Nadia Schujman
Interview to Nadia Schujman giving an overview of her two decades work as a human rights lawyer and activist.
Human Rights organizations, social leaders, trade unions and politicians denounced threats and harassment by unknown people through WhatsApp groups.
All the time they want to tell us from the media that it is gone, finished already, that it is in the past. And the answer in the streets is different, its going through other struggles, as always. That is why we were joining the marches of Ni Una Menos, or for abortion rights, from our own movements
Nadia Schujman is a human rights lawyer and activist from Argentina. She is part of H.I.J.O.S., an Argentinian human rights organisation funded in 1995 to fight for memory, truth and justice over the Argentinian dictatorship.
During the last 20 years, Argentinian lawyer Nadia Schujman has been working actively on a number of prominent cases, including recent “mega judicial cases” on state terrorism during the Argentinian dictatorship.
Dr. Schujman provides legal assistance and representation to victim families and survivors of human rights violations in Argentina. She has also played an important role in various national and regional human rights campaigns on memory, justice and reparation.
Since 2002, she has been a member of the Legal Team of the non-governmental organization Hijos e Hijas por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio, HIJOS, (Sons and daughters of the “disappeared”) in the province of Santa Fe. Currently she is also a member of the lawyers’ team working on the Bar Association’s complaint on the investigation into the kidnapping and murder of lawyer Felipe Rodriguez Araya.
From 2009 to 2011 she worked in the Human Rights Secretariat of the Province of Santa Fe coordinating the Program of Research, Support and Monitoring of Crimes against Humanity. In 2011, she served as Assistant Secretary for Human Rights of the province of Santa Fe in the southern region. She is currently Provincial Director of the Reconstruction Area of the Historical Memory of the Human Rights Secretariat.
From 2005 to 2010 she was a lawyer for the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in the city of Rosario.
Dr. Schujman has been part of the legal team in the mega judicial case of the FECED trial and others. She has played a central role in five long-term oral trials in which the actions of state terrorism were judged. To date, she has represented hundreds of victims and survivors in these trials and, as a result, 54 were convicted of genocide with exemplary sentences, granting a right for a long time denied to victims and survivors.
Nadia Schujman has been recognised by numerous human rights awards sucha as: 2010 - Distinguished lawyer by the Municipal Council of Rosario, 2010; Notable lawyer by the governor of the Province of Santa Fe Hermes Binner, 2011; Mujeres que Luchan award, granted by provincial deputy Alicia Gutiérrez, 2012; recognition from the Rosario Bar Association for her work in trials on crimes against humanity, by the Assistant Secretary for Human Rights of the Southern Zone of the Province of Santa Fe by Governor Antonio Bonfatti and Minister of Human Rights Juan T Lewis, and for her work as Provincial Director of Research and Reconstruction of the Historical Memory of the Province of Santa Fe granted by Governor Antonio Bonfatti and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Juan T. Lewis.
For at least a decade, Argentina is established as a state and society that largely respects human rights. However, the crimes of the past and the enduring attempts to assign responsibilities still cloud the situation. While most human rights defenders can operate in freedom, HRDs seeking justice for violations committed during the dictatorship, journalists and trade unionists have received death threats and been subjected to harassment, arbitrary arrest, prosecutions, police violence and smear campaigns. In recent times, defenders have faced new risks, including police brutality, judicial harassment and oppression in indigenous communities.
