Fredy Peccerelli | Searching for the Disappeared: A Family-Led Forensic Approach to Human Identification

Name: Fredy Peccerelli | Searching for the Disappeared: A Family-Led Forensic Approach to Human Identification
Start: 2025-10-28T12:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-10-28T13:15:00-04:00
Location: Aaron Burr Hall, Room 216 (open to students, faculty, visiting scholars and staff)

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Lecture

Tue, Oct 28, 2025

12 PM – 1:15 PM EDT (GMT-4)

Aaron Burr Hall, Room 216 (open to students, faculty, visiting scholars and staff)

Princeton, NJ 08544, United States

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In the aftermath of the Internal Armed Conflict (1960-1996), the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) developed a family-led, multidisciplinary model of forensic science which has helped uncover truth, restore dignity, and pursue justice in the wake of mass violence. Rooted in Guatemala’s history—where more than 40,000 people were disappeared—the FAFG combines forensic investigation, archaeology, anthropology, and genetics with the voices, memories, and guidance of families to locate, identify, and return loved ones for dignified burial. FAFG Executive Director Fredy Peccerelli will share how this process not only responds to the needs of relatives, but also strengthens accountability efforts, challenges impunity, and affirms cultural values of remembrance and resilience. By integrating science, community participation, and ceremonial practices, FAFG’s work demonstrates how forensic investigations can serve as powerful tools of healing and truth for families and societies confronting the legacy of enforced disappearance in Latin America and around the globe.

ABOUT OUR GUEST SPEAKER

Fredy Peccerelli is an internationally renowned Forensic Anthropologist, Human Identification expert, and co-founder of the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) where he has led the investigation of over 1,900 cases of enforced disappearance from Guatemala’s internal armed conflict. Mr. Peccerelli has served as an advisor to search commissions in Syria, Mexico, Colombia, Sri Lanka and El Salvador. In addition, Mr. Peccerelli testified as an expert witness in the genocide trial against Ríos Montt in Guatemala, in the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Mr. Peccerelli holds a postgraduate diploma in Forensic & Biological Anthropology from Bournemouth University and has received numerous Honorary Doctorates and awards, including becoming the first recipient of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) Human Rights Award and being recognized as Time Magazine and CNN’s 50 Latin American Leaders for the New Millenium.

DISCUSSANT

Jo-Marie Burt, Political Science, George Mason University; PLAS Visiting Fellow, Princeton University

Co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology.

This event is open to students, faculty, visiting scholars and staff.

Sponsorship of an event does not constitute institutional endorsement of external speakers or views presented.

Where

Aaron Burr Hall, Room 216 (open to students, faculty, visiting scholars and staff)

Princeton, NJ 08544, United States

Hosted By

Program in Latin American Studies | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies