Session 1: Reparations as Recognition of State’s Debt to Victims

The first conference session focused on reparations and the importance of consistency, completeness and sustainability of reparations policies. In the keynote speech Cristian Correa, ICTJ Senior Associate, highlighted the importance of holistic reparations measures and listening to the experiences and needs of the victims when implementing measures to repair past harms.

Cristian Correa
ICTJ Senior Associate

A key aspect of any reparations program is the recognition of victims as individuals whose experience during a period of dictatorship or mass atrocity was unique, had unique consequences, and therefore must be addressed in a unique manner.

This can be achieved by broadening the definition of reparations beyond monetary compensation to include restoring the dignity and social and political inclusion of victims.

“To listen to what people have to say can be even more important at times,” Correa said. “Reparations should be determined by listening to and caring for the victims. We are dealing with people, even when we are delivering these programs en masse.”

Central to this is the inclusion of social programs – pensions, health programs, and educational opportunities - and symbolic reparations – memorialization or public apologies to the victims.

The Chilean and Peruvian experiences with reparations offer important examples of this. Both countries sought to create a comprehensive approach which included not only payments but health, education and other social benefits as well. Chile established a fund available to victims groups and civil society for building monuments and sites of memory.

Members of the Brazilian Ministries of Justice
and Human Rights listen to the first session.

A lesson learned from these experiences was that many victims found programs that extended beyond monetary compensation and addressed future conditions more important than monetary compensation. In Chile, victims of torture spoke of the opportunities their children had lost during the dictatorship, and requested that this be addressed through educational benefits rather than compensation.

But regardless of how holistic, how inclusive a program is, it is also crucial for states to recognize the fundamental insufficiency of any reparations measure implemented. “States are in a life debt,” Correa said, and often to tens of thousands of people. Reparations programs addressing human rights violations – torture, imprisonment, killings – are attempting to repair what cannot be restored. Acknowledging this, through apology, memorial, or other symbolic measures is essential.

View Cristian Correa's presentation (PDF File)

The panel discussion following the presentation focused on the challenges and opportunities Brazil faces in implementing reparations and the recurring question of the amnesty law passed in 1979. Paolo Abrao, President of the Amnesty Commission and National Secretary of Justice, emphasized that to move forward, it will be important for Brazil to seek further knowledge of the harms suffered and evaluate the reparations process to date.

Marco Antonio Barbosa, President of the Commission of Deaths and Disappearances, discussed crimes committed by the military during the dictatorship, asserting that these crimes must be re-examined despite the amnesty law of 1979 which prevented military personnel from being prosecuted for such acts. Audience members prompted a discussion about whether the prosecution of past crimes could fall under the jurisdiction of any other body aside from the Judiciary.

View Paulo Abrao's presentation (PDF file)