Lima, 17 June 2025. We, the undersigned organisations, strongly condemn approval by the Plenary of the Peruvian Congress of a bill granting amnesty to persons responsible for serious human rights violations committed between 1980 and 2000. The legislation would exonerate from criminal liability members of the Armed Forces, the Peruvian National Police, and the Self-Defence Committees who have been identified as perpetrators or are being prosecuted for human rights violations. The draft legislation would also benefit persons over the age of 70 who have been sentenced, even if their sentences have been confirmed. The draft law contravenes international norms and undermines the achievements of decades of struggle for justice.
Just days before the opening of the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Government of Peru breached its international obligations, yet again. The proposed law constitutes a new and serious act of contempt. It would strengthen a legal framework that would perpetuate impunity for crimes committed during the internal armed conflict in Peru. This process started with the adoption of the Impunity Law in June of last year. The proposed legislation would directly affect 156 cases for which final sentences have been handed down and more than 600 ongoing trials and would violate the right to justice and reparation for the thousands of victims of extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, torture, rape, and mass killings.
Among the cases affected are the emblematic cases of Barrios Altos and La Cantuta, for which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) issued interim measures specifically to prevent the kind of impunity that the proposed law seeks to institutionalise. In its Barrios Altos (2001) and La Cantuta (2006) rulings, the IACHR established that amnesties, pardons, and any other measures that preclude criminal responsibility in cases of grave violations are incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights. In light of the Inter-American Court’s jurisprudence, the proposed legislation is unacceptable.
Also, we are deeply concerned by the recent statements made by Eduardo Arana Ysa, President of the Council of Ministers, before Congress on 12 June during his inaugural speech, in which he proposed to reconsider Peru’s participation in the Inter-American Human Rights system. Such a move could lead to Peru’s withdrawal from the American Convention on Human Rights and constitutes a direct threat to the guarantees for international protection on which victims in Peru rely. In a context of weakening democracy and attempts to institutionalise impunity, questioning Peru’s membership of the Inter-American system exacerbates the institutional crisis and jeopardises the State’s international obligations.
Peru is at a critical juncture; national authorities are pushing through measures aimed at perpetuating impunity for the most serious human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict. The legislative initiative combined with other recent setbacks, is part of a strategy to dismantle accountability mechanisms and to obstruct the path to truth and justice for victims. We urgently call on the Congress of the Republic and the Executive to stop this draft bill. The meeting of the OAS General Assembly will be opening in a few days, we urge the international community, in particular OAS member states, to denounce the draft bill and to take a clear stance given the very real risk that Peru consolidate a regime of impunity that is incompatible with its international obligations.