ABSTRACT
Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel wrote, “‹is is the duty of our generation as we enter the twentyrst century-solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the lonely, the sick, and those in despair. It is expressed by the desire to give a noble and humanizing meaning to a community in which all members will de ne themselves not by their own identity but by that of others.” International forensic investigations into human rights abuses, torture, war crimes, and genocide enforce human rights through judicial accountability. For example, the identi cation of victims of mass atrocities is a process that gives families and survivors access to justice and is de ned as a human rights issue. Human identi cation has always been at the center of medicolegal death investigations, whether the ultimate purpose is to seek criminal prosecution or to achieve other humanitarian goals for surviving family members such as reparations and the repatriation of human remains. ‹e challenges involved with investigations into missing persons and unidenti ed human remains pose problems in every nation, though individuals may go missing for a variety of reasons ranging from homicide to genocide. In areas of con«ict the problem is exacerbated as hundreds, thousands, or millions of people go missing due to war, enforced disappearances, forced relocations, internal displacements, and mass killings. Forensic investigations in the human rights (HHRR) arena o„en fall within the framework of transitional justice, which is a concept that broadly encompasses judicial reform that takes place as nations transition to peace. ‹rough transitional justice initiatives, eœorts to locate missing persons, identify civilian victims, repatriate human remains, account for human rights violations, and professionalize medicolegal death investigations are taking center stage.
