Game's afoot in many lands for forensic scientists investigating most-extreme human rights abuses

Article Abstract:

A group of forensic anthropologists have tried to piece together the fate of desaparecidos in Argentina and Guatemala. Desaparecidos are individuals who have disappeared under the regime of military governments. Experts in forensic anthropology can identify deceased individuals based on the characteristics of their skeletal remains. A training course in the use of forensic science to investigate the abuse of human rights will take place in Guatemala during the summer of 1992. Clyde Snow, one of the teachers of the course, is the world expert in 'osteobiography,' or identification based on an individual's skeletal remains. He helped investigate the deaths of individuals killed by the military government of Argentina between 1976 and 1983. His work was used as evidence when the leaders of the Argentine military junta were tried for murder in 1985. Forensic anthropologists are working in several countries in which state-sponsored murders have occurred.

Latin America, Identification, Identification (Physical)

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Mitochondrial DNA studies help identify lost victims of human rights abuses

Article Abstract:

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) may be an effective method for identifying victims of human rights abuse who have been murdered. This type of analysis involves comparing mtDNA extracted from the teeth of the deceased to that of possible living relatives. The dental pulp found inside of teeth contains living cells even after an individual is deceased. This pulp is surrounded by an exterior matrix that protects it from degradation. Forensic anthropologists have used this type of analysis to identify victims in Guatemala and Argentina. Many individuals have disappeared and been murdered as the result of political conflicts in both of these countries. Identification of 'desaparecidos', or disappeared persons, enables documentation of government-sponsored murder. It also allows relatives to finally grieve for their missing loved ones.

Methods, Analysis, Identification and classification, Mitochondrial DNA

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Forensic scientists helping Haiti heal

Article Abstract:

The first trials of Haitian terrorists have been taking place in Haiti. A soldier responsible for killing businessman Antoine Izmery was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, and 17 others were convicted in absentia of murder and received life sentences. The government headed by Jean-Bertrand Aristide has established a Presidential Commission on Truth and Justice to conduct investigations into more than 3,000 killings that occurred over three years following the military coup. Many dead bodies had been left along roads for the country's pigs. Some of the dead were washed out to sea, others were buried in sand. A team of forensic scientists has gone to Haiti to help the investigation.

Social aspects, Justice, Administration of, Administration of justice, Crime, Haiti, Forensic scientists

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