"The work performed during the 36 months of this project -August 2016 to August 2020 (including a 12-month suspension)- revolved around 6 work packages.
First -archival research- the fellow consulted thousands of records at six state and NGO archives in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and the USA. She specifically selected 3,114 for use in the project and 572 were utilised in drafting the book manuscript.
Second -legal research- the fellow gathered 26 legal documents regarding eight criminal trials relating to Operation Condor’s atrocities.
Third -interviews- the fellow carried out 106 interviews in Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Italy, the USA, Peru and Argentina, specifically targeting three sets of informants, i.e. survivors and victims’ relatives, experts, and legal professionals.
Fourth -training- the fellow attended three PhD-level courses at the University of Buenos Aires and training on research management, IT, and fieldwork safety at Oxford. She also supervised one Master's student and co-taught a postgraduate course at Oxford.
Fifth -dissemination and public engagement- the fellow published an article in the Journal of Latin American Studies in 2019. Another article has been accepted for publication in 2021 in the Latin American Research Review. The 450-page-long book manuscript ""The Condor Trials: Transnational Repression and Human Rights in South America,"" was submitted for the second and final round of reviews to Yale University Press, which had offered the fellow an advance publication contract in late 2019. The fellow wrote 7 op-eds in English and Spanish about accountability for transnational crimes in South America. Further, in Buenos Aires, a seminar series was organised on “Transnational Intersections: Justice, History, and Human Rights,” with six presentations by international academics. Additionally, a workshop on “Investigating Crimes against Humanity in South America: Challenges for the Present and the Future” was held with Argentina's Public Prosecutor's Office for Crimes against Humanity. Lastly, the fellow co-organised at Oxford a two-day conference in 2019 on ""Justice for Transnational Human Rights Violations: At the Crossroads of Litigation, Policy, and Scholarship.” The fellow presented project results at 10 academic conferences, 7 workshops, 10 outreach activities, and 16 radio and newspaper interviews. Finally, she created dedicated Facebook, Twitter pages and a project webpage.
Sixth -management- the fellow directly managed all the aspects of the fellowship, in collaboration with the Finance and Administration offices in Oxford, counterparts in the outgoing phase at the University of Buenos Aires and the return phase at the University of Oxford.
The work performed allowed to fellow to generate an unprecedented corpus of rich documentation regarding transnational crimes in South America, comprising historical documents, legal verdicts, and first-hand survivors' testimonies. Further, the training received helped the fellow sharpen and deeper her understanding of local dynamics relating to accountability for past atrocities in South America. Meanwhile, the organisation of the seminar series, the workshop and the conference generated a crucial transfer and knowledge exchange between academics and other stakeholders (civil society, the judiciary, policy-makers, etc) working on the issue."
