Press Release | Peru: Referral to the UN mechanisms about the human rights violations and repression of social protest
Lima, Geneva, Brussels, 9 February 2023 – The National Federation of Peasant, Artisan, Indigenous, Native and Salaried Women of Peru (FENMUCARINAP), as a member organisation of La Via Campesina, CETIM and the Whipalas Network, in collaboration with the Swiss Peruvian organisation “Quinto Suyo” and the Peru Solidarity Collective – Belgium, submitted a complaint to various UN human rights mechanisms to denounce the violations and repressions against the Peruvian people in the context of the political and social upheaval that has affected the country since the institutional collapse of December 2002.
Following the controversial ousting of president Pedro Castillo, dictated by a Congress of the Republic representing the dominant and racist elites, Peru has seen its historic social fractures resurface in a generalised socio-political crisis, marked by bloody repression and systematic human rights violations by the provisional government of Dina Boluarte. At the national level, various popular demonstrations have been and continue to be carried out by different sectors of Peruvian civil society, with broad popular participation from peasants, indigenous peoples and the working class. So far, the violence of the “forces of order” has left more than 60 people dead (almost all of them as a direct result of the repression) and more than 1,000 injured.
Social organisations and movements that legitimately mobilise in defence of their rights are subjected not only to bloody repression, threats and criminalisation, but also to systemic racism and other forms of discrimination. It is necessary to underline that the social demonstrations are focused on basic democratic demands, such as advancing the agenda of restoring the rule of law and the democratic course of the country, guaranteeing the renewal of state institutions and powers, and convening a free and sovereign Constituent Assembly.
Several international human rights bodies, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), have already expressed their concern and condemnation of the atrocities committed against civilians in Peru in recent weeks.
In light of the massive human rights violations and the worrying political and social crisis in Peru, our organisations have filed a complaint with various UN human rights mechanisms. The complaint demands, among other things, that the relevant UN mechanisms urge the Peruvian government to stop the repression and executions of demonstrators, to release all arbitrarily detained persons with immediate effect, to ensure that those responsible for these violations are duly identified and punished, and that affected persons have access to justice and reparation.
Our organisations and movements will closely follow the evolution of the situation in Peru and the follow-up of our request by the UN mechanisms.
Contacts:
Lourdes Huanca, FENMUCARINAP/La Via Campesina, fenmucarinap2006@gmail.com
La Via Campesina, press@viacampesina, +33143625656
Raffaele Morgantini, CETIM, www.cetim.ch, raffaele@cetim.ch, +41796606514
Maya Corminboeuf, Whipalas Network, maya.corminboeuf@gmail.com, +4178737097
Maria del Rosario Wuillemin, Quinto Suyo, admaira@hotmail.com, +41766156732
Rafael Salgado Olivera, Peru Solidarity Collective – Belgium, saloraca@gmail.com
