A conference is being organized at the Faculty of Political Sciences on: Enforced Disappearances and State (In)action. Responsibilities and Global Responses
This event will take place on May 15 in the Sala d’Actes on the main floor of the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology, from 14:50 to 18:30. The session is open to all UAB students.
09/05/2025
The conference is organized by: the Department of Public Law and Historical-Legal Sciences at UAB, the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG), the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center, the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya), and Taula per Mèxic. It is a conference of debate that analyses enforced disappearances from a comparative socio-political perspective, emphasizing the role of states, the United Nations, and international civil society, as well as the involvement of transnational organized crime and the trafficking of vulnerable human beings. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the event will explore institutional responsibilities, human rights violations, and the legal and political responses to this global issue.
The program of the event will be as follows:
14:50 Welcome by Professor Alessandro Demurtas, UAB.
Table 1. The Case of Antonio González Méndez vs. the Mexican State at the IACHR: Contributions to the Ongoing Fight Against Enforced Disappearances in Chiapas, Mexico.
15:00 Introduction by Professor Juan Pablo Soriano, UAB.
15:05 Presentations by Irma Vázquez Cárdenas and Rubén Moreno Méndez, human rights lawyers from the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas (Mexico).
15:30 Debate and open Q&A session.
15:50 – 16:00 Coffee break.
Table 2. Enforced Disappearances from a Forensic Perspective
16:00 Introduction by Ester Zapater, Secretary General of UAB and Associate Professor of Public International Law and International Relations.
16:10 Introduction by Gerard Graells del Bas, Director of the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation.
16:20 Screening of the documentary Nataxik (Memory).
16:50 Lecture by Fredy Peccerelli, Executive Director of the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala: The Search for the Disappeared in the Dark.
17:25 Debate.
17:50 Open Q&A session.
18:15 Conclusion of the table by Ester Zapater.
18:20 Conclusion of the conference by Professor Blanca Camps, UAB.