The project was approved unanimously at today's session of the Superior Council at the Faculty of Law.
The Protocol establishes the procedure to carry out the search and correction of documents and carry out the repair of files of all members of the #UNRCommunity who suffered arrests, kidnappings, disappearances and murders during the illegal repressive actions of the Argentine state in the period 1968. -1983. It is estimated that around 200 students and workers suffered from state terror during this period, which includes the creation of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario until democratic recovery.
The process of reconstruction, reparation and symbolic and historical rectification of the files of the victims of the illegal repressive actions of the Argentine state was born from the creation of the Memory, Truth, Justice and Reparation Program within the UNR, created from of Resolution 727 approved in the month of October 2022. This Resolution authorizes the inscription in the personal files the legend of "File Repaired", also allowing registration that these people were illegally deprived of their liberty, disappeared, murdered or stolen from their own identity, reasons that caused them to abandon their place of work or study. Said Resolution establishes that the Human Rights Area is in charge of coordinating the documentary repair and the creation of the corresponding procedure, which materialized in the Protocol approved today.
The Protocol proposes different stages for the investigation and subsequent repair of the documentation:
- Survey of previous Memory initiatives, carried out by particular initiatives in each academic unit (Plaques, Acts, Memorials, Tributes, etc.).
- Cross-linking of information from Memory initiatives in each academic unit with national and local databases.
- Investigation process – Documentary and testimonial search that proves the belonging of possible cases to the UNR community.
- Documentary correction, if warranted, where it is stated that the people did not abandon their service, resign, stop going to study or died of their own free will, but because they were arrested, disappeared, murdered and/or forced to leave their jobs or places of study resulting from the illegal repressive action of state terrorism.
- Delivery of copies of files or documentation found and/or reconstructed to relatives, friends or whoever requests it.
The first and second stages have already been carried out and the investigation process proposed in stage three is currently being carried out. This work was carried out through the Human Rights Academic Council of the UNR, in which representatives of the different institutional spaces of Human Rights of the Faculties and Middle Schools of the University participate. This collaborative work was supported by those responsible for the student body, student and archive areas of the academic units, without whom it would not be possible to carry out the documentation search process. In addition, in the case of not finding material evidence, it was agreed that it is possible to prove the belonging of a person to the University through testimonial evidence supported by an affidavit because the mode of action of state terrorism also included the disappearance of the material test. This criterion was defined imitating the evaluation of evidence that exists in Trials for Lesa Humanity.
Based on this institutional policy, Universidad Nacional de Rosario assumes the duty to contribute to guaranteeing the imperatives of Memory, Truth and Justice, establishes reparation mechanisms, preserves historical memory by publicly accepting the facts and commits the State and the institution not to repeat them. Furthermore, the procedure is aimed at complying with national and international regulations that establish obligations regarding Human Rights of the State at all levels.
From the Human Rights Area of the University, the university community is called upon, if they become aware of possible cases of arrests, kidnappings, disappearances or murders of people from the community during this period, to contact them through any of the available means. to be able to investigate those possible cases.
Photos: Camila Casero and Paula Martinez