The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team/Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (EPAF)
The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) is a non-profit organization that promotes the right to truth, justice, and guarantees of non-repetition in cases of forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution. EPAF seeks to contribute to the consolidation of peace and democracy where grave human rights violations have taken place by working alongside the families of the disappeared to find their loved ones, gain access to justice, and improve the conditions affecting their political and economic development.
In post-conflict situations, EPAF advocates for a humanitarian approach to the search for the missing and disappeared that allows access to truth, justice, and guarantees of non-repetition for the families of the victims. This model of intervention prioritizes families’ right to know about the fate of their disappeared loved ones without exclusively having to depend upon judicial processes that may or may not provide them with answers.
EPAF was founded by Jose Pablo Baraybar, Director of the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) and Recipient of the 2011 Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights Award.
Investigation
EPAF conducts forensic anthropology investigations of clandestine graves to fulfill both the interests of justice and the humanitarian needs of victims’ families. Through these investigations, EPAF is able to both provide evidence for judicial prosecutions and help to identify victims so that their families may recover their remains, give them a dignified burial, and gain an important sense of closure regarding their deaths. Read more…
Training
EPAF is committed to strengthening the capacity of both the State and civil society to conduct rigorous investigations into cases of forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution. To achieve this objective, EPAF offers forensic training programs to prosecutors, judges, and members of human rights organizations both in Peru and around the world. Through EPAF’s field-based training programs, participants learn effective practices for collecting antemortem data; assessing and documenting a crime scene; recovering, analyzing and interpreting evidence; and maintaining chain of custody.
EPAF has expanded its forensic training program to the international level in response to the urgent need of prosecutors, human rights investigators and civil society actors in the Southern Hemisphere who continue to fight against systematic violations of human rights, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions. To date, EPAF’s training program has increased the investigative capacity of counterparts in Peru, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, the Philippines, Nepal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Read more…
In addition, EPAF maintains projects promoting Historical Memory and Human Development.
