Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has signed into law a controversial piece of legislation that would shield the military, police, and other government-sanctioned forces from prosecution for human rights abuses committed during the country’s decades-long internal conflict. On Wednesday, Boluarte held a signing ceremony at the presidential palace in Lima, where she defended the amnesty law as a means of honoring the sacrifices made by government forces.
“This is a historic day for our country,” she said. “It brings justice and honor to those who stood up to terrorism.” However, human rights groups and international observers have condemned the bill as a violation of international law — not to mention a denial of justice for the thousands of survivors who lived through the conflict.
From 1980 to 2000, Peru experienced a bloody conflict that pitted government forces against left-wing rebel groups like the Shining Path. Both sides committed massacres, kidnappings, and assaults on unarmed civilians, with the death toll from the conflict climbing as high as 70,000 people. Up until present, survivors and family members of the deceased have continued to fight for accountability.
An estimated 600 investigations are currently underway, and 156 convictions have been achieved, according to the National Human Rights Coordinator, a coalition of Peruvian human rights organizations. Critics fear those ongoing probes could be scuttled under the wide-ranging protections offered by the new amnesty law, which stands to benefit soldiers, police officers, and members of self-defense committees who face legal proceedings for which no final verdict has been rendered.
The legislation also offers “humanitarian” amnesty for those convicted over the age of 70. Peru, however, falls under the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which ordered the country’s government to “immediately suspend the processing” of the law on July 24. The court ruled against past amnesty laws in Peru, stating that in cases of severe human rights violations, there can be no sweeping amnesty nor age limits for prosecution.
In cases of severe human rights violations, the court has ruled that there can be no sweeping amnesty nor age limits for prosecution. Nine UN experts issued a joint letter in July condemning the passage of the amnesty law as a “clear breach of [Peru’s] obligations under international law”. However, at Wednesday’s signing ceremony, President Boluarte reiterated her position that such international criticism was a violation of her country’s sovereignty and that she would not adhere to the Inter-American Court’s decision.
“Peru is honoring its defenders and firmly rejecting any internal or external interference,” Boluarte said. “We cannot allow history to be distorted, for perpetrators to pretend to be victims, and for the true defenders of the homeland to be branded as enemies of the nation they swore to protect.”
Peru’s armed forces, however, have been implicated in a wide range of human rights abuses. Just last year, 10 soldiers were convicted of carrying out the systematic rape of Indigenous and rural women and girls. Drawing from Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, the human rights group Amnesty International estimates that the country’s armed forces and police were responsible for 37 percent of the deaths and disappearances that happened during the conflict.
Francisco Ochoa, a victims’ advocate, spoke to Al Jazeera last month about his experiences surviving the 1985 Accomarca massacre as a 14-year-old teenager. “The first thing I remember from that day is the smell when we arrived,” Ochoa, now 54, told journalist Claudia Rebaza. “It smelled like smoldering flesh, and there was no one around.” When asked how he and other survivors felt about the amnesty law, Ochoa responded, “Outraged and betrayed”.