Documents on Argentina

Argentine President Raúl Alfonsín has a serious expression on his face as he looks at the stack of papers handed to him by the writer Ernesto Sábato on 20 September 1984. The extensive report of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP) documents for the first time in detail the systematic persecution that took place during the military dictatorship. Years later, comprehensive laws to compensate victims came into force in Argentina.

It was one of the first truth commissions in the world – although the 13 human rights activists, intellectuals and church representatives did not call it that at the time. It took them 280 days to reconstruct the “dirty war,” as the military called the fight against the internal enemy. The commission’s final report documented 50,000 pages of survivors’ testimonies on abductions, torture and executions.

According to the – not entirely flawless – report, at least 8,961 people disappeared in Argentina between 1976 and 1983. About 30 percent of them were women, and 200 children under 15 were also abducted. Many of the detainees ended up in one of 300 secret detention centers that the commission was able to identify through painstaking research. The report entitled “Never Again” (Nunca Más) became a bestseller in Argentina. The documents also formed the basis for the National Remembrance Archive founded in 2003.

At the time, the commission recommended granting economic aid to the relatives of the disappeared. But it took several more years before the corresponding laws came into force. In 1991, a first compensation law for former political prisoners was passed. According to Law No. 24.043, persons deprived of their liberty during the military dictatorship are entitled to one day's wages of public servants at the highest salary level for each day of detention served. House arrest and periods of probation also count as deprivation of liberty. In the case of deceased persons, the entitlement to compensation passes to their legal successors. Payment is made only if the applicant waives other claims for compensation for deprivation of liberty, arrest, death or injury.

This was followed in 1994 by Law No. 24.411, which provides compensation to the relatives of the disappeared and murdered. It is also extended to children who were given up for adoption after the death of their parents. According to the law, the compensation is one hundred times the monthly salary of an A-level public servant – the equivalent of about 220,000 US dollars. Legally, these are assets of the person concerned, which fall to the heirs or legal successors in the case of natural death. As proof of the disappearance, it suffices to send a complaint to the CONADEP Commission or its successor institution. A court decision following a criminal complaint can also be submitted.

Victims’ organizations have criticized the comparatively generous compensation regulations as being too sweeping. If they had had their way, the concrete problems of the persecuted and their relatives would have been examined first – as was done in Chile – in order to later decide on benefits tailored to specific needs. But it never came to that.

Click here for the compensation law for political prisoners and here for the compensation law for relatives of the disappeared and murdered (both Spanish).