“Can You Describe This?”

In this chapter, the author considers the role of the UN officers and others who work for intergovernmental, nongovernmental, or humanitarian organizations. This role places the officers in direct contact with the families of the disappeared. Listening to details of painful and ambiguous losses confronts the officers with many personal and professional challenges. The author proposes that the officers fit Margalit’s description of “moral witnesses.” In brief, Margalit’s moral witness is someone whose testimonial mission has a moral purpose, whose authority is based on being an eyewitness to evil, and who ascribes intrinsic value to his testimony, no matter what the consequences will be.