''Servicio Paz y Justicia'' (SERPAJ, Service Peace and Justice) is a
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 ...
Non Governmental Organisation in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, founded in 1974. It is a Christian based and nonviolent organization, and is committed for the defense of
political prisoners
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...
in the different South American
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
s during 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 ...
in the 1970-80s.
Affiliations of the SERPAJ
The SERPAJ has a consultative status in the
United Nations Economic and Social Council
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...
and in
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 ...
, receiving in 1987 the
UNESCO Prize for Peace Education.
It is member of the
Ligue internationale pour les droits et la libération des peuples and observer member of the
International Coalition for the Decade
On 10 November 1998, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the first decade of the 21st century and the third millennium, the years 2001 to 2010, as the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the ...
.
The SERPAJ is also member of the Network ''
Memoria Abierta'', created in 1999.
Personalities of the SERPAJ
One of the founders and the first coordinator of the SERPAJ was the 1980
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
winner
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.
The
Partido Socialista del Uruguay lawyer
Azucena Berruti has been a member of the SERPAJ-Uruguay, and minister of Defense of the
Tabaré Vázquez
Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (; ''Vázquez Rosas'' locally ; 17 January 19406 December 2020) was a Uruguayan politician who served as the 41st president of Uruguay from 2015 to 2020. He previously served from 2005 to 2010 as the 39th presiden ...
government (2005-2008).
See also
*
Vicaría de la Solidaridad (Chili)
External links
SERPAJ-América Latina websiteSERPAJ-Argentina websiteSERPAJ-Ecuador websiteSERPAJ-Uruguay website
Sources
*Philippe MacManus, Gerald Schlabach, ''Relentless Persistence: Nonviolent Action in Latin America'', Eugene (Oregon), Wifp & Stock, 1991, Foreword Leonardo Boff.
*Ronald Pagnuco, John D. McCarthy, « Advocating Direct Nonviolent Action in Latin America: The Antecedents and Emergence of SERPAJ », in Bronislaw Misztal - Anson Shupe dit. ''Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective. Revival of Religious Fundamentalism in East and West'', Westport (CT), Praeger Pub., 1992, ch. 10, p. 125-149.
*Jeffrey Klaiber, ''The Church, Dictatorships, and Democracy in Latin America'', Orbis Book, 1998 (Reed. Eugene (Oregon), Wifp & Stock, 2007)
International human rights organizations
Human rights organisations based in Argentina
Dirty wars
Nonviolence organizations
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