Strengthening the Investigation of Human Rights Violations through a Model of South-South Cooperation
EPAF has expanded its international forensic training program in response to the urgent needs of prosecutors, human rights defenders and civil society actors in the Global South to investigate and document systematic human rights violations, including forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
“It is important that countries have the capacity to investigate their own dead. It is a new form of doing justice. Before, developing countries had to wait for money to be allocated before undertaking exhumations. Our goal is that they will have specialists from their own country that can do the work.”–José Pablo Baraybar, Executive Director of EPAF
Police hone their investigative skills through simulated investigations of a mass grave. Goma, DR Congo
Based on a series of workshops originally developed for legal professionals and human rights defenders in Peru, the training program is built on a model of South-South cooperation that allows EPAF to share experiences with its international partners while offering low-tech solutions to problems frequently encountered in the developing world. As a result, participants in EPAF training programs acquire a sustainable, pragmatic approach to forensic investigations that can be easily replicated, even in the most isolated regions.
Through the program, EPAF’s forensic experts teach participants how to use locally available materials to:
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Students interpret the evidence from a simulated investigation. Dhangadhi, Nepal
Conduct ante mortem interviews to collect information about a crime and construct detailed profiles of the victims.
- Identify, document, and recover evidence from a crime scene while maintaining the chain of custody.
- Conduct a forensic investigation according to international standards, following protocols detailed in the training manual.
- Make valid interpretations of evidence that can be presented in the form of a forensic report.
EPAF has most recently used this model to assess and train the regional staff of the Commission on Human Rights for the Philippines and strengthen their capacity to investigate cases of forced disappearances; train Congolese police officers to investigate mass gravesites in the war-torn province of North Kivu; prepare Nepalese human rights investigators to uncover cases of forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings from the country’s recently concluded internal armed conflict.
Examples of manuals in Spanish, French and Nepali.
As a part of its training package, EPAF designs a detailed forensic training course and forensic manual for the specific context of each country it works in. The manual serves as an instructional guide for the training program and functions as an important reference once participants have completed the training cycle and prepare for field investigations on their own.
For more information on EPAF’s forensic training programs or how EPAF can design a program to fit your organization’s needs, please contact:epafperu@epafperu.org.
Photos from EPAF’s training course in Congo: Ofelia de Pablo/Javier Zurita
