I had the privilege of meeting with Marie Hernandez on my journey ro Brussels in November 2005 . I am saddened by this news. I did sense in our brief meeting the breadth of her experience and passion for human rights. Maggie Galley
Maria Julia Hernández died on 30 March 2007
Director of the Office of Tutela Legal
of the Archdiocese of San Salvador
Member of the Executive Committee of Pax Christi International
Maria Julia Hernandez, Presente!
Commemorative Liturgy María Julia Hernández
Friday 27 April 2007 – 8 pm
Chapel Theological and Pastoral Center in Antwerp
The International President, the Executive Committee members and the staff of the International Secretariat are deeply touched by the loss of María Julia Hernández, member of the ExCom from El Salvador, and an extraordinary human rights defender. The funeral was held on 2 April 2007 in the Cathedral of San Salvador, where she was buried in the Crypt next to Msgr. Oscar Romero and Msgr. Rivera y Damas.
The Executive Committee will hold a special liturgy, headed by H.B. Michel Sabbah, International President, on Friday 27 April 2007 at 8 pm in the Chapel of the TPC in Antwerp.
Two witnesses about the life and work of Maria Julia will be given by Bishop Kevin Dowling, member of the ExCom, and by José Angel Henríquez, member of the International Secretariat, from El Salvador.
All members of the ExCom and friends of Pax Christi, especially those arriving for the meetings that weekend and all those able to attend, are invited to join the liturgy.
We pray that God will bless her with eternal life. May she rest in peace.
Brussels, 20 April 2007March 30, 2007
By Eileen M. Purcell
Maria Julia Hernandez – sister, human rights advocate, advisor, friend -- loved her people, her church, and the body of human rights law that affirmed human dignity and the fundamental right to freedom, life and security of all people.
She stood alongside other giants in Salvadoran history – Archbishop Romero, the Jesuits of the Catholic University of Central America, and, above all, the thousands of martyred Salvadorans -- demanding an end to the violence of war, poverty and impunity.
Her unwavering faith in the social gospel and a liberating God of love and justice anchored her as she faced generals, presidents, ambassadors, death squads and international courts of law, politics and public opinion.
Tutela Legal
Enlisted by Archbishop Oscar Romero in the late 1970s to document human rights violations sweeping El Salvador, Maria Julia continued the painstaking and dangerous work after his assassination in 1980. In 1982, Archbishop Rivera-Damas appointed her Executive Director of the San Salvador Archdiocesan Tutela Legal.
Housed in the Chancery Offices of the Salvadoran Archdiocese, Tutela Legal became the safe harbor where victims of political and military repression could turn to relate their stories without fear of retribution. Maria Julia and her staff created the space, the expertise and the trust for survivors of massacres, relatives of “the disappeared,” and families of political prisoners to recount their experience and seek legal recourse at a time when the Salvadoran government and Armed Forces along with the United States government denied human rights violations were occurring.
Maria Julia and her staff meticulously documented, dated, and corroborated first hand testimony of war crimes, while at the same time offering compassion and support to the families who turned to her in their grief. She shared her findings in courts of law, before the United States Congress, at the European Union and in the court of public opinion. She met with congressional, religious and community delegations from around the world and painted the picture of systematic state-sponsored terror with the dossier of personal stories of tragedy. She lifted up the tenets of international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions and called for accountability and an end to impunity.
__________
Eileen Purcell is the former Executive Director of the SHARE Foundation and worked with Maria Julia from 1983 to the present. She currently works with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Dr. Maria Julia Hernandez Chavarria, 68, passed away on Friday 30 March 2007. After having cardiac problems, she had a successful surgery at the end of February but relapsed on 8 March. She did not recover. The last three weeks, she remained in the hospital with artificial respiration, in critical conditions.
Maria Julia was born in Tegucilgapa (the Honduras’ Capital - her nationality was Salvadoran), on 30 January 1939. She got a PhD in Human Rights and International Law. Since 1977, Maria Julia had been working at the Archdiocese of San Salvador taking care of the pastoral work in the field of human rights. She became the promoter of human rights and the protector of the dignity of all Salvadorian people, especially the victims of the civil war in El Salvador. Maria Julia was a good friend of the late Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero who was assassinated on 24 March 1980. For several years she had been active in the development of a network of various human rights offices of the Bishops’ Conferences in dioceses across Latin America.
In May 1982, she became the Founding Director of Tutela Legal (Legal Protection), the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of San Salvador. The office documents and opens up judicial proceedings to claim justice in regard to massacres not yet resolved that to this day foster impunity in the country. Maria Julia devoted her life to truth and justice and acted very strongly against impunity. Tutela Legal became a member organisation of Pax Christi International.
Ms. María Julia Hernández had been elected member of the Executive Committee at the Pax Christi International Council in Amman/Jerusalem, July 1999. That visit and peace pilgrimage to the Holy Land impressed her deeply. In 1995, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Pax Christi International in Assisi, Italy, Maria Julia was the keynote speaker. She was involved in fact-finding missions of Pax Christi International to Mexico (Chiapas), Guatemala, and El Salvador. Maria Julia was a member of the Steering Committee preparing the First Latin America Consultation of Pax Christi International to take place in Lima, Peru, in August 2007.
The International President, the Executive Committee members and the staff of the International Secretariat are deeply touched by the loss of such an extraordinary human rights defender. We present our condolences to her family and collaborators. Her death and resurrection, close to the liturgical Celebration of Easter, feed our hope and our commitment.
A prayer vigil was held on Friday evening, 30 March. The funeral will be held on Monday 2 April 2007, at 3 pm, in the Crypt of the Cathedral of San Salvador.
The Executive Committee will hold a special liturgy, headed by H.B. Michel Sabbah, International President and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the ExCom meeting on Friday 27 April 2007. We pray that God will bless her with eternal life. May she rest in peace.
Address of Tutela Legal:
Av. Dr. Emilio Alvarez y Av. Dr. Max Bloch, Colonia Medica. Ap. Postal 2253. San Salvador, El Salvador.
Phone: (503) 22345323 – 22345324.
E-mail: tutela@tutelalegal.org
Read more at:
http://archive.laprensa.com.sv/20070330/lodeldia/20070330/9459.asp
Brussels, 31 March 2007
Maria Julia Hernández died on 30 March 2007
Director of the Office of Tutela Legal
of the Archdiocese of San Salvador
Member of the Executive Committee of Pax Christi International
Maria Julia Hernandez, Presente!
Commemorative Liturgy María Julia Hernández
Friday 27 April 2007 – 8 pm
Chapel Theological and Pastoral Center in Antwerp
The International President, the Executive Committee members and the staff of the International Secretariat are deeply touched by the loss of María Julia Hernández, member of the ExCom from El Salvador, and an extraordinary human rights defender. The funeral was held on 2 April 2007 in the Cathedral of San Salvador, where she was buried in the Crypt next to Msgr. Oscar Romero and Msgr. Rivera y Damas.
The Executive Committee will hold a special liturgy, headed by H.B. Michel Sabbah, International President, on Friday 27 April 2007 at 8 pm in the Chapel of the TPC in Antwerp.
Two witnesses about the life and work of Maria Julia will be given by Bishop Kevin Dowling, member of the ExCom, and by José Angel Henríquez, member of the International Secretariat, from El Salvador.
All members of the ExCom and friends of Pax Christi, especially those arriving for the meetings that weekend and all those able to attend, are invited to join the liturgy.
We pray that God will bless her with eternal life. May she rest in peace.
Brussels, 20 April 2007March 30, 2007
By Eileen M. Purcell
Maria Julia Hernandez – sister, human rights advocate, advisor, friend -- loved her people, her church, and the body of human rights law that affirmed human dignity and the fundamental right to freedom, life and security of all people.
She stood alongside other giants in Salvadoran history – Archbishop Romero, the Jesuits of the Catholic University of Central America, and, above all, the thousands of martyred Salvadorans -- demanding an end to the violence of war, poverty and impunity.
Her unwavering faith in the social gospel and a liberating God of love and justice anchored her as she faced generals, presidents, ambassadors, death squads and international courts of law, politics and public opinion.
Tutela Legal
Enlisted by Archbishop Oscar Romero in the late 1970s to document human rights violations sweeping El Salvador, Maria Julia continued the painstaking and dangerous work after his assassination in 1980. In 1982, Archbishop Rivera-Damas appointed her Executive Director of the San Salvador Archdiocesan Tutela Legal.
Housed in the Chancery Offices of the Salvadoran Archdiocese, Tutela Legal became the safe harbor where victims of political and military repression could turn to relate their stories without fear of retribution. Maria Julia and her staff created the space, the expertise and the trust for survivors of massacres, relatives of “the disappeared,” and families of political prisoners to recount their experience and seek legal recourse at a time when the Salvadoran government and Armed Forces along with the United States government denied human rights violations were occurring.
Maria Julia and her staff meticulously documented, dated, and corroborated first hand testimony of war crimes, while at the same time offering compassion and support to the families who turned to her in their grief. She shared her findings in courts of law, before the United States Congress, at the European Union and in the court of public opinion. She met with congressional, religious and community delegations from around the world and painted the picture of systematic state-sponsored terror with the dossier of personal stories of tragedy. She lifted up the tenets of international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions and called for accountability and an end to impunity.
__________
Eileen Purcell is the former Executive Director of the SHARE Foundation and worked with Maria Julia from 1983 to the present. She currently works with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Dr. Maria Julia Hernandez Chavarria, 68, passed away on Friday 30 March 2007. After having cardiac problems, she had a successful surgery at the end of February but relapsed on 8 March. She did not recover. The last three weeks, she remained in the hospital with artificial respiration, in critical conditions.
Maria Julia was born in Tegucilgapa (the Honduras’ Capital - her nationality was Salvadoran), on 30 January 1939. She got a PhD in Human Rights and International Law. Since 1977, Maria Julia had been working at the Archdiocese of San Salvador taking care of the pastoral work in the field of human rights. She became the promoter of human rights and the protector of the dignity of all Salvadorian people, especially the victims of the civil war in El Salvador. Maria Julia was a good friend of the late Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero who was assassinated on 24 March 1980. For several years she had been active in the development of a network of various human rights offices of the Bishops’ Conferences in dioceses across Latin America.
In May 1982, she became the Founding Director of Tutela Legal (Legal Protection), the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of San Salvador. The office documents and opens up judicial proceedings to claim justice in regard to massacres not yet resolved that to this day foster impunity in the country. Maria Julia devoted her life to truth and justice and acted very strongly against impunity. Tutela Legal became a member organisation of Pax Christi International.
Ms. María Julia Hernández had been elected member of the Executive Committee at the Pax Christi International Council in Amman/Jerusalem, July 1999. That visit and peace pilgrimage to the Holy Land impressed her deeply. In 1995, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Pax Christi International in Assisi, Italy, Maria Julia was the keynote speaker. She was involved in fact-finding missions of Pax Christi International to Mexico (Chiapas), Guatemala, and El Salvador. Maria Julia was a member of the Steering Committee preparing the First Latin America Consultation of Pax Christi International to take place in Lima, Peru, in August 2007.
The International President, the Executive Committee members and the staff of the International Secretariat are deeply touched by the loss of such an extraordinary human rights defender. We present our condolences to her family and collaborators. Her death and resurrection, close to the liturgical Celebration of Easter, feed our hope and our commitment.
A prayer vigil was held on Friday evening, 30 March. The funeral will be held on Monday 2 April 2007, at 3 pm, in the Crypt of the Cathedral of San Salvador.
The Executive Committee will hold a special liturgy, headed by H.B. Michel Sabbah, International President and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the ExCom meeting on Friday 27 April 2007. We pray that God will bless her with eternal life. May she rest in peace.
Address of Tutela Legal:
Av. Dr. Emilio Alvarez y Av. Dr. Max Bloch, Colonia Medica. Ap. Postal 2253. San Salvador, El Salvador.
Phone: (503) 22345323 – 22345324.
E-mail: tutela@tutelalegal.org
Read more at:
http://archive.laprensa.com.sv/20070330/lodeldia/20070330/9459.asp
Brussels, 31 March 2007
2 comments:
en 1978 i meet i was 17 years old she was very smart woman we lern bout our history in salvador she awy talk no matter who u was she open the doors my is luis alvarenga iam from ilobasco cabanas my email is falcondemo@hotmail.com my cell number is 1204 9974544
thanks so much for give as the oportunity to have fredon to said what do we think about any think what going on in this world luis alvarenga
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