INR WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS OF DEVELOPMENTS IN HUMAN RIGHTS NO 51, APRIL 5, 1978[SANITIZED] - 1978/04/05

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Keywords: HUMAN RIGHTS
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00951319
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: April 5, 1978

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1PEC-FiRT/EXDIS/NOFORN/NOCONTRACT/ORCON
INR WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS
OF DEVELOPMENTS IN HUMAN RIGHTS
No. 51, April 5, 1978
2eGRETIEXDIS/NOFORN/NOCONTRACT/ORCON
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Argentina
Current Rights Situation (INR Rovi,"ewan'd Analysis).
Positive human rights developments in Argentina since January
have included restoration of the "right of option" enabling
executive (state-of-siege) prisoners to petition for exile,
an apparent although unverifiable decline in the rate of dis-
appearances, serial publication of a list of officially
acknowledged executive detainees, and responsive action on US
high-interest cases.
These advances have been offset, however, by continued
disappearances, harassment of religious groups such as the
Jehovah's Witnesses, lack of evidence that renegade security
elements are being disciplined, and the reported discovery
of the bodies of seven human rights activists abducted last
December. None of the seven activists, two of whom were
French nuns, was known to have been connected with subversive
groups.
Current official perceptions of.the human
rights issue apparently are influenced by expectations that
US rights policy will become less assertive in the months
ahead. Factors contributing to this Argentine judgment may
include:
--their interpretation of statements by US officials �
concerning the need to reconsider the instrumentalities
of US policy;
--their belief that terrorist incidents in Western
Europe and the Middle East have "toughened" the West's
attitude on security/human rights questions and produced
greater understanding of Argentina's situation; and
--their perception that the US has acquiesced, or at
least agreed to disagree, in the face of Brazil's firm
bilateral stance on human rights.
The disappearances, which now probably number several
thousand, are the heart of Argentina's human rights problem.
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Most of the disappearances probably can be attributed to the
security forces (and it is during illegal detentions and sub-
sequent interrogations that the most egregious human rights
violations occur.) Figures compiled by Argentine human rights
advocates show a decline in the frequency of disappearances
in early 1978 as compared with mid-1977._ It is.not_clear,
however, whether the drop reflects increased official respect
for legal procedures, or only fewer potential targets.
When completed, serial publication of the executive
detainee list will add a new dimension to the "disappeareds"
issue. Domestic and foreign human rights groups, interested
individuals, and possibly some governments will demand an
accounting of those who allegedly were abducted but did not
appear on the composite list. No public accounting will be
rendered, however. The government almost surely will stay with
the explanation it has already given, i.e., that counter-terrorist
excesses have been responsible for an unspecified but small
number of disappearances, and the remainder are attributable
to a variety of causes. (SECRET/EXDIS/NOFORN/NOCONRACT)
-8�EeRVI/EXDIS/NOFORN/NOCONTRACT/ORCON
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