{"id":4382,"date":"2017-12-13T18:40:27","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T18:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/humanrights\/?p=4382"},"modified":"2018-04-03T19:26:45","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T19:26:45","slug":"uwchr-sues-dept-defense-foia-seeking-el-salvador-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/humanrights\/2017\/12\/13\/uwchr-sues-dept-defense-foia-seeking-el-salvador-records\/","title":{"rendered":"UWCHR Sues Dept. of Defense Under FOIA, Seeking El Salvador Records"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/humanrights\/2017\/12\/13\/uwchr-demanda-al-departamento-de-la-defensa-bajo-la-ley-foia\/\">Espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Monday, December 11, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the U.S. Department of Defense and two of its subagencies \u2013 the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) \u2013 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).<\/p>\n<p>The UWCHR is seeking access to information about three key atrocities committed in wartime El Salvador:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the <a href=\"https:\/\/unfinishedsentences.org\/the-massacre-of-el-mozote-36-years-of-struggles-for-truth-and-justice\/\">1981 massacre of El Mozote<\/a>, which claimed the lives of over 1,000 people in the worst massacre in the modern history of the Americas;<\/li>\n<li>the 1982 sweep through Chalatenango province popularly known as the \u201cGuinda de Mayo,\u201d which resulted in multiple massacres and forced disappearances; and<\/li>\n<li>the 1982 military operation named \u201cAzen\u00f3n Palma,\u201d which involved multiple massacres and forced disappearances of civilians.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In these cases and others, the Department of Defense has refused to release documents requested by UWCHR researchers under FOIA; yet in many cases, our researchers have identified documents in the public domain which are responsive to the requests filed. We believe this demonstrates that the Department of Defense has failed to comply with its obligations under FOIA. We have appealed these determinations without success, leaving no remaining option short of litigation.<\/p>\n<h2>The UWCHR\u2019s FOIA program<\/h2>\n<p>Since 2012, the UWCHR has filed over 500 FOIA requests of a range of U.S. government agencies. The U.S. government played a key role in the Salvadoran conflict, and thousands of relevant documents exist in U.S. archives. Through these FOIA requests, and an <a href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/humanrights\/2016\/10\/05\/lawsuit-update\/\">ongoing lawsuit against the CIA<\/a>, we\u2019ve obtained <a href=\"https:\/\/digital.lib.washington.edu\/researchworks\/handle\/1773\/38709\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hundreds of pages of important primary-source material<\/a> that has never before been made public. This information relates to human rights issues and specific cases of human rights violations committed during the Salvadoran armed conflict. Some has been introduced as evidence in Salvadoran courts.<\/p>\n<h2>Work for Justice and Healing<\/h2>\n<p>The El Mozote massacre is currently moving forward in the Salvadoran courts; atrocities associated with the Guinda de Mayo and Azen\u00f3n Palma operations are currently being heard by various organs of the Inter-American human rights system. Documents obtained through this lawsuit could provide information useful in the cause of justice.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, this work can also help bring about long-overdue healing for survivors. Forced disappearances were part of all three events; in some cases, children were ripped from their parents\u2019 arms by advancing armies. The first-ever <a href=\"https:\/\/unfinishedsentences.org\/dplf-el-salvador-to-establish-a-national-commission-for-the-search-of-disappeared-persons\/\">commission to investigate the forced disappearances<\/a> of adults in El Salvador will begin its work next month. Information contained in U.S. documents could be useful to help families locate the remains of lost loved ones \u2013 and in cases involving children, potentially reunite with survivors.<\/p>\n<p>No public funds are involved in this effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Espa\u00f1ol On Monday, December 11, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the U.S. Department of Defense and two of its subagencies \u2013 the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) \u2013 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The UWCHR is seeking<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/humanrights\/2017\/12\/13\/uwchr-sues-dept-defense-foia-seeking-el-salvador-records\/\">Read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":4386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[201,238,15,24],"tags":[228,225,224,185,80,84,227,226],"class_list":["post-4382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2017-2018","category-freedom-of-information","category-news","category-unfinished-sentences","tag-azenon-palma","tag-defense-intelligence-agency","tag-department-of-defense","tag-el-mozote","tag-el-salvador","tag-foia","tag-guinda-de-mayo","tag-southcom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UWCHR Sues Dept. of Defense Under FOIA, Seeking El Salvador Records - 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