The conference will take place in Antigua, Guatemala, February 21 to 23 2007 and is organised by the Guatemalan Community Studies and Psychosocial Action Team - ECAP (www.ecapguatemala.org), and the Spanish Community Action Group - GAC (www.psicosocial.net ).

Since 1998, ECAP has carried out psychosocial work in the process of searching for the disappeared, including psychosocial support of more than 70 exhumations in Guatemala.  Based on this experience, it believes that survivors and the families of victims must be supported during investigations (i.e. anthropological, historical, and forensic research) and documentation of violent actions committed in the context of political violence or armed conflicts. In addition, they and society more generally should be provided with the elements necessary to help interpret the dynamic and consequences of violence and its manifestations. Taken together, this work strives to reduce the impact of violence in the past, present and future.

The First International Conference on Psychosocial Work in the Exhumation Process, Forced  Disappearance, Justice and Truth is the final stage in a three-year process that attempts to set up an International Consensus on Minimal Standards in the Psychosocial Work in Exhumation Process.

The process has been mainly based on Latin American exchanges of experiences and protocols. The assistance and contributions of people and organisations from other areas of the world are strongly encouraged.