Taking Stock: Five Years of Seeking Reparations and Justice in Peru
In December 2007, the world witnessed a rare sight: a former president brought to justice for human rights violations. Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru during the latter decade of the country’s armed conflict, was being tried for crimes he ordered the military to commit against his own people. Through his trial, Peruvians saw that even the most powerful person in the country could be brought to justice.
Despite this emblematic victory, which would be made even more significant later by a guilty verdict and 25-year prison sentence, the country was forced shortly thereafter to acknowledge the slow pace of achieving justice in Peru. On August 28, 2008, human rights organizations in Peru marked the fifth anniversary of the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) report, which documented the crimes and human rights violations committed over the twenty years of the conflict and offered recommendations to redress them. The anniversary was the culmination of a month of activities called the “CVR+5 campaign.” It shed light on the advances made since the report’s release, and generated public solidarity with the conflict’s survivors and their demands for justice and reparation. Several of Inter Pares’ counterparts took part in the campaign, which received national and regional media coverage. The campaign engaged the public and decision-makers on issues of justice and reparation through a range of activities, including educational sessions for students, human rights workshops for local activists, public fairs, photo exhibits, and a public forum on advances made in the national reparations program.
As part of the campaign, the National Coordination of Human Rights Organizations, an Inter Pares counterpart, publicly denounced the slow implementation of the CVR’s recommendations since the 2006 re-election of President García. García, Peru’s president during the early years of the conflict, had criticized the CVR report when it was released. While several major advances were made in the first three years after the report’s release, such as the creation of the Council of Reparation, progress has stalled since García’s re-election, and financial resources for justice and reparation processes have dried up.
The CVR+5 campaign highlighted that justice and reparation for victims is not a priority for the Peruvian government. There is still a lot to do, such as exhuming mass graves to find bodies of the disappeared. Those fighting for justice understand that this is not the moment to lose hope. Some survivors have been waiting for more than twenty years to obtain it. With Inter Pares’ financial and political support, our counterparts in Peru are central to the efforts to counter impunity and obtain comprehensive reparations. The impunity that still prevails, despite Fujimori’s trial and guilty verdict, must be overcome to contribute to national reconciliation and to ensure a peaceful future in Peru.
| Reviewed June 2, 2009 |  |
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