pablo Baraybar
Jr. Mello Franco 341
Jesús María
Lima, Peru
Tel: (511) 424-5490 Back