In April, the UW Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) joined a delegation of human rights organizations in Washington DC to discuss the fate of El Salvador’s disappeared. In 1993, the UN Truth Commission for El Salvador estimated that some 10,000 Salvadoran civilians were forcibly disappeared during the conflict years, but to this day no meaningful

Monday, 11 April, 2016 — The University of Washington Center for Human Rights will accompany a delegation in Washington D.C. during April 13-15, calling for the release of U.S. government documents regarding human rights abuses in El Salvador. Convened by the Mauricio Aquino Foundation’s Our Parents’ Bones campaign, the delegation of children of men and women

Letter from the Director As you may have seen, in October we filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Center Intelligence Agency in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleging that the agency has failed to meet its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). As part of the Center’s mission to conduct research in

Contents in the Winter 2016 newsletter: 35 Years Ago Today: Remembering Río Lempa Masssacre Unfinished Sentences Testimony Archive Milagro Reunites with Son in El Salvador Human Rights Funding due April 1st Spring and Summer 2016 Course Lists Summary of 2015 Human Rights Day Death Penalty Panel Discussion Write-Up Reflection by New Intern: Shafina Khaki Upcoming

My name is Shafina Khaki, and I am an intern at the UW Center for Human Rights (UWCHR). Similar to most undergraduate students, I came into this internship hoping to gain work experience in an area about which I was already passionate. The UWCHR is committed to interdisciplinary excellence in the field of human rights;

On December 10, 2015, community members and activists gathered at Seattle Town Hall for the 16th Annual Human Rights Day event. The Seattle Human Rights Commission, in collaboration with Seattle Town Hall, the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, UW Center for Human Rights, and other partners organized this free event around the theme, “Black Lives Matter”

During 2015, a group of University of Washington students traveled to El Salvador to document the work of Asociación Pro-Búsqueda to investigate cases of the forced disappearance of children during the country’s civil war. It is our privilege to reproduce this article by Pro-Búsqueda recounting the partial reunification of one of the families that the

Jessica Ramirez, a recent graduate in American Ethnic Studies, spent the last several months coordinating with Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ), an independent farmworkers union made up of migrant farm workers from the Skagit Valley (an hour north of Seattle). In her application for funding from the Osheroff-Clark Fund, Jessica wrote: “In 2013, the

During October and November of 1981, U.S. officials received reports of the slaughter of civilians by the Salvadoran military. Now known as the La Quesera massacre, this marked a new phase in the military’s strategy, leading over the next few months to a series of atrocities including the Santa Cruz and El Mozote massacres. Newly

Lots of exciting things in the Fall 2015 newsletter: Student fellows report back on their work UWCHR sues CIA Conference photos and videos Meet our new interns Upcoming events, and much more!