The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has been criticized by President Dina Boluarte for its opposition to a recently passed law that would have allowed soldiers, police officers, and other security personnel to receive amnesty for their participation in Peru’s internal conflict between 1985 and 2000.
Boluarte argued on Thursday that the international court’s request for the law’s suspension constituted an overreach.
She said, “We are not anyone’s colony,” while sharing a clip from her speech on social media.
“And we will not permit the Inter-American Court’s intervention in the case where the Inter-American Court intends to suspend a bill that seeks justice for members of our armed forces, our national police, and the self-defence committees, who fought and risked their lives against the utter annihilation of terrorism.”
The amnesty law has been awaiting Boluarte’s approval since it passed in Peru’s Congress in July. She has the option of passing it into law, allowing it to go into effect, or bringing it back to the Congress for revisions.
The bill has sparked outcry from the public, not the least of which because it is believed to deter security forces from being held accountable for the atrocities that occurred during Peru’s conflict.
Additionally, the legislation would grant “humanitarian” amnesty to those who have served time for war crimes over the age of 70.
The internal conflict claimed the lives of approximately 70 000 people, the majority of whom were from rural and indigenous communities.
The Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement’s ostensibly armed uprisings were used as a pretext for soldiers and police officers to combat them. However, the conflict gained notoriety for the massacres of civilians without any affiliation with any rebel group and their human rights violations.
When soldiers massacred residents of his Andean village, Accomarca, Francisco Ochoa was 14 years old. He claimed earlier this week that the new amnesty law “made me feel outraged and betrayed” on behalf of himself and other survivors.
International organizations have also criticized the law as a negative development for Peruvian society.
Nine UN human rights experts expressed “alarm” in a statement released on July 17 that the bill’s passage was. They requested a veto of the Peruvian government.
According to them, the proposed legislation would stop people from facing criminal charges and bring charges against them for violating fundamental human rights during Peru’s internal armed conflict.
It would “absolutely violate international law’s obligations on the State.”
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Nancy Hernandez Lopez, the president of Peru, ordered Peru to “immediately suspend the processing” of the bill a week later. She determined that the legislation was in violation of international precedents for such amnesty laws.
The competent authorities “refuse to enforce this law” if it is not suspended, she said.
She mentioned that members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and survivors of the earthquake would be gathered for a session.
In cases where serious human rights violations, such as forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions, have been found, the Inter-American Court has upheld the inter-American Court’s previous rulings.
Additionally, it stated that age does not affect a suspect’s ability to be detained for alleged grave human rights violations. According to the court, these exceptions are only applicable to lesser-or-nonviolent offenses under international law.
According to a coalition of humanitarian organizations in Peru, the country’s most recent amnesty law could overturn 156 convictions and halt more than 600 ongoing investigations.
Under the leadership of then-President Alberto Fujimori, a 1995 amnesty law was repealed.
President Boluarte, however, on Thursday attempted to describe her government’s actions as in line with international human rights standards.
Source: Aljazeera
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