OHCHR: Peru Crimes against Humanity Fight a Ticking Clock

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, brought Peru's proposed legislation into the spotlight during the presentation of his global update to the 56th session of the Human Rights Council.

In Peru, “Congress has advanced a series of legislative initiatives that could undermine judicial and electoral independence, reverse important gains on transitional justice and on women's political participation and restrict freedom of association and expression”

He refers to draft legislation currently under consideration by the Peruvian Congress that stipulates that individuals cannot be prosecuted, sentenced, or punished for crimes against humanity or war crimes that were committed prior to July 1, 2002. The bill has received strong criticism by international experts as it goes against international norms regarding the application of statutes of limitations to crimes of atrocity. They warn that this initiative will affect access to justice, truth and reparations for victims of human rights violations, specifically in the cases of La Cantuta and Barrios Altos, which occurred during the period of the internal conflict (1980-2000) that left more than 69,000 victims in the country.

Detractors point out that the bill seems to be promoted by Fujimori’s party and a group made up of former heads of the Armed Forces. In fact, former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity, following two massacres committed by the covert military group Colina in 1991 and 1992. Currently, despite having been pardoned and released, he is still being prosecuted for another massacre attributed to Colina.

Bernard Duhaime, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition, emphasized that “the imprescriptibility of crimes against humanity is a norm of jus cogens and customary international law, from which no derogation is permitted and to which Peru must adhere”.

At the regional level, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights also made a statement calling for the suspension of the legal process until that Court has “all the necessary elements” to rule on the impact that this bill will have on the Barrio Altos and La Cantuta case vs. Peru (2001). This, following the fact that civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and relatives of the victims requested the Inter-American Court to “adopt provisional measures ordering the Peruvian State to refrain from approving the bill and any similar regulations”.

For its part, the State denies that an amnesty is being sought and described the request for provisional measures as “undue” since they seek to “silence” Congress so that it “does not legislate”.

Overall, for the legislature to approve the law, a second plenary vote is necessary. However, the international and regional human rights community agree that if approved it would put Peru in clear contravention of its obligations under international law.

Last update

19/6/2024