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Peru: Para que no te olvides – Missing persons campaign

06-06-2003

Para que no te olvides – Let Us Never Forget – A list of over 7,000 persons presumed missing will be made public with a view to encouraging their families and others to come forward with any relevant information they may have.

 Preliminary list of over 7,000 missing persons to be issued  

    

In order to draw up a list of persons missing in connection with the violence that prevailed in Peru between 1980 and 2000, the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission , the Public Prosecutor, the National Coordinator for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plan to launch, in accordance with their respective mandates, a joint campaign entitled Let Us Never Forget .

As part of the campaign Let Us Never Forget , a preliminary list of over 7,000 persons presumed missing in connection with the past 20 years of violence in Peru will be made public with a view to encouraging their families and others to come forward with any relevant information they may have that could help ascertain what has become of the missing. The families of persons unaccounted for may also check the list and report anyone who has not been included. This should eventually result in a fairly exhaustive list.

Once completed, the list will serve as a basis for the recommendations to be presented by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at the end of its mandate.

The campaign will also seek to raise public awareness of the seriousness and scope of the events that led to countless attacks on the liberty, integrity, life and dignity of individuals during the period covered b y the Commission's mandate and generate solidarity with the victims and their loved ones.

The problem of missing persons is a serious consequence of the violence that beset Peru for 20 years, bringing about interminable suffering for their families. The publication of this preliminary list is an attempt to obtain and ascertain facts that may help alleviate this suffering and provide closure.

The campaign will be presented at a press conference to be held on 5 November

 Let Us Never Forget will be simultaneously launched at the four regional headquarters of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and will seek to raise interest among local and regional organizations concerned with the problem of missing persons, such as churches, municipalities, family associations and departmental clubs.