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FeaturesOctober 15, 2008 The Emilio Mignone Lecture on Transitional JusticePeace V. Justice: Is there a conflict? If so, what is to be done? Presented by:
NYU Law School Wednesday, October 15, 2008 6:00 p.m. 2007 marks the first year that the ICTJ and NYU have named the
annual lecture on transitional justice after Emilio Mignone to honor
his significant contributions to the field. At this year's lecture, we
were honored to have two distinguished guests, Senator Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner and Judge Baltasar Garzón. The
lecture was moderated by the ICTJ's President Juan E. Méndez,
who, like Emilio Mignone, is both a transitional justice activist and
someone with first-hand experience of human rights violations in
Argentina. Throughout his life Emilio F. Mignone wrote extensively on social, educational and human rights issues. In 1976, when the Argentine military government implemented a campaign of terror against its domestic opponents, he became Vice President of the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights. Three years later he created the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) with three other lawyers whose children had "disappeared". Staying in Argentina with his family-his wife, Angélica Mignone and four surviving children-Emilio Mignone became one of the most effective leaders of the Argentine human rights movement, particularly in his campaign against "disappearances," torture and politically inspired murders carried out by the state. He helped to document the crimes and assisted victims and families in their maneuvers through the judicial system, making use of the nascent system of international law for the protection of universal human rights. When democracy returned to Argentina in 1983 Emilio did not cease in his efforts to obtain justice and raise public awareness, at home and abroad, of the crimes that had been committed and of the need for truth, justice and reparations. He testified in the trial that convicted five high-ranking military officers in 1985; he opposed efforts to restrict the prosecution of human rights violators; he wrote books on constitutional reform, education and human rights. In 1983 Emilio received the Letelier-Moffitt Memorial Human Rights Award of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. In 1988 he received the Roger E. Joseph Award from Hebrew Union College in New York City and that same year, the Human Rights Award of the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. Emilio Mignone died in Buenos Aires on December 21, 1998. |
