Emilio F Mignone

Early life

Mignone was born in Argentina. He was educated as a lawyer, and worked as a University rector.

Career

In 1976, Mignone was a practising lawyer in Argentina. His daughter Monica was one of many Argentinians who disappeared after being kidnapped and taken to a government facility. Mignone was the founder and President of Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) Argentine human rights organization (1979) along with five other people who had evidence that their children were victims of state terrorism during the last Argentine military dictatorship. He served as CELS president from 1979 until his death in 1998.

In 1981, Mignone appeared before the Working Group on Disappearances which had been set up by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. At about this time, he was arrested and detained for seven days by the Argentinian government.

Mignone was the author of several books; his most notable one was Witness to the Truth: The complicity of the Church and Dictatorship in Argentina. In this book Mignone wrote about his experiences during the dictatorship and accused dozens of Roman Catholic church officials of participating in, encouraging or ignoring crimes committed against thousands of Argentinians. This book was in the news in 2013, when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was named as Pope Francis, because one of the church officials named in the book is Bergoglio. Though he testified during later investigations, the future Pope was not charged with any crime.

The Emilio Mignone International Human Rights Prize has been created in his name.