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A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.

The Impact of Service "Speaking with locals and living in a country is the best way to learn about the real lives of citizens, not just the stories in the mainstream media. I will be more critical of what I read as a result of this experience. I also feel even more grateful for my education, and I feel a stronger responsibility to assist others who do not have resources or access to opportunities in their communities." Maria Skouras (New York University) volunteered in 2011 as a Peace Fellow for eHomemakers in Malaysia. For more 2011 feedback click here.

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Partner Campaigns > EPAF Campaign > Challenge

Challenge

Background

Between 1980 and 2000, a 20-year internal armed conflict between the Peruvian Armed Forces and the Shining Path guerrilla insurgency left 69, 000 dead, and 15, 000 disappeared. The overwhelming majority of  those victims still lie in mass gravesites scattered about the countryside.  To date, only 1.5% of the victims' remains have been identified and even fewer perpetrators have been brought to justice for their crimes.  During the internal armed conflict, the Pampas-Qaracha River Basin served as the Shining Path’s principal base of operations. As a consequence, the indigenous, Quechua-speaking population in the region suffered some of the most extreme effects of political violence during the internal armed conflict. Furthermore, the military’s strategy for combating the Shining Path insurgency frequently pitted neighboring villages against each other, creating a legacy of social conflict and division that has atomized the population and further reduced their collective voice. 
Historically, the Peruvian government and the military has not acknowledged the roles they played in the conflict, and the murder and disappearance of tens of thousands of Peruvians.


Exhumations - The age of remains and the mass graves makes identification difficult
Economic - Communities lack resources to fund the exhumations and identification process.
Military's Role - There is a history of denying the
Data Collection - Ante mortem data is sometimes difficult to obtain from vtictim's families, which makes the search for relatives even more complicated. 
Judicial System - Exhumations must be approved by a court of law and this process is often long and tedious, and is viewed by many in the legal system as unimportant.

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