January 19, 2025

Gap Analysis of International Forensic Science Interventions

Wednesday January 29th, 2025
12-1pm
English presentation

Past forensic literature has characterized international forensic interventions vaguely as “human rights” or “humanitarian” and this sometimes-misleading terminology persists. What is not explained by this terminology is that some of the work was not done for judicial investigations, which is the common understanding of “forensic”. This talk will review forensic interventions in different countries from the Second World War through the present, focusing on how forensic scientists and, later, institutions, have framed their work in a way that conforms either to prevailing political conditions or their particular mandate and why, in the future, we should be more precise about how, why, and when we work, making specific reference to different legal frameworks. In this talk, I will argue that in all forensic interventions, we should make every effort to ensure that even if existing conditions do not allow for judicial investigations, what we do will support future prosecutions.

Derek Congram, PhD, is a forensic archaeologist and board-certified forensic anthropologist with experience in more than 25 countries working for the United Nations, International Committee of the Red Cross, International Criminal Court, Non-Governmental Organizations, and universities. His work, teaching, and research focus on the investigation of disappeared persons: their location, identification, repatriation, and memorialization. He recognizes families of missing persons as peers and fellow experts, advocating for their active inclusion in forensic and humanitarian investigations.

Derek is co-director of the International Scientific Advisory Committee for the Colombian Missing Persons Search Unit (UBPD in Spanish), Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University, and visiting faculty for a master’s degree program in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

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Gap Analysis of International Forensic Science Interventions

Derek Congram

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