Treatment of children under state terrorism: the cases of the Armenian genocide and the Argentine military dictatorship.

Abstract

This research focuses on State violence against a social sector in two historical moments from a comparative perspective to understand the contexts in which they took place. The procedures applied during the Armenian genocide of 1915 and the Argentine military dictatorship of the 1970s will be investigated to specify an important issue for those responsible for both genocides: the appropriation of children and their change of identity. These processes are understood as the transfer of children from one group to another, as mentioned in the United Nations Convention for the Punishment and Prevention of Genocide Crimes of 1948, which, in the cases studied, had the clear intention of eliminating a group determined by its cultural-ethnic origin or by belonging to a particular political group. To specify this approach, the sources used are diverse: publications of the ideologues of the Armenian Genocide, the testimonies of survivors, the trials of the military junta and various secondary sources.