Measuring absence: Narrative obstacles to counting contemporary enforced disappearances in Latin America

Abstract

Statistics hold the potential to lend political urgency to otherwise seemingly isolated human rights abuses. Yet, despite the persistence of the problem, statistics on enforced disappearances in contemporary non-civil war Latin American democracies are rare. This article examines the available statistics found in the annual human rights reports of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the US State Department and assesses the narratives that accompany them. The article argues that the reports’ narrative frames present three key obstacles to the statistical visibility of enforced disappearances in contemporary Latin America that pertain to the definition of problem, whose information is included (voice), and the narrative’s clarity and consistency. These obstacles affect case counts and, consequently, the political urgency attributed to the need for accountability and policy change.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Alison Brysk, Yanilda González, Laura Parisi, and the anonymous reviewers for their careful and helpful feedback on earlier drafts. I thank Yanilda González for Table 1, my RAs Marta Kleiman and Jerram Gawley for collecting and reflecting on the data, and SSHRC (Canada) for funding.

Notes

1 CIRI ended its reporting of scores in 2014.

2 These were Argentina (1983–), Bolivia (1982–), Brazil (1985–), Chile (1990–), Colombia (2016–), Costa Rica (1980–), Dominican Republic (1980–), Ecuador (1980–), El Salvador (1992–), Guatemala (1996–), Honduras (1982–), Mexico (2000–), Nicaragua (1990–), Panama (1980–), Paraguay (1989–), Peru (2000–), Uruguay (1985–), and Venezuela (1980–2015). I chose 1980 as a starting point for countries without authoritarian regimes or civil wars.

3 From detailed data provide by Correpi to the author (personal communication, August 22, 2019).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Michelle D. Bonner

Michelle D. Bonner is professor of political science at the University of Victoria and author of four books, including Tough on Crime: The Rise of Punitive Populism in Latin America (2019) and Policing Protest in Argentina and Chile (2014), winner of the Canadian Political Science Association’s 2016 Comparative Politics Book Prize. Other works include articles published in International Journal of Transitional Justice, Citizenship Studies, International Journal of Press/Politics, and Journal of Latin American Studies. Her current SSHRC-funded project is on enforced disappearances in non-civil war Latin American democracies.