Exhibition “Traveling Arpilleras”

Ambassador Maurás,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

A warm welcome to the opening of the exhibition “Traveling Arpilleras”, organized by the Permanent Mission of Chile in collaboration with Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights.

The collection of Arpilleras covers a sad chapter of Chilean history. You will see flames coming out of burning houses, armed gunmen looting villages, taking away husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. During the military dictatorship between 1973 and 1990, thousands of persons disappeared. In many cases, their families and loved ones never learnt about their whereabouts. As many people were tortured and brutally murdered, family members staying behind could only imagine the worst. In their despair, the mothers, spouses, daughters and sisters of the victims started expressing their grief on these Arpilleras.

These emotional works of art soon raised attention among foreigners who smuggled them out of the country. They were exhibited around the world. To this day, the Arpilleras are a powerful historical record of the brutality and injustice of the system and of the suffering of the families of the victims of forced disappearances.

The plight of these families gave rise to a powerful human rights movement that offered networks of support at the grassroots level. With their protests, women’s groups became an important actor demanding justice.

The protests and the crucial pressure of civil society beyond Chile led to the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. According to this Convention, the widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearance constitutes a crime against humanity. It gives victims’ families the right to demand the truth about the disappearance of their loved ones and to seek reparations. The Convention is a powerful tool and a sign of commitment of the international community. The opening of the 13th session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances this morning, which monitors the implementation of the Convention, is a reminder of the families around the world who share the grief of these courageous Chilean women whom we are celebrating with this exhibition. May the grief and tragedy of these women be a source to reenergize our efforts bringing enforced disappearances around the world to an end.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I want to thank Ambassador Maurás Perez and Mr. Estévez of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Chile, for enriching our cultural diplomacy programme at the Palais des Nations with this impressive exhibition and also for inviting us to a reception afterwards. Let me conclude by mentioning Violeta Parra, the famous Chilean singer and initiator of the Arpillera movement, who would be celebrating her 100th birthday this year. In her songs, she famously sang about pain and misery and about the motivation to carry on. Let us take the occasion to thank her for her contribution, through art, to fighting injustice and brutality.

Thank you.