The Secretary for Human Rights, Horacio Pietragalla Corti, and the director of the ESMA Museum of Memory Site, Mayki Gorosito, highlighted the “visibility” that the former clandestine center would gain with its possible inclusion on the Unesco World Heritage list, a decision that will be evaluated in September, and highlighted its “indispensable role” in the framework of “hate speech.”
“That ESMA bear the Unesco seal makes visible what the military dictatorships meant, not only in Argentina but in the region“, valued the secretary of Human Rights in dialogue with Télam.
“It would give a historical eternity to the story of what happened (with State terrorism), but also to the maintenance of the collective memory that we have to sustain for generations”Horacio Pietragalla Corti
And he added that the possible entry (to the list of the UN organization) would give “a historical eternity to the story of what happened (with State terrorism), but also to the maintenance of the collective memory that we have to sustain for generations.” .
For his part, Gorosito agreed in statements to this agency with the “greater regional visibility” that the ex-torture and extermination camp dependent on the Navy would obtain, and pointed out that Its definition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site would be a recognition “of the achievements in terms of public policies of Memory, Truth and Justice and the struggles of human rights organizations.”
On January 25, the Argentine ambassador to Unesco, Marcela Losardo, managed to have the nomination file accepted by the 21 member countries of the World Heritage Committee.
Now A visit is expected, which still has no confirmed date but would take place in the coming days of February or March, by experts from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos), the evaluation body of the Convention on the Protection of World Heritage, Cultural and Natural, to make an evaluation report on the ESMA Museum.
“Unesco has very strict criteria for the presentation of candidacies for this type of property, especially in terms of integrity and authenticity, its management plan and its level of conservation,” explained Gorosito.
“It would be a recognition “of the achievements in terms of public policies of Memory, Truth and Justice and the struggles of human rights organizations”Mayki Gorosito
Pietragalla Corti added that the demands that will be made to the space “have to do with the operation and the state of the place”, and he trusted that they have already begun to “work hard on the works” that remain.
On the property where the ESMA Museum is located, located at Avenida del Libertador 8151 in the city of Buenos Aires, there are also the National Human Rights Secretariat, the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs, the Houses of rights organizations and the Malvinas and South Atlantic Islands Museum, among other spaces.
Pietragalla Corti confirmed that “the centrality of the visit will be the museum” and Gorosito added that “the operation of the property and its governance” will also be evaluated.by the Secretariat.
After the report, which may contain recommendations from the inspectors, the Argentine State may respond -if it deems it necessary-, and once this procedure is completed, its entry into the 45th meeting of the World Heritage Committee will be finally defined, to be held from September 10 to 25.
“We have great expectations for it to be declared (Unesco World Heritage) in the framework of these hate speeches, the attack suffered by (vice president) Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and with this Supreme Court that wanted impunity for the genocidal with the ruling of the ‘2×1′”Pietragalla Corti remarked.
In addition, he reflected that memory spaces “are places that mark” from the personal experience of visiting them, and in this sense he stated: “One does not leave the same, and understands the magnitude of the damage that a human being can commit.”
“We have great expectations for it to be declared (Unesco World Heritage) in the framework of these hate speeches, the attack suffered by (vice president) Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and with this Supreme Court that wanted impunity for the genocidal with the ruling of the ‘2×1′”Horacio Pietragalla Corti
At the same time, the director Gorosito highlighted the “indispensable role” that these sites have to “counter” hate speech.
Pietragalla on the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
Within the framework of the recent trip that Pietragalla Corti made to Geneva, Switzerland, to participate in a meeting of the Council of the United Nations, he was invited to the act that was held for the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Red Army from the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz, opportunity in which he visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, in Poland.
That extermination center; Robben Island in South Africa, a symbol of racial segregation; and the Brazilian Puerto Valongo, a former slave trade center, have already received recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“They have a museographic logic, we have another type of logic because the big difference is that our buildings are still judicial evidence”Pietragalla Corti shared about his experience visiting Poland.
In this way, he explained that in the case of the ESMA Museum “the entire sample is portable and everything that is there can be removed, if required by justice.”
Along these lines, he explained that the challenge is to maintain a “coexistence” of the “museographic offer without losing sight of the fact that these buildings are proof of justice.”
If the museum is added to the list of spaces protected by Unesco, Gorosito announced that such a decision would generate an “expansion of visitors” and “the greater security of having budgetary resources to preserve the place based on the international commitments that are assumed when entering the list”.
The ESMA Site of Memory Museum was inaugurated on May 19, 2015 by then-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
The space houses a museum display based on the testimonies of the victims and historical documents of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP), the Trial of the Military Juntas of 1985 and the trials for crimes against Humanity restarted in 2006.
