By Navi Pillay
GENEVA, Jul 26 2010 (IPS)

The recent ruling of the Inter-American Court ordering Brazil to revise its amnesty law represents a crucial milestone in the fight against impunity in a region that still needs to fully grasp and confront the atrocities committed during many internal conflicts of the past decades. Amnesty laws that turn a blind eye toward human rights abuses do not only distort the historical record that every country needs to establish, but also belittle victimsÂ’ suffering and undermine their right to know the truth and obtain remedy.

Governments often justify their recourse to blanket amnesty laws in the name of speedy national or communal reconciliation. But shielding perpetrators from accountability, while denying justice and reparations to the victims, is likely to spark additional strife, rather than heal the wounds of the past.

When amnesties have been granted in the haste and anxiety of turning the page of conflict “or for the more sinister reason of covering up abuses” their repeal must always remain an open option pursuable at the earliest opportunity.

Yet in South America and elsewhere, oblivion continues to be actively and expediently promoted through old and new laws. This occurs despite the fact that, as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights pointed out, leaving victims defenseless and perpetuating impunity in practice or by legal fiat are acts manifestly incompatible with the letter and spirit of the American Convention on Human Rights.

A case in point is Brazil, where the Supreme Court denied the possibility of modifying the 1979 amnesty law, stating that crimes committed during the dictatorship were merely “political acts”. In Chile, the amnesty law is still in force 32 years after its enactment, and despite international reprobation at the failed attempts to convict former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Moreover, the possibility of offering a pardon to certain human rights violators, on the occasion of the country´s bicentennial anniversary in September, has been recently debated.

In Uruguay, the government had to step in to prevent the enactment of a bill which would have permitted the release of perpetrators of human rights violations because of their old age.

Against this background, steps to enhance accountability are all the more remarkable. In Argentina which is the country with the greatest number of human rights trials in the world, courts continue to preside over cases of crimes against humanity and grave human rights violations committed during that countryÂ’s 1976-1983 dirty war. Former dictator Rafael Videla is once again in court for the human rights abuses committed at that time.

Argentina has shown that knowing the truth is a right that has no statute of limitations. It is also a right that nobody can forgo or renounce. Everybody and every society are entitled to know who violated human rights and to learn why, when, where and how crimes were committed, as well as to be informed about the fate of victims.

Amnesties that bury the truth and exempt those responsible for past human rights crimes are likely to undermine the perspective of building just and secure societies in the Impunity fosters resentment and a lack of trust in the institutions of government. It has emboldened perpetrators to commit new crimes and may also encourage others to join the violatorsÂ’ ranks.

The United Nations’ position on amnesties is crystal clear: they are not admissible if they prevent the trial of people who may be criminally liable for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity or grave violations of human rights, including crimes which specifically target women as well as gender-related offences. Moreover, amnesties must not jeopardize the right of the victims to effective remedy, including reparations, nor can they limit the right of victims and societies to know the truth concerning the violations of human rights and humanitarian law.

The exercise of these rights is incompatible with either normative or factual impunity. Countries in the Western Hemisphere must heed the ruling of the Inter-American Court and deliver long denied justice to the victims of human rights abuses. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

(*) Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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