The Spanish Association of Anthropology and Forensic Odontology (aeaof.com) dedicates the sixth issue of its periodical to deaths at the border. From different perspectives, it analyses the context of this reality and describes the multidisciplinary challenges for recognising the rights of victims and their families.
We contribute to this reflection with an article signed by the collective: Dead and missing persons on the Western European-African border: forgotten rights, denied rights (pp. 18-26).
We are grateful for the work of the AEAOF in the search for alternatives from different spheres of responsibility in the face of the reality of the deaths and disappearances of migrants at the border, recognising the commitment of the organisation and its members to human rights and networking from different spheres.
Our collective has prepared an article for this publication that represents a synthesis of our lessons learned during more than twenty years of experience searching for missing persons on the Western Euro-African Border. In this monograph, we offer an overview of the current situation of migratory movements and how they are impacted by policies that have turned the land and sea borders between Spain and Africa into spaces of impunity and violation of rights. Next, we analyse the deaths and disappearances of people on the move based on the quantitative and qualitative research carried out by our organisation and the existing difficulties in identifying the bodies of migrants who have arrived in Spain. Subsequently, we study the specific violence and the profound psychosocial impact that these deaths and disappearances have on the families in the countries of origin and the communities of people on the move. Our writing includes the different experiences of resistance and collective organisation woven at the community level by families and communities to initiate processes of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition. In conclusion, we present the theoretical and practical keys that should underpin accompaniment in terms of rights and human rights for all victims of the border and their families and communities.
The magazine can be downloaded in full here.
Are you looking for a family member or acquaintance who has disappeared on a migratory route? If so, contact us here.
