Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)
Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC; Spanish: Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación, CVR) (13 July 2001 – 28 August 2003) was a truth and reconciliation commission established by President Alejandro Toledo to investigate the human rights abuses committed during the internal conflict in Peru between 1980s and 1990s.[1] The TRC was a response to the violent internal conflict between 1980 and 2000 during the administration of Presidents Fernando Belaúnde (1980–1985), Alan García (1985–1990), and Alberto Fujimori (1990–2000).[1] The commission's mandate was to provide a record of human rights and international humanitarian law violations committed in Peru between May 1980 and November 2000, as well as recommend mechanisms to promote and strengthen human rights.[2] The TRC reported on the estimated 70 000 deaths, assassinations, torture, disappearances, displacement, employment of terrorist methods and other human rights violations executed by the State, Shining Path, and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.[1] The report concluded that there is both institutional and individual accountability, as well as identifying racial and cultural factors that became a catalyst for conflict.[1]
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A 2019 study disputed the casualty figures from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, estimating instead "a total of 48,000 killings, substantially lower than the TRC estimate" and concluding that "the Peruvian State accounts for a significantly larger share than the Shining Path."[3][4] The TRC later came out to respond to these statements.[5]
Structure[edit]
Commissioners[edit]
The commission was composed of twelve Peruvian commissioners, ten men and two women. Initially it consisted of seven commissioners, however President Alejandro Toledo increased the number of commissioners, as well adding an observer position.[23] Commissioners were appointed by the President with the approval of the Council of Ministers.[1] To qualify for the position of commissioner, one had to be a Peruvian national with prestige and legitimacy, defending democratic and constitutional values.[26]
Conclusions[edit]
The TRC's two years of investigations and research led to several conclusions that were presented in the final report, released on 28 August 2003.[32] Based on evidence discovered during the investigations of deaths and disappearances, the TRC was able to provide an accurate estimation of the number deaths that were the result of the internal conflict. It was originally estimated that only 24,000 people died or disappeared, however the TRC concluded that approximately 69,280 died or disappeared as a result of the internal conflict in Peru between 1980 and 2000.[33]
The TRC assessed responsibility for the crimes and human rights violations and determined key the perpetrators. The Shining Path was the principle perpetrator, being responsible for 54% of the deaths.[1] The Shining Path targeted unarmed civilians as part of their strategy to devastate communities as a whole.[34] The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was responsible for 1.5% of the deaths and 1.8% of the total number of human rights violations.[34] Rebel groups were largely responsible for the recruitment of minors who were apprehended and forced to participate in acts of war.[34] The Peruvian state was responsible for 37% of the deaths and disappearances, including agents of the military, police, other security forces, and political parties.[34] Various human rights violations were carried out by State officials to obtain information, confessions, or incriminate others, as well as to punish individuals and communities.[34] State agents systematically inflicted torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, mainly in military detention centres, police stations, and counter-terrorism units.[34] 83% of sexual violence against women and girls were attributed to state officials.[34]
The TRC also discovered that rural areas were disproportionately affected by violence, especially those of indigenous communities. Indigenous peoples have historically been the country's most marginalized population, and they became the groups most affected by violence.[23] Although only 29% of the national population lives in rural regions, they represented 79% of the victims of violence.[23] 75% of those who died as a result of the conflict spoke Quechua or another Indigenous language as their first language, when only 16% of the national population's first language is an Indigenous language.[23] Violence was most concentrated in rural, Indigenous, and impoverished regions of the country, in which 45% of reported deaths and disappearances were from the Ayacucho region.[23] Overall, 85% of victims were from the departments of Ayacucho, Junín, Huánuco, Huancavelica, Apurímac and San Martín.[23] Although the internal conflict was not caused by ethnic tensions, the TRC argues that the results represent veiled racism that exists in Peruvian society.[23]
Recommendations[edit]
Reconciliation with justice[edit]
The TRC understood reconciliation as a foundational pact between the State and society to build a better country, therefore reconciliation must use the justice system to provide reparations and punish the perpetrators.[34] The TRC recommended that all those accused of crimes and human rights abuses must assume responsibility before the courts, and no one should be given amnesty.[34] 43 cases including killings, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, and sexual violence and massacres in communities and prisons were forwarded to the Ombudsman's Office and the Public Prosecutor's Office, identifying both State agents and opposition groups as perpetrators.[34]
Impact[edit]
The High Level Multi-Sectoral Commission was established to supervise collective reparations to communities affected by the violence.[32] This Commission followed up on the recommendations of the TRC and oversaw State action and policy on matters relating to peace, reparations and reconciliation.[34] Its goal was to implement reparations programs to re-build social links between State and Community, however only 65% of projects were carried out by 2007.[32]
By 2004, 3 of the 43 cases submitted to the Public Prosecutor's Office by the TRC have been brought to trial: the alleged arrest and extrajudicial execution of residents of the district of Totos in Ayacucho in April 1983; extrajudicial executions of the Quispillaccta peasant community, in the district of Chuschi, in March 1991; and the murder of 34 inhabitants of Lucmahuaycco in November 1984.[34] 81 cases were completed at the National Criminal Division between 2005 and 2011, which resulted in 58 convictions and 195 acquittals.[35]
In 2005, a Comprehensive Reparations Plan was approved and issued by executive decree 2006, comprising six programs: Restitution of Civil Rights, Education, Health Care, Collective Reparations, Symbolic Reparations, Promotion and Access to Housing, and Economic Reparations or Compensation.[35]
Since 2005, The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has found the state of Peru liable for 16 violations of human rights committed during the internal armed conflict, including for massacres, summary executions, enforced disappearances, torture, and violations of judicial guarantees.[35] On 13 October 2006, a civil anti-terrorism sentenced the Shining Path's leader and his deputy to life in prison, as well as delivering lesser sentences to ten other rebel leaders.[1]
In 2008, The National Council for Reparation began registering victims in order to provide individual reparations according to the TRC recommendations.[1] By 2013, the council had registered 160,429 individual victims and 7,678 communities, including 32 organizations of displaced people.[35] In 2012, the High Level Multi-Sectoral Commission proposed the Comprehensive Reparations Plan, a 5-year financial compensation program.[35] By December 2012, 17,652 victims were beneficiaries of compensation, a total investment of 96 million soles ($36.7 million US).[35]