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Amnesty Spicy Tofu and Avocado Wrap (Vegan) $12 Amnesty Potatoes & Chicken Salad $12 Amnesty Potatoes & Tofu Salad (Vegan) $12 Amnesty Sausage Grilled Wrap $12 Drinks and Beverages Amnesty Orange Limeade $3.50 Amnesty Guava & Fresh Orange Juice Smoothie $4.45 Amnesty Red Iced Tea $2.70 Amnesty Iced Americano with Cuban Rum $6 Tinto Taste for Justice menu Presentation This year we want to call your attention to the situation of Human Rights in four Latin American countries. The government of Canada has free trade agreements with the governments of Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. Canadian investment in these countries is not new but there are new economic rules in place to safeguard Canadian investment. The conditions for “a stable and predictable environment” were promoted by the governments before signing the free trade agreements in industries such as mining, gas, cereals, finance and environmental services, among others. CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency, played an important role since much of Canadian development aid went to sectors and industries that were already under the eye of Canadian investors. Laws regulating the mining industry, for example, were re-shaped under the advise of Canada so that investment capitals could move more easily and that greater volumes of returns from those investments would not remain in those countries in the form of taxes and levies. Changes in environmental regulations, in labour regulations, in finance sector regulations, etc., laid ground to that “stable and predictable environment”(
This is the choice of words for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada)
. These changes have been sealed off by free trade agreements that benefit the moneys invested and their returns. NAFTA has not made things better for any of the three signatories of this free trade agreement. Its provisions have not helped ease the critical economic situation. Similarly, the rules set by the free trade agreements between Canada and the Latin American governments will provide shield and protection for investment capitals while citizens’ rights will suffer and weaken, and will be more difficult to protect and enforce. Your investment in mutual funds and retirement funds, in the stock exchange and other forms of investment may be going where it fuels inequalities. The largest capitals and their owners of today may be protected while they themselves and their funds undermine the rights of smaller investors and of the population at large. No one is safe under the new economic rules of the world. The Conrad Blacks and Bernie Madoffs, the Goldman Sachs and Stanley Morgans of yesterday, will make a profit at the expense of everyone else. They will enjoy their positions for a brief moment but will be brough to justice for all the wrong they do. Free trade agreements shall be dismissed sooner rather than later. In the meantime Human Rights need to be guaranteed and enforced, its violations have to be denounced and investigated, perpetrators must be brought to justice. When populations manifest their opposition to mining projects, for instance, they are protesting against forced displacement that benefit mining investment, they protest against environmental degradation, they protest against forced disappearance of community leaders, they demand the full protection of Human Rights. Please take a minute to look at excerpts from AI’s 2010 and 2011 Human Rights reports for these four Latin American countries that have free trade agreements with Canada. For the full reports please visit www. amnesty.org , click below under the name of country or do a search for Amnesty International (Name of Country) 2010 or 2011. Chile Background In August [2010], the collapse of a copper-gold mine in the Atacama desert trapped 33 miners 700m below ground. After 69 days, an operation to save the miners was successfully concluded. The accident drew attention to issues around safety in the extractive industries. Eighty-three people died in a fire in the overcrowded San Miguel prison in December, drawing attention once again to the terrible conditions in many prisons in the country. In January [2010], Chile’s Memory Museum was opened to the public, providing a space to acknowledge human rights violations committed between 1973 and 1990. The process of setting up a National Human Rights Institute started in July, though concerns that its autonomy was not constitutionally recognized remained. Police acknowledged “errors” in their response, using teargas and water cannon, to a peaceful student protest in Santiago in August [2010]. Indigenous Peoples’ rights • In May [2009], construction began on the Pascua-Lama mining project in northern Chile on the border with Argentina, despite objections from local Indigenous Diaguita Huascoaltino communities that their consent had not been given. Mapuche Indigenous communities continued to campaign in support of their land claims and other rights. Some Mapuche groups and their supporters organized occupations and there were a number of violent clashes with the security forces. The Arauco-Malleco Co-ordinating Committee, whose aim is the creation of an autonomous Mapuche nation, claimed responsibility for a number of protest actions. In response, anti-terrorist and national security legislation dating from the military government of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) was applied in several cases, in breach of previous government undertakings not to do so and contrary to the recommendations of international human rights bodies. In July [2010], 23 Mapuche prisoners began a hunger strike in protest at the use of anti-terrorist legislation against them and at alleged violations of due process, among other things. At its peak, 34 prisoners were participating in the hunger strike. Following negotiations between representatives of the prisoners and the government, mediated by Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati, the strike ended in October. An accord signed by all parties stipulated that all the cases brought under anti-terror legislation would be transferred to criminal law; that the government would pursue reforms to the Code of Military Justice; and that other measures to address Mapuche demands would be taken in line with international human rights standards. Impunity Chile ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in June and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in December. In September [2009], the government announced its intention to reopen both the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture and the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (the Valech and Rettig Commissions) in order to allow previously unregistered cases of torture and enforced disappearance to be presented. The Supreme Court announced that it would speed up the processing of cases of human rights violations committed during the military government of Augusto Pinochet, amid concerns that reforms to the Code of Criminal Procedure in 2010 might stall pending cases. According to official figures, between January and October, 69 former security force agents were charged, sentenced or tried in connection with human rights violations. However, by the end of October, final sentences had been handed down in only 179 out of a total of 3,186 cases. In September [2009], more than 165 former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, DINA) were charged in connection with their involvement in the torture and enforced disappearance of political activists. • In September [2009], the Supreme Court ruled that torture committed at the Chilean Airforce Training Unit between September 1973 and January 1975 constituted a crime against humanity. Only two people, retired colonels Edgar Cevallos Jones and Ramón Cáceres Jorquera, were sentenced in connection with these crimes.
Colombia The internal armed conflict continued to have devastating consequences on the civilian population, with Indigenous communities particularly hard hit. All the warring parties – including the security forces, guerrilla groups and paramilitary groups – were responsible for serious human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. Although fewer civilians were extrajudicially executed by the security forces and forcible displacement increased at a slower rate than in previous years, other human rights abuses intensified. There was a rise in killings of members of marginalized social groups and Indigenous Peoples, and in threats against human rights defenders and other activists. Witnesses to killings and victims of human rights violations and their families were threatened and harassed. In September [2009], the government announced it would disband the civilian intelligence service (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) after evidence emerged that it had illegally intercepted the communications of human rights defenders, journalists, opposition politicians and judges for at least seven years, and colluded with paramilitary groups. The Supreme Court of Justice investigation into the “parapolitical” scandal continued to make progress. Some 80 Members of Congress – most belonging to parties from the ruling coalition – were under investigation for their alleged links to paramilitary groups. Tensions increased with several countries in the region, especially Venezuela, following the government’s decision to allow the US military to use seven military bases in Colombia . The new government [of President Juan Manuel Santos in 2010] presented legislation on reparation for victims and land restitution, which it claimed would benefit those affected by human rights abuses. However, victims’ and human rights organizations expressed reservations about the legislation and human rights defenders and social leaders continued to be threatened and killed. Those campaigning for the return of lands misappropriated during the conflict, mainly by paramilitary groups, were at particular risk. Human rights defenders, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, witnesses, and victims and their families involved in human rights-related criminal cases were also threatened and killed. The internal armed conflict The warring parties failed to distinguish between civilians and combatants, resulting in forced displacement, killings of civilians, sexual violence against women, hostage-taking, enforced disappearances, forced recruitment of minors and indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population. There was a sharp increase in violence in some of the country’s larger cities. This increase was attributed to the armed conflict, drug trafficking-related crimes, and acts of “social cleansing”. Some 20,000 enforced disappearances reportedly continued to be investigated by the Office of the Attorney General. The number of internally displaced people continued to rise, although at a slower rate than in recent years. In 2009, more than 286,000 people were newly displaced, according to the NGO Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento, CODHES). Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendant and campesino (peasant farmer) communities were most affected. (The following excerpt was taken from the 2011 report) The warring parties did not distinguish between civilians and combatants, resulting in forced displacement, unlawful killings, kidnappings and enforced disappearances. Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant and peasant farmer communities, and their leaders, continued to be directly targeted by the warring parties. According to the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia at least 122 Indigenous people were killed in 2010. More than 280,000 people were forcibly displaced in 2010, compared with 286,000 in 2009. Between 3 and 5 million people have been displaced in the last 25 years. In November, the Human Rights Ombudsman expressed his concern at the increase in massacres in 2010. Paramilitaries and drug traffickers were thought to be mainly responsible. There were several important judicial rulings in human rights-related criminal cases. However, most perpetrators of human rights abuses continued to evade justice. The fight against impunity was undermined by threats against and killings of those involved in human rights trials. Indigenous Peoples’ rights During his visit to Colombia in July, the UN Special Rapporteur on indigenous people described the human rights situation facing Indigenous Peoples in Colombia as “grave, critical and profoundly worrying”. More than 114 Indigenous men, women and children were killed in 2009, an increase compared with 2008. More than half of those killed were members of Awá communities. • On 26 August, 12 Awá, including six children and an eight-month-old baby, were killed by gunmen on the resguardo (Indigenous reservation) of Gran Rosario in Nariño Department. One of the victims, Tulia García, had been a witness to the killing of her husband, Gonzalo Rodríguez, by the army on 23 May. Land rights [AI 2011 report] President Santos stated that returning some of the more than 6 million hectares of land misappropriated during the conflict to peasant farmers, Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendant communities would be a priority for his presidency. In October, the government announced it would return 312,000 hectares of land to around 130,000 displaced families by April 2012, and a total of 2 million hectares by the end of its four-year term in office. However, increasing threats against and killings of leaders of displaced communities and of those seeking the return of stolen lands threatened to undermine these efforts. • On 19 September [2010], Hernando Pérez, a leader of the Association of Victims for the Restitution of Land and Property, was killed in Necoclí Municipality, Antioquia Department. Hours earlier, he had participated in an official ceremony in Nueva Colonia, Antioquia Department, to return land to dozens of peasant farmer families forcibly displaced by paramilitaries.
The Justice and Peace process [AI 2011 report] The Justice and Peace process continued to fall short of international standards on victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparation, although some truths about human rights violations did emerge. Through the process, which began in 2005, around 10 per cent of the more than 30,000 paramilitaries who supposedly demobilized qualified for reduced prison sentences in return for laying down their arms, confessing to human rights abuses and returning stolen lands. The rest received de facto amnesties. However, in November [2010] the Constitutional Court rejected a law, passed in 2009, which would have confirmed such amnesties for 19,000 of these paramilitaries, arguing that it ran counter to the right to truth, justice and reparation. In December [2010], Congress passed a law again granting de facto amnesties to these paramilitaries in return for them signing an Agreement to Contribute to the Historic Truth and Reparation. In June [2010], a Justice and Peace judge sentenced two paramilitaries to eight years in prison each for human rights violations, while a third paramilitary received the same sentence in December. These were the only sentences that had been passed under the process by the end of 2010. In February [2010], the Supreme Court of Justice refused to authorize further extraditions of paramilitaries to the USA because of concerns that most of the paramilitary leaders extradited to the USA in 2008 on drugs charges were not co-operating with the Colombian justice system in its investigation into human rights violations. Extrajudicial executions by the security forces Revelations in 2008 that the security forces had extrajudicially executed more than a dozen young men from Soacha, near the capital, Bogotá, forced the government to adopt measures to combat the problem. The number of cases of extrajudicial execution fell sharply in 2009 compared with 2008. Some 2,000 extrajudicial executions carried out by army personnel over a number of years were under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office in 2009, but progress was slow. There was renewed resistance from within the military justice system to civilian jurisdiction in cases where military personnel were accused of human rights violations. Witnesses to extrajudicial executions as well as relatives of those killed were threatened and attacked. Following his visit to Colombia in June, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings said that extrajudicial executions “were carried out in a more or less systematic fashion by significant elements within the military”. (The following excerpt was taken from the 2011 report) Extrajudicial executions were reported, although in fewer numbers than in previous years. However, progress in criminal investigations by the Office of the Attorney General into more than 2,300 such killings carried out since 1985 continued to be slow. There were concerns that the provisional release during 2010 of dozens of army soldiers held on remand for their alleged part in extrajudicial executions could undermine criminal investigations into such cases. The military justice system continued to claim jurisdiction in some of the cases implicating members of the security forces in human rights violations. Many such cases were closed without any serious attempt to hold those responsible accountable. A new military criminal code approved in August was ambiguous on whether extrajudicial executions and rape were to be excluded from military jurisdiction. In September [2010], the Office in Colombia of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report confirming the presence of at least 446 unidentified bodies in a cemetery next to an army base in La Macarena, Meta Department. The UN called for a thorough investigation to ascertain how many were victims of extrajudicial executions. On 22 July, NGOs had reported in a public meeting that there were unidentified bodies in the La Macarena cemetery. Three days later, President Uribe said of these NGOs: “Terrorism … while it proposes peace through some of its spokesmen, through other spokesmen it comes here to La Macarena to find how to discredit the armed forces and how to accuse them of human rights violations”. Some of those involved in exposing extrajudicial executions were threatened or killed. Paramilitary groups Paramilitary groups continued to operate in many parts of the country, sometimes in collusion with sectors of the security forces. Their continued activities belied government claims that all paramilitaries had laid down their arms following a government-sponsored demobilization programme that began in 2003. The government claimed that violence attributed to these groups was solely drug-related and criminal in nature. However, the tactics employed by these groups to terrorize the civilian population, including death threats and massacres, reflected those used by paramilitary groups prior to demobilization. Human rights defenders, community leaders and other social activists continued to be targeted by such groups. There was evidence that paramilitary groups were again becoming more organized. In a report published in October, the Organization of American States’ Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia referred to “these illegal structures’ capacity for renewal, especially among their leaders, which is a challenge for the authorities to prevent their restructuring”. There was an increase in killings of people from marginalized social groups in urban areas, mostly carried out by paramilitaries. Victims included young people; the homeless; petty criminals; sex workers; lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people; and drug addicts. According to the NGO Research and Popular Education Centre (Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular, CINEP), there were 184 such killings in 2009, compared with 82 in 2008. (The following excerpt was taken from the 2011 report) Paramilitaries continued to kill civilians; threaten and kill human rights defenders and social leaders; recruit children; and carry out acts of “social cleansing”. These groups continued to expand and became organizationally more sophisticated. Collusion with the security forces continued in many parts of the country. The Justice and Peace process Only around 3,700 of the 31,000 paramilitaries who had allegedly demobilized since 2003 had participated in the Justice and Peace process by the end of 2009. However, the whereabouts of many of these were unknown. The Justice and Peace process allows former paramilitaries to benefit from reduced sentences in return for confessions about human rights violations. Some paramilitaries confessed to human rights abuses and implicated others, including people in politics, business and the military. However, the process still fell short of international standards on the rights of victims to truth, justice and reparation. Some 90 per cent of those who were demobilized continued to escape effective investigation as a result of Decree 128 and Law 782, which grant de facto amnesties to those not under investigation for human rights violations. In June, Congress approved a law to regularize the legal status of 19,000 supposedly demobilized paramilitaries after the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that they could not benefit from amnesties. The law authorized the Attorney General to suspend, interrupt or abandon investigations against them, thus enabling them to evade justice. Most of the 18 paramilitary leaders extradited to the USA on drug-trafficking charges refused to co-operate with the Colombian justice system in its investigations into human rights violations. Colombian judicial officials experienced difficulties in gaining access to the few who did agree to co-operate. Some paramilitaries returned a small portion of the 4-6 million hectares of land stolen by them, but there were concerns that some of these lands could again fall under the control of such groups or their backers. Some of the few original owners whose land was returned were threatened or killed. Guerrilla groups The FARC and the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN) continued to commit human rights abuses and serious and repeated violations of international humanitarian law, including the killing of civilians, the recruitment of children and hostage-taking. Widespread use of anti-personnel mines by the FARC continued. In 2009, more than 111 civilians and members of the security forces were killed and 521 injured by landmines. The FARC launched indiscriminate attacks in which civilians were the main victims. • On 13 January, the FARC launched an attack using explosive devices in the urban centre of Roberto Payán Municipality in Nariño Department. Six people died, including three children. According to government figures, the overall number of kidnappings fell to 213 in 2009, from 437 in 2008. Most kidnappings were attributed to criminal gangs, but guerrilla groups were responsible for the majority of conflict-related kidnappings. (The following excerpt was taken from the 2011 report) The FARC and the smaller National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN) committed serious human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, including unlawful killings, hostage-taking and the recruitment of children. The FARC in particular carried out indiscriminate attacks in which civilians were put at risk through the use of low-precision explosive devices. According to government figures, there were 282 kidnappings in 2010, compared with 213 in 2009. Most were attributed to criminal gangs, but guerrilla groups were responsible for most conflict-related kidnappings. Human rights defenders Human rights defenders, especially those working in more remote areas, were threatened and killed. Community leaders were at particular risk of attack. At least eight defenders and 39 trade unionists were killed in 2009. Human rights defenders and social activists accused of having links with guerrilla groups continued to face criminal proceedings, often based solely on information from military intelligence files and paid informants. However, long-standing proceedings against some defenders were finally dismissed by the courts. The offices of a number of human rights organizations were broken into and sensitive information stolen. During a visit to Colombia by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders in September, President Uribe said that human rights work was legitimate. However, high-ranking officials, including the President, continued to make statements linking such work with support for guerrilla groups. (The following excerpt was taken from the 2011 report) Human rights defenders, trade unionists and social leaders continued to be threatened and killed, mainly by paramilitary groups. In 2010, at least 14 human rights defenders were killed. The National Trade Union School reported that 51 members of trade unions were killed during the year. • On 10 October [2010], the paramilitary Black Eagles Central Bloc sent an email death threat to 20 individuals and 69 human rights and social organizations, most of which were campaigning for reparation for victims of human rights violations, and for the return of stolen lands. Human rights defenders and social activists accused of links with guerrilla groups continued to face criminal proceedings, often based solely on the statements of informants. Violence against women and girls (From AI report 2011) All parties to the conflict subjected women to sexual abuse and other forms of gender-based violence. Women activists working with displaced women were threatened and killed. US military aid In 2009, the USA allocated some US$662 million in military and non-military assistance for Colombia. This included US$543.5 million from the State and Foreign Operations funding bill, of which US$305 million was earmarked for the security forces; 30 per cent of this was conditional on the Colombian authorities meeting certain human rights requirements. In August, US$55 million in security assistance withheld in 2008 was released following “positive steps” by the Colombian government on human rights. By November 2009, US$19 million in security assistance funds from 2008 and US$31 million in security assistance funds from 2009 was being withheld by the US Congress because of ongoing human rights concerns. In 2010, the USA allocated US$667 million in military and non-military assistance for Colombia. This included US$508.2 million from the State and Foreign Operations funding bill. The security forces were allocated S$256 million of this, of which approximately US$100 was earmarked for the armed forces. Payment of 30 per cent of the US$100 million was conditional on the Colombian authorities meeting certain human rights requirements. In September, the US authorities determined that the Colombian government had made significant progress in improving the human rights situation in the country and released some US$30 million in security assistance funds. In August [2010], the Constitutional Court ruled that the agreement to allow the US military to use seven Colombian military bases, signed in 2009, could not be implemented until it was submitted to and approved by Congress and then by the Court itself.
Mexico Background The government recorded more than 15,000 gang-related killings, particularly in the northern states. The majority of these occurred in conflicts between drug cartels and other criminal gangs, but an unknown number also resulted from clashes with police and security forces. In Ciudad Juárez, nearly 3,000 people were killed, including several mass killings of young people. Drug rehabilitation centres were targeted and scores of patients were killed in different states. More than 50 soldiers and 600 police officers were killed in gang-related violence. Police were suspected of widespread involvement with criminal gangs. Passers-by and other members of the public were also killed, forcing thousands to flee their homes. Violence spread to new regions of the country. Prosecutions of those responsible for the killings were rare. The US government continued to provide security and other transfers to Mexico as part of the Merida Initiative, a three-year regional co-operation and security agreement. However, the State Department recommended that Congress withhold approval of a small proportion of funds. Police and security forces The military There were further reports of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention by members of the military. The CNDH registered 1,163 complaints of abuses by the military and in November reported ongoing investigations into more than 100 complaints of unlawful killings by the armed forces in the 18 months to November 2010. The military justice system continued to claim jurisdiction in such cases, while the civilian judicial authorities refused to investigate. Little information was available on progress of military prosecutions, but no serving military official was known to have been convicted of human rights violations during the year. Government proposals for limited legislative reform to military jurisdiction did not guarantee that human rights violations would be excluded from the military justice system. Police forces Reports of arbitrary detention, torture, excessive use of force and enforced disappearance by municipal, state and federal police forces continued. Attempts to reform the police were undermined by the failure to establish credible oversight controls or conduct effective criminal investigations into human rights abuses. Irregular migrants Tens of thousands of migrants heading for the USA faced abduction, rape and murder by criminal gangs as they travelled through Mexico. Often these crimes were carried out with the knowledge, complicity or acquiescence of federal, state or municipal police. Those responsible for the abuses were rarely held to account. Staff and volunteers at church-based shelters providing humanitarian assistance to migrants faced intimidation and threats. Freedom of expression – journalists Threats and attacks on journalists and media outlets continued. At least six journalists were killed. Criminal gangs particularly targeted journalists covering crime issues. In some states, local media outlets self-censored, avoiding coverage of such stories. The Federal Attorney General’s Office renewed commitments to investigate these offences. However, the vast majority remained unresolved. A government protection programme for journalists was agreed but not operational by the end of the year. Human rights defenders • In April [2010], two human rights defenders, Alberta Cariño and Jyri Antero Jaakkola, a Finnish citizen, were shot and killed by armed men belonging to the Social Welfare Union of the Triqui region (Unión del Bienestar Social de la Región Triqui, UBISORT), linked to the then Oaxaca state government. The two defenders were participating in a humanitarian convoy to take food, water and medical supplies to the Indigenous Triqui community of San Juan Copala, which was under siege by UBISORT and another armed group. Those responsible for the shooting remained at large at the end of the year. Violence against women and girls, and sexual and reproductive rights Violence against women remained widespread. Hundreds of women were killed in the home and community during the year. Legislative measures introduced in recent years to improve protection were often not applied in practice or were ineffective in protecting women or ensuring perpetrators were held to account. Despite the 2009 judgement by the Inter-American Court, the government failed to take effective measures to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for the abduction and killing of three women in Ciudad Juárez in 2001 (the Cotton Field case) or to combat the ongoing pattern of violence against women and discrimination in the city. More than 300 women were killed during the year. The bodies of at least 30 victims bore injuries suggesting that they had suffered sexual violence and torture. Few perpetrators were held to account. In December, Marisela Escobedo was shot and killed by a gunman outside the governor’s palace in Chihuahua City during a protest to demand justice for her daughter who was murdered in Ciudad Juárez in 2008. An SCJN [Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation] ruling was pending on suits challenging the constitutionality of amendments to 17 state constitutions guaranteeing the legal right to life from the moment of conception. In another case, the SCJN ruled that state governments were obliged to comply with national health professional procedures when providing services to women victims of violence, including the provision of emergency contraception. Indigenous Peoples’ rights Indigenous communities continued to have unequal access to justice, health, education and other rights and services. Government authorities failed to engage effectively with Indigenous communities to improve the protection of their rights and access to services. Despite government commitments to reduce maternal mortality, inadequate health services continued to contribute to disproportionately high levels of maternal deaths among Indigenous women in southern states. • In April [2010], prisoners of conscience Alberta Alcántara and Teresa González were released from prison after the SCJN ruled that their conviction was unsafe. The two Indigenous women, both from Santiago Mexquititlán, Querétaro state, had spent three years in prison falsely accused of kidnapping federal police officers.
Perú Background Throughout the year [2009], there was increasing social unrest and discontent over government policies, in particular in relation to extractive projects and legislation on the use of resources and land. This led to nationwide mobilizations and strikes that paralysed the country for weeks. (The following excerpt was taken from the 2011 report) There were widespread protests against the social and environmental impacts of large-scale development projects. These included protests in June at an oil spill into the Marañón River in the Peruvian Amazon and of toxic waste into the Escalera River in Huancavelica province, as well as demonstrations in September over concerns that the building of a dam would affect the right to water of the population of Espinar district in Cusco. In response, President Alan García passed a decree law in September allowing the military to be deployed to deal with civil protests, raising concerns of increasing incidents of excessive use of force by the security forces. There were reports of armed confrontations in the Andean region between members of the armed opposition group Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), and the military and police. Indigenous Peoples’ rights Thousands of Indigenous demonstrators staged a road blockade for more than 50 days in the Amazon region in protest against a series of decree laws, which, they argued, affected their fundamental right to land and resources and thus their livelihoods. (The following excerpt was taken from the 2011 report) In June [2010], President García refused to promulgate the Law on the Right of Indigenous People to Prior Consultation. This landmark law was drawn up with the participation of Indigenous communities and passed by Congress in May. The authorities also failed to comply with a Constitutional Court ruling issued in June calling for the establishment of a framework to ensure the consultation of Indigenous Peoples affected by development projects, in accordance with ILO Convention No. 169. Scores of new concessions were granted to companies for oil exploration without the free, prior and informed consent of affected communities. Legal and institutional developments Four working groups, which included representatives of Indigenous Peoples, were set up to investigate the violence that occurred on 5 June, review the decree laws which sparked the protests, issue recommendations for a mechanism for consultation with Indigenous Peoples, and propose a National Plan of Development in the Amazon. In December, the Commission set up by the working group investigating the 5 June clashes presented its report to the Ministry of Agriculture. However, two members of the Commission, including its president, refused to endorse the report on the grounds that the Commission lacked the necessary time and resources to conduct full investigations and that the report lacked impartiality. Corporate accountability In January [2010], photographs were published relating to the ill-treatment of 29 people, and the killing of one man while in detention in 2005 following protests against a British mining project in the north-west of the country. The protesters alleged that they were tortured by police and the mine’s security guards. In March 2009, the Public Prosecutor charged police officers with torture, but decided not to pursue either the mining company or its security guards. However, the victims brought an action against the company in the UK and in October a High Court injunction was issued against Monterrico Metals in the UK. The High Court ruling was pending at the end of the year. Human rights defenders Human rights defenders were threatened and intimidated. The authorities failed to send a clear message that such acts would not be tolerated or to ensure effective investigations into these threats. In September [2009], an anonymous caller threatened to poison human rights defender and former president of the 2001 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Salomón Lerner Febres; his two guard dogs had been poisoned earlier that month. • In September, human rights defender Gisela Ortiz Perea was accused in a national newspaper of being a leading member of Shining Path in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate her for her continued support to victims of human rights violations during the government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000). Impunity In April [2009] , former President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for grave human rights violations. However, impunity remained a concern. Scores of cases of reported killings by police officers were not investigated amid serious concerns that a 2007 decree law was being used to prevent investigations into alleged extrajudicial executions. The decree law reformed the Penal Code and exempts from prosecution police officers who injure or kill suspects while on duty. There was no progress in implementing the recommendations of the 2001 Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up to investigate human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict (1980-2000). Little progress was made regarding the 1,000 cases of past human rights violations filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office since 2003. The Ministry of Defence continued to withhold information on cases involving military personnel. The Reparations Council, a body set up in 2006 to create a record of victims of human rights violations during the two decades of internal armed conflict so that they could claim reparation, had to suspend its work in November owing to lack of resources. Impunity – past human rights violations In September [2010], a series of decree laws were issued effectively rolling back advances in tackling impunity over the previous 10 years. Congress voted to revoke Decree Law 1097, which effectively granted amnesty to perpetrators of human rights violations. However, two further decrees allowing members of the armed forces accused of human rights violations to be tried under military courts remained in place. In November [2010], trials began of soldiers accused of killing 69 villagers in 1985 in Accomarca, Vilcashuamán province. A new grave was discovered in the grounds of the Cabitos barracks in Huamanga province, and excavations began of mass graves in Huanta province on the site of the Christmas 1984 massacre of 25 members of the Indigenous community of Putka. Prison conditions (The following excerpt was taken from the 2011 report) Challapalca prison in Puno province, which is 4,600m above sea level and was closed between 2005 and 2007, remained open. Despite assurances from the authorities that the prison would be closed, 131 prisoners were still held there in October. The prison’s inaccessibility limits prisoners’ ability to exercise their right to visits from lawyers and doctors. |