ABSTRACT
Memories surrounding enforced disappearance are traumatic and affectively charged both for the persons who disappear and for their relatives. The majority of relatives, after an undetermined period, realize cognitively, although they may never accept it emotionally, that their beloved ones may not return alive and their remains may never be found. It is then that the role of memory becomes preponderant both at individual level, and at collective level. Enforced disappearance always engendered resistance including through a community of memory and the creation of collective memory. International law preserves collective memory against the passing of amnesty laws or the development of revisionist and negationist arguments, and provides for reparations which include memorialization. Memorials carry both messages and warnings to prevent the repetition of such atrocities and the transgenerational transmission of trauma. Thus, memory is not only the link between past and present but also the link between present and future.
