2023-08-28 20:00:00
The bodies of people who die in situations of armed conflict, armed violence, natural disaster or migration must receive dignified treatment and must be searched for, recovered and identified. From August 28 to 30, representatives from thirteen countries met at the XV Meeting of the Ibero-American Network of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science Institutions to improve forensic work and promote respect for the dignity of deceased persons.
“Today, we are experiencing various situations on the continent, such as migratory waves, conflict situations, post-conflict situations, armed violence, and disasters. Humanitarian action and forensic activity are necessary to respond to these situations. The Network is a important instrument to give visibility to the importance of forensic institutions in the humanitarian panorama”, affirmed the head of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, Alexandre Formisano, at the opening of the meeting.
The head of the Regional Delegation, Alexandre Formisano, during the opening ceremony. Photo: Gabriela Borelli/ICRC
Founded in 2007 and made up of institutions from twenty countries, the Ibero-American Network of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Institutions promotes cooperation to improve the medicolegal and forensic system. Its objective is to analyze the functioning of the legal medicine systems of the participating countries, as well as to strengthen the network of forensic science professionals. The ICRC offers technical advice to States to establish structures that comply with common international standards for identification processes and with the requirements that guarantee the rights of family members, the dignity of the deceased, and the search, recovery and management proper collection of the bodies of missing persons.
The annual meeting of the Network intends to support exchanges regarding training programs, methodologies and systems. In addition, it aspires to facilitate the coordination of activities and plan joint measures in the field of expertise, training, research and scientific dissemination. This is the first time that the annual meeting takes place in Brazil.
“Here we have a favorable environment to discuss the measures that can change the future of forensic sciences. Change depends on integration. And integration is present in this meeting,” said the director of the National Institute of Criminalistics of the Federal Police from Brazil, Carlos Eduardo Palhares Machado.
The Network also contributes to the promotion of legal structures that include the norms of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) at the national level, as well as in regional and global platforms to strengthen the response of the forensic institutions. “Forensic institutions are strategic partners of the States to be able to fulfill their obligations in terms of IHL and IHRL,” Formisano added.
The opening of the XV Meeting of the Ibero-American Network took place at the National Institute of Criminalistics of the Federal Police. The following two days, the members of the Network continued their activities in an exclusive space within the framework of the International Conference on Forensic Sciences (Interforensic), the most important event for forensic sciences in Latin America. It was an opportunity to include humanitarian issues in the program of the event.
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