{"id":1393,"date":"2015-03-26T23:25:30","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T23:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humanrights.washington.edu\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2024-02-07T12:05:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T20:05:13","slug":"uw-undergraduate-course-assists-search-el-salvadors-disappeared-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/humanrights\/2015\/03\/26\/uw-undergraduate-course-assists-search-el-salvadors-disappeared-children\/","title":{"rendered":"UW undergraduate course assists search for El Salvador\u2019s disappeared children"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Espa\u00f1ol abajo)<\/em><\/p>\n

In recognition of the Day of the Disappeared Child in El Salvador on Sunday, March 29, UW Center for Human Rights’\u00a0Unfinished Sentences project<\/a> \u00a0is proud to release two videos and a written report on two civil war-era massacres in which children were taken from their families by government forces and subsequently disappeared. In one of\u00a0 these cases, two now-adult children have since been located in the United States and will meet their biological mother for the first time later this year, thanks to the efforts of the Salvadoran human rights organization Asociaci\u00f3n Pro-B\u00fasqueda.<\/p>\n

The documentary videos, \u201cStill Searching\u201d<\/a> and \u201cWe Never Stopped Looking For You,\u201d<\/a> can be viewed and shared individually on YouTube, or via the below playlist, along with \u201cTaken By Force, Reunited by Hope,\u201d<\/a> a previous Unfinished Sentences video\u00a0about a family reunification in the community of Arcatao, El Salvador.<\/p>\n

required attribute \"type\" missing<\/p>\n

The videos and report are the fruits of a recent collaboration between Asociaci\u00f3n Pro-B\u00fasqueda and the UW Center for Human Rights. Ten undergraduate students participated in the course — part of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies\u2019s Task Force program — under the guidance of Professor Angelina Godoy, director of the UW Center for Human Rights, and graduate assistant Alex Montalvo, Puffin Fellow in Human Rights and Digital Media at the Center.<\/p>\n

Students conducted vigorous primary-source research and collected witness testimony from survivors of the Canoas and Quesera massacres during a weeklong trip to El Salvador led by Asociaci\u00f3n Pro-B\u00fasqueda. Their report and video documentaries convey the stories of seven massacre survivors whose loved ones were forcibly abducted during assaults by government forces. The videos will be used to increase Asociaci\u00f3n Pro-B\u00fasqueda\u2019s national and international outreach capacity via television and social media.<\/p>\n

During El Salvador\u2019s civil war from 1980 and 1992, over 75,000 civilians were killed\u2014the majority at the hands of state forces\u2014and many more were detained, tortured, or disappeared. Thousands of children were forcibly separated from their families, many adopted to other parts of the country or sent abroad under false identities. Approximately 2,354 Salvadoran children were adopted into the U.S. throughout the conflict.<\/p>\n

In the 1980 Canoas massacre, the Salvadoran army attacked a house of displaced people who had gathered to distribute food and clothes, resulting in the death of 23 people and at least two cases of disappeared children. During the Quesera massacre in 1981, between 350 and 500 civilians were killed by the Salvadoran military and 24 children were disappeared. Read the report here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Asociaci\u00f3n Pro-B\u00fasqueda was founded in 1994 in an effort to locate disappeared children and promote truth, justice, and reparations for those affected by the practice of forced disappearance. Despite setbacks, including the government\u2019s refusal to provide access to military or passport documents that could contain clues about where they were sent, and a 2013 attack in which its office was burned and crucial documents destroyed, Asociaci\u00f3n Pro-B\u00fasqueda has successfully reunited over 200 families. However, hundreds of cases remain unresolved, as families tirelessly work with the organization to search for their loved ones. We hope that these materials contribute to the struggle for truth, justice, and reparations in El Salvador.<\/p>\n

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Estudiantes de la Universidad de Washington apoyan b\u00fasqueda para los ni\u00f1os desaparecidos de El Salvador<\/strong><\/p>\n

En reconocimiento del D\u00eda del Ni\u00f1o y Ni\u00f1a Desaparecido en El Salvador el domingo 29 de marzo, el proyecto Oraciones Incompletas<\/a> del Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad de Washington tiene el orgullo de presentar dos videos documentales y un informe sobre dos masacres de la \u00e9poca de la guerra civil durante las cuales se desaparecieron a varios menores a manos del estado . En uno de estos casos, dos de estas ni\u00f1as han sido localizadas ya adultas en los Estados Unidos y se reencontrar\u00e1n con su madre biol\u00f3gica por primera vez en 35 a\u00f1os dentro de poco, gracias al esfuerzo de la organizaci\u00f3n de derechos humanos salvadore\u00f1a Asociaci\u00f3n Pro-B\u00fasqueda.<\/p>\n

Los videos, \u201cTodav\u00eda los buscamos\u201d<\/a> y \u201cNunca nos cansamos de buscarte,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0est\u00e1n disponibles para ver y compartir en YouTube, as\u00ed como en la lista de reproducci\u00f3n abajo, acompa\u00f1ados con un video previamente divulgado por Oraciones Incompletas, \u201cSeparadas por la fuerza, reunidas por la esperanza,\u201d<\/a> sobre un reencuentro familiar en la comunidad de Arcatao, El Salvador.<\/p>\n