Executive summary
The presidency of Alan Garcia has been characterised by a consistently antagonistic approach toward work associated with human rights. Peruvian NGOs, intellectuals and civilservants who are involved with human rights work or judicial cases linked to human rights violations have found themselves on the receiving end of defamatory media campaigns and direct pressure by the Peruvian Government. The negative rhetoric employed by the president and some of his government regarding the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the fight to bring to trial crimes involving human rights atrocities that occurred during the period of internal conflict, is particularly disturbing. The government has regularly and publicly disparaged the TRC report as having a pro-terrorist bias. It has also repeatedly accused those working for the implementation of its recommendations of being Shining Path sympathisers, or worse, actual terrorists, with the aim of destabilising the country.
The government, under then President Alejandro Toledo, committed itself to putting the recommendations of the TRC into law. However, seven years after the publication of the report, its recommendations are still far from being implemented in their entirety. There continues to be significant resistance from influential politicians, political parties and other powerful bodies, including elements in the military, who are implicated in the findings of the TRC.
The current administration, under President Garcia, contains a number of individuals implicated in the abuses committed in the 1980s and 1990s, not least, Garcia himself. Prosecutors attempting to investigate human rights atrocities committed by the military or police officials find their investigations blocked at every turn. Rafael Rey, the Minister of Defence, and his predecessor, Antero Flores Araoz Esparza, have been particularly hostile and have blocked the prosecution of human right cases by refusing to turn over any records that would identify military personnel responsible for crimes against humanity.
Despite government resistance, over the past year there have been some significant advances in regard to the TRC recommendations. A single national registry of victims of the conflict is close to completion, although there are still serious concerns. The Reparations Council, tasked with evaluating cases for inclusion, is in dire need of more resources and more time in order to complete the project. Most encouraging, however is that, following marches in the capital city by victims and their families this summer, the government has finally set up a technical commission given the responsibility of creating a strategy for the allocation of individual economic reparations. While this comes too late for some victims who have passed away due to old age, it is an important step forward.
It should also be noted that there have been some key improvements in government relations with civil society and in particular with human rights groups. In April, the National Coordinator for Human Rights (an umbrella organisation which groups together most of the human rights organisations in the country), the Peruvian Council of Evangelical Churches (CONEP) and the Peruvian Catholic Episcopal Conference were reincorporated as observers to the National Council for Human Rights. President Garcia ejected the three groups from the council in 2008 after they criticised the government for doing nothing to implement the National Plan for Human Rights. This was viewed as a major setback for relations between the government and civil society at the time, and their reinstatement hopefully represents a new opportunity for constructive dialogue.
Democratic institutions are fragile and Garcia’s administration has, thus far, shown no real desire to strengthen them. Instead the government has attempted to attack civil society through legislation and continues to employ much of the polarising rhetoric and some of the abusive strategies of the not so distant past. However, Garcia is keen to pursue close relations with the European Union and the United States, particularly in relation to trade agreements, and is attempting to position Peru to represent the more moderate, progressive and investment-friendly face of Latin America. This presents a valuable opportunity for the EU and other members of the international community to use their influence to push Garcia and the Peruvian Congress to move the country forward by implementing the TRC recommendations and the National Plan for Human Rights. In addition, there is an opportunity to encourage the reforms necessary to make state institutions more transparent and accountable while at the same time encouraging a responsible and active civil society.
The international community must look for ways to support the promotion and strengthening of democratic processes as well as to encourage the Peruvian Government to take unambiguous steps toward national reconciliation. If this does not take place, and issues like corruption continue to go unaddressed, the country will be in danger of spiralling back into the same pattern of injustice and inequality that has characterised most of its past. There are already worrying indications that factions of the Shining Path have regrouped and resumed activity, including the recruitment of child soldiers, in certain parts of the country. In addition, coca cultivation in Peru is growing so rapidly that if it continues on this track there are concerns that it will surpass Colombia as the world’s largest producer of the base material for cocaine. This can only lead to increased instability in the region, which will have wider implications for Latin America and the rest of the world, particularly in respect to the illegal drug trade, arms trafficking and terrorist activities.
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