Argentina
During the period of military rule in Argentina, from 1976 to 1983, between 15,000 and 30,000 people are believed to have been killed by the regime. As many as 500 children born in prisons and concentration camps were taken from their mothers at birth and illegally adopted.
Immediately after it was established in 1979, the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (La Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos, APDH) reviewed and documented more than 5,000 reports of persons who were forcibly disappeared.
Raúl Alfonsín, the first democratically elected president after the return to civilian rule, established the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, CONADEP) shortly after his inauguration in December 1983.
In 1984 CONADEP produced a 50,000-page report, entitled Nunca Más, which contained testimonies of the survivors of disappearance, torture and executions during military rule.
The report documents 8,961 deaths and disappearances from 1976 to 1977, explains how 300 clandestine detention centers were administered by the military, and reports on the location of mass graves throughout the country.
Project Disappeared brings together diverse human rights organizations and activists engaged in keeping the memory of the disappeared alive and searching for justice.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo) was formed by a group of women trying to discover the fate of their children. The movement grew as the number of disappeared grew, with the mothers organizing demonstrations that attracted national and international attention.
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo has focused on locating children stolen and illegally adopted during military rule.
By the end of 2022, 131 children, stolen during the dictatorship had been identified.
The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense, EAAF) was established in 1984 to investigate disappearances under military rule.
Jorge Videla, who led the military government from 1976 to 1981, was sentenced to life in prison in 1985, and long sentences were handed out to other senior military figures for their role in human rights abuses including murder, torture and enforced disappearances. The men were subsequently pardoned by President Carlos Menem. Néstor Kirchner, who served as President of Argentina from 2003 until 2007, repealed the Law of Due Obedience, which granted immunity to the security services for crimes committed during military rule, and the Full Stop Law, which similarly granted immunity to those accused of political violence during the dictatorship. Videla and others were returned to prison. Videla died in prison in 2012. In 2019, a further 19 officials were sentenced to long prison terms for their role in crimes against humanity, including enforced disappearance, during the dictatorship.
