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Welcome to the II Latin American Conference on Transitional Justice held in Brasilia, July 7-8. The conference brings together prominent regional and international actors to discuss current practices in transitional justice in Latin America and contribute to current public debate in Brazil on how best to address human rights violations committed during the 1964-1985 dictatorship.
In the coming days this blog will feature the discussions held during the conference and will provide a platform for social networking and feedback to the experts and activists in Brasilia. You can also learn about the speakers and see what topics will be covered.
Over the years, Latin American activists and experts have provided ideas and know-how to other regions, as new waves of democratization challenged impunity in different regions of the world. Victims groups have learned from the relatives of the disappeared; specialists around the world have consulted the jurisprudence of Latin American courts and of the IACHR to face obstacles to prosecution such as amnesties, official immunities, statutes of limitations, among others.
And the region continues to provide innovation, now in a rich South-South dialogue with experiences from South Africa, East Timor and that of international ad hoc courts that have emerged on the steps of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The process in Colombia, as it deals with victims’ rights and needs in the context of a continuing conflict; the model Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission; a string of IACHR decisions voiding military self-amnesties continue to provide interesting examples to a field in expansion.
The conference takes place in Brazil, which is especially significant given the ambitious tasks the country has set itself to address the legacy of the 1964-1988 military dictatorship. Brazil has already implemented model programs of reparations for victims and is on the verge of establishing a national truth commission which would, for the first time, reconstruct the story that Brazilians remember somberly as the “years of lead.” Also, the seat of the conference recognizes the pioneering role of prosecutors and victims’ groups that have challenged aspects of the Amnesty Law of 1979 that have been used to shelter torturers from accountability. As Brazil implements a 2011 IACHR decision voiding those elements of the amnesty law, it moves to the forefront of the development of transitional justice.
This conference is organized jointly by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), the Amnesty Commission of the Ministry of Justice of Brazil, and the Catholic University of Brasilia. The event is generously supported by the United Nations Development Fund, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and the Institute of international Relations at the University of Sao Paulo.
The blog is an initiative of the International Center for Transitional Justice and the articles express its views only; except as other individuals and institutions are directly quoted.
In the coming days this blog will feature the discussions held during the conference and will provide a platform for social networking and feedback to the experts and activists in Brasilia. You can also learn about the speakers and see what topics will be covered.
Flourishing from the Latin American Experience
The field of transitional justice owes much of its emergence in practice and theory to developments in Latin America as this region experienced a transition from military regimes in the 1980s. The trial of the Argentine juntas in 1985, dramatic in its symbolism as it was groundbreaking in legal significance, marked a departure from the experience of impunity in the region. The Chilean inquiry on disappearances in 1990 marked the first time such an investigation invoked the right to the truth as a fundamental form of redress for victims of human rights violations, and its symbolic impact was felt way beyond the region, as dozens of inquiries took the name of “truth and reconciliation commission.” Reparations for victims granted both at the national level and by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), provided the basis for significant normative development.Over the years, Latin American activists and experts have provided ideas and know-how to other regions, as new waves of democratization challenged impunity in different regions of the world. Victims groups have learned from the relatives of the disappeared; specialists around the world have consulted the jurisprudence of Latin American courts and of the IACHR to face obstacles to prosecution such as amnesties, official immunities, statutes of limitations, among others.
And the region continues to provide innovation, now in a rich South-South dialogue with experiences from South Africa, East Timor and that of international ad hoc courts that have emerged on the steps of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The process in Colombia, as it deals with victims’ rights and needs in the context of a continuing conflict; the model Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission; a string of IACHR decisions voiding military self-amnesties continue to provide interesting examples to a field in expansion.
The conference takes place in Brazil, which is especially significant given the ambitious tasks the country has set itself to address the legacy of the 1964-1988 military dictatorship. Brazil has already implemented model programs of reparations for victims and is on the verge of establishing a national truth commission which would, for the first time, reconstruct the story that Brazilians remember somberly as the “years of lead.” Also, the seat of the conference recognizes the pioneering role of prosecutors and victims’ groups that have challenged aspects of the Amnesty Law of 1979 that have been used to shelter torturers from accountability. As Brazil implements a 2011 IACHR decision voiding those elements of the amnesty law, it moves to the forefront of the development of transitional justice.
This conference is organized jointly by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), the Amnesty Commission of the Ministry of Justice of Brazil, and the Catholic University of Brasilia. The event is generously supported by the United Nations Development Fund, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and the Institute of international Relations at the University of Sao Paulo.
The blog is an initiative of the International Center for Transitional Justice and the articles express its views only; except as other individuals and institutions are directly quoted.
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