Paper details
| Paper authors | Oscar A. Gómez, Eduardo Wehbe |
| In panel on | Revisiting the Nexus Between Human Rights and Humanitarianism |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
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Abstract
Attention to missing persons—that is, the disappeared—has grown in the humanitarian field over the past three decades. Factors driving this trend include the transformation of traditional humanitarian crises, the emergence of new sources of humanitarian need, and technological innovations. However, this growing interest in the issue of missing persons remains a niche topic that has received little attention, compared to human rights work on enforced disappearances. This paper aims to provide a critical perspective on the emerging agenda surrounding missing persons, comparing the global agenda promoted by the ICRC with the experiences of two emblematic cases in Latin America: Argentina and Colombia. The paper develops these three cases, exploring 1) how the category of missing persons has been constructed, 2) the institutions created to address the issue, and 3) the practices and their challenges. We observe that the ambitious claim to a single definition and perspective on the issue is inadequate to capture the specificities of each case, nor does it benefit from the advantages of a pluralistic approach. A perspective that goes beyond the initial questions about the differences between legal and humanitarian approaches to the needs of missing persons and their families, while considering institutional developments and the management of expectations, appears to be a necessary step toward properly addressing this issue.
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