Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos

afdd.cl

Human Rights Organizations Chile

Description

Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos, AFDD, is a Chilean human rights organization representing families of people detained and disappeared under the Pinochet dictatorship.

It formed in Santiago in 1974, when relatives of the disappeared sought information about their missing family members, and was formally established in 1975. The group pressed the military government for the truth about the fate of the desaparecidos through hunger strikes, petitions and public protests. Its pressure helped bring about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after Chile returned to democracy in 1990.

Today AFDD continues to work for truth and justice about the crimes of the dictatorship. It promotes a culture of memory and human rights, including through a conversation program on the search for truth and justice for the detained and disappeared. AFDD works with universities and civil society groups to reflect on the legacy of the dictatorship, and it speaks out on issues such as the secrecy surrounding the Valech Report on political imprisonment and torture.