MSG101G/01E PERU-HUMAN RIGHTS: Proposal Seeks to Meet International Standards
LIMA, Nov 16 (IPS) - Peru's anti-subversion laws should be amended to meet international human rights standards, according to Justice Minister Fernando Vega, who said he would soon present a bill to that effect to the Peruvian Constituent Congress.
Human rights issues are one of Peru's weak points in the international community, and President Alberto Fujimori received diplomatic and financial pressure following accusations of excesses in the government's struggle against the rebel forces.
The Justice Minister was recently called before an international gathering called by a United Nations (U.N.) body to address accusations that Peruvian troops had committed torture.
When he returned to Lima, Vega said he had acknowledged that many excesses were committed during the 14-year war that has left more than 30,000 dead and disappeared.
"It would be infantile to deny that both sides staged a dirty war. My government has toughened its anti-subversive legislation, but at the same time has fought excesses and put an end to the disappearance of prisoners, which was tolerated in silence by previous governments," he said.
The government of the South American nation claims that the political violence unleashed by the rebels of the Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement is being overcome.
"We have entered a phase of pacification, where the emergency and extraordinary legislation should be substituted for other laws that meet the needs of this new stage," Vega said.
He added that the "judges without faces" - anonymous courts that judge those accused of subversion and terrorism - would be eliminated, and the cases transferred to the jurisdiction of ordinary civil courts.
Vega said he would present the reform bill upon his return from an international meeting against organised crime this weekend in Naples, Italy.
© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service