AFOHR. Association Forensic Odontology For Human Rights

At the 9th International Dental Ethics and Law Society (IDEALS) congress 2012 Leuven (Belgium), forensic odontologist Emilio Nuzzolese (Italy) presented the first paper addressing the importance of promoting human rights in the recovery and identification of missing and unidentified persons. On the 5th of May 2015, during the Interpol DVI meeting in Lyon (France) his vision human rights of the dead concepts were presented to forensic odontologists and the group FO4HR-DENTIFYme was inaugurated. The international group evolved in an Association with the new acronym AFOHR (Association Forensic Odontology for Human Rights) adopting ByLaws and electing a Board.
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Association Forensic Odontology For Human Rights (AFOHR)

AFOHR counts over 100 members from 30 countries and is the first association promoting best practice in human identification and age estimation through humanitarian forensic odontology for the purpose of preventing Human Rights violations. An incomplete post mortem assessment can lead to a delay or even to a non-identification and represents a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. For this purpose, the Association is also a rooster of volunteer experts in forensic odontology and other areas of forensics. Dental evidence and a correct multidisciplinary approach are important in criminal investigations for the best outcome of the forensic analysis. Teeth and jaws can provide a tremendous amount of information in many fields: – Disaster victim identification – Missing and unidentified persons – Child abuse and neglect – Domestic violence and sexual abuse – Homicide and torture – Age estimation of unaccompanied minors – Border control – Human trafficking of minors’ cases

AFOHR members are helping in forensic casework, teaching, and scientific research in odontology, science, and forensics and are a humanitarian resource anywhere dental evidence is involved.