Coimbra hosts the 1st International Symposium on Humanitarian Forensic Action

Coimbra will host the 1st International Symposium on Humanitarian Forensic Action from the 27th to the 29th of November at Convento São Francisco. The event will gather the major international experts on forensic medicine and forensic sciences (with experience in conflict zones and disaster situations). The Symposium will also be attended by other personalities linked to the struggle to locate and identify missing persons, such as Estela de Carlotto, Argentine activist and president of the Association “Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo”, an organisation dedicated to finding the children kidnapped by the Argentine military dictatorship of 1976-1983 and to return them to their families.

The event is organised by the Missing Persons Project, the International Committee of the Red Cross in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra (FMUC), the Portuguese Red Cross, Coimbra City Hall and the Postgraduate Centre for Forensic Medicine. The Symposium will have the presence of 250 experts from over 50 countries who will discuss the best practices and forensic principles for the prevention and resolution of missing persons cases. Duarte Nuno Vieira, Full Professor of FMUC is the UC member of the Organising Committee.

The opening session will take place at 12:30 p.m. on the 27th of November. The full programme is available at https://www.hfa2019.pt/

^{Translation by Diana Taborda}