The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (in Spanish, La Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (APDH)) is an
Argentine non-governmental
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
organization; founded in 1975. According to its official website the organization is the product of a "call from people coming from distinct areas: the church, politics, Human Rights, sciences, culture, and labour Argentinians in response to the increasing violence and the collapse of the most elemental Human Rights in the country".
History
The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights was founded on December 18, 1975, three months before the
military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
that marked the beginning of the dictatorship known as the
National Reorganization Process (1976–1983), in the House of Spiritual Exercises within the Church of Santa Cruz, as a result of an initiative of Rosa Pantaleón. Other founders included the Bishop of Neuquén, Jaime de Nevares; Rabbi Marshall Meyer; Bishop Carlos Gatinoni; Alicia Moreau de Justo;
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
; Oscar Alende; Susana Pérez Gallart; Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Alfredo Bravo.
The APDH played an important role in the defense of human rights during the military dictatorship. Later it supported the work of
CONADEP
National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Spanish: ', CONADEP) was an Argentine organization created by President Raúl Alfonsín on 15 December 1983, shortly after his inauguration, to investigate the fate of the ''desaparecidos'' (v ...
fights against the impunity of the
crimes against humanity committed during the National Reorganization Process.
At present
Currently, the APDH works to consolidate
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
, defending the protection of life, human dignity, and social coexistence. In order to ensure the legal protection of human rights, the APDH participates in the following organizations:
* The
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
(with Category II Consultative Status);
*
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
´s Memory of the World Register: documentary heritage of the APDH;
* INADI National Institute Against
Discrimination,
Xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
, and
Racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...
;
* OEA's Civil Society Organizations (OSC);
* Mercosur's Social Participation Support Unit;
* Public Entity for the Memory, the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights;
* Memoria Abierta (Open Memory, coordinator of the action of the Human Rights organisms;
* Social Forum of Argentina's Health and Environment
At the regional and continental scale, the APDH interacts in collective organizations in international networks such as the Global Council of Churches, the Continental Social Alliance, the Lawyers' American Association, The Global Social Forum and the Global Peace Council among other entities.
How it works
The APDH follows current events in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and analyzes them with regard to human rights. These tasks include:
• Denouncing human rights violations
• Negotiating before public authorities, institutions and entities specifically relevant to these rights
• Developing educational initiatives aimed at educating individuals about these rights
• Spreading National Constitution rulings : pacts, declarations, conventions, etc.
• Advising victims of human rights violations
• Working with brother organizations to ensure that human rights are respected
• Promoting the sanction of those laws necessary to ensure the protection of human rights
Activities
The APDH is primarily made up of volunteers. Its headquarters are located in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and the organization has subsidiaries in other cities throughout Argentina.
Its principle tasks include:
* Watching over the prosecutions of crimes against humanity committed between 1976 and 1983;
* Keeping the memory of this period alive as a reminder of the necessity of civic action;
* Organizing documentation from and about the mechanisms of repression;
* Safeguarding the crimes against humanity's clarification;
* Collecting, studying and valuing the national reality information referring to Human Rights;
* Denouncing Human Rights' violations and providing advice to its victims;
* Collaborating with public authorities, institutions and entities watching over the full application of the rights;
* Developing educational actions in order to train legal subjects;
* Spreading regulatory documents: National Constitution, pacts, declarations, conventions, etc.;
* Working and cooperating altogether with fraternal entities struggling for Human Rights;
* Promoting the adaptation of necessary measures to ensure the Human Rights application.
Funding
The APDH is a non-profit organization which funding is entirely based on donations and individual contributions. Nevertheless, for special projects and framework maintenance, the funding can originate in governmental or intergovernmental agencies.
Nowadays, the financial resources of the organization is composed of:
* 40% from the Buenos Aires legislature subsidies
* 35% from Contents
* 11% from the members' fees
* 9% from donations
* 5% from other incomes
Authorities
* Presidents' Council: a body composed of volunteers from various sectors of the society: the church, politics, Human Rights, sciences, culture, and labour. They examine the annual report of the Board of Directors and set the Assembly’s agenda. They meet annually;
* Board of Directors: made up of members from the Presidents' Council. They determine what actions to take in order to fulfil the objectives set out by the Presidents' Council’s agenda. They meet monthly.
* Executive Committee: composed of the presidents, vice-presidents, secretaries of the Board of Directors, the treasurer, and the coordinating secretary. It carries out tasks established by the Board of Directors and keeps them updated on their progress, it suggests activities and work agendas. It meets weekly.
* Committees: specialized groups composed of specific commissions which carry out the Committee's aims. They gather information about the state of the nation, carry out studies, and produce reports and proposals of documents. They organize conferences, debates, seminars, and publications. The Committees are divided in distinct areas:
- Environment and Housing
- Documentary Archives
- Legal Affairs
- Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Disability and Inclusion
- Education
- Investigation
- Adults and their Rights
- Women, Gender Equality and Diversity
- Children and Teenagers
- Peace and people's Free Will
- Press
- Native People
- International Relations
- Health
- Mental Health
- Security and Human Rights
Until december 2015, the three co-presidents of the APDH are Norma Ríos, Gisela Cardozo y Ernesto Moreau.
Some of the individuals that compose the APDH are: journalist
Luisa Valmaggia, writer
Ernesto Sábato
Ernesto Sabato (June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary wo ...
and
Noé Jitrik, religious leaders
Monsignor Justo Laguna and Rabbi Daniel Goldman, painter
Luis Felipe Noé, singer
León Gieco
Raúl Alberto Antonio Gieco, better known as León Gieco (born on November 20, 1951 in Cañada Rosquín, Argentina) is an Argentine folk rock performer, composer and interpreter. He is known for mixing popular folkloric genres with Argentinia ...
, scientist
Federico Westerkamp, lawyer
Raúl Zaffaroni, and labor unionist
Marta Maffei.
Publications
The APDH has produced numerous publications (in Spanish) related to human rights. Amongst these are:
• National Security, a republican system of government and individual rights (Seguridad Nacional, sistema republicano de Gobierno y derechos individuales)
• The
forced disappearance
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a State (polity), state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or po ...
of Persons (La Desaparición forzada de Personas)
• The Disappearance as a crime against humanity (La desaparición como crimen de lesa humanidad)
• “Racism and violence” (about ethnic groups in history within scholarly texts) (Racismo y violencia (sobre la historia y las etnias en los textos escolares))
• The working woman and her rights (La mujer trabajadora y sus derechos)
• Domestic violence – Battered women (Violencia familiar-Mujer golpeada)
• Drug addicts, Victims or Culprits? (Drogadictos, ¿víctimas o culpables?)
• Life Workshops “Human Rights Education” (Talleres de Vida" Educación por los derechos humanos)
• Women’s human rights 50 years after the Universal Declaration (Los derechos humanos de la mujer a los 50 años de la Declaración Universal)
• Found guilty by society, unpunished by the law (Culpables para la sociedad, impunes por la ley)
• Women’s rights, are they human rights? (Los derechos de la mujer, son derechos humanos?)
• Estimates of the
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as ...
(Las cifras de la guerra sucia)
• Reproductive rights are human rights (Los derechos reproductivos son derechos humanos)
• Economic issues and human rights (Orden económico y derechos humanos)
• Fundamentals of human rights (Fundamentos de los derechos humanos)
The following publications (in Spanish) can be viewed on-line:
Memory and the Dictatorship (Memoria y Dictadura), 2006Discrimination: A didactic perspective from human rights (Discriminación: un abordaje didáctico desde los Derechos Humanos), 2006* ¿Qué es esto de los Derechos Humanos? Apuntes para una reflexión crítica: historias, documentos, conceptos y actividades (Diciembre, 2012)
* Las conquistas de las Mujeres en los 30 años de Democracia (Abril, 2015)
Delegations
*Buenos Aires: Azul, Balcarce, Conurbano sur, La Matanza (delegación autónoma), La Plata (delegación autónoma), Mar del Plata, Miramar, Olavarría, Punta Indio, Tres Arroyos, Villa Gesell, Zona Norte;
*Catamarca: Catamarca (ciudad);
*Chubut: Esquel, Noroeste de Chubut;
*Córdoba: Córdoba (city), Río Tercero, Villa María;
*Formosa: Formosa (city);
*Mendoza: Malargüe, San Rafael;
*Río Negro: Bariloche, El Bolsón, Viedma;
*San Luis: San Luis (city);
*San Juan: San Juan (city);
*Santa Fe: Rosario;
*Santiago del Estero: Santiago del Estero (city);
*Tierra del Fuego: Ushuaia;
*Tucumán: San Miguel de Tucumán (ciudad)
References
External links
Official site of the APDH
{{DEFAULTSORT:Permanent Assembly For Human Rights
Human rights organisations based in Argentina