Kirschner R H, Hannibal K E
Med Law. 1994;13(5-6):451-60.
Prior to the mid-1980's, human rights abuses were documented almost entirely through witness and victim testimony. In 1984-85, forensic scientists from the United States, working under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, exhumed skeletal remains of disappeared persons in Argentina. They provided physical evidence for the trial of members of the deposed military junta and trained an Argentine forensic anthropology team. It became apparent that medical and forensic verification of torture and extrajudicial executions could provide irrefutable evidence that such activities had, in fact, taken place. Requests for assistance came from human rights groups throughout the world, and led to the development of an international protocol for the investigation of government sponsored murders. The United States based Physicians for Human Rights has now conducted missions to nearly 30 countries. The recent documentation of mass graves in El Salvador, Guatemala, Iraqi Kurdistan and the former Yugoslavia demonstrates how forensic scientists expose such crimes to international scrutiny, and the necessity of scientific evidence when confronting human rights violations.
在20世纪80年代中期以前，侵犯人权行为几乎完全是通过证人及受害者的证词记录下来的。1984年至1985年期间，美国的法医科学家在美国科学促进会的支持下，挖掘了阿根廷失踪人员的遗骸。他们为审判被推翻的军政府成员提供了物证，并培训了一支阿根廷法医人类学团队。显然，对酷刑和法外处决进行医学和法医核实能够提供无可辩驳的证据，证明此类行为确实发生过。世界各地的人权组织纷纷请求提供援助，这促成了一项调查政府支持的谋杀案的国际议定书的制定。总部位于美国的人权医生组织现已在近30个国家执行任务。最近在萨尔瓦多、危地马拉、伊拉克库尔德斯坦和前南斯拉夫发现的乱葬岗记录表明，法医科学家如何将此类罪行置于国际 scrutiny 之下，以及在面对侵犯人权行为时科学证据的必要性。
