PERU PRESENTS REPORT TO COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

AFTERNOON

HR/CERD/99/15
9 March 1999





A Peruvian Minister this afternoon affirmed the Peruvian Government's political will to work towards the protection and promotion of human rights as well as to fight all forms of racial discrimination as Peru presented a report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Maria Carlota Valenzuela de Puelles, the Minister of Justice of Peru who led a high-level 8-person delegation, said that in its efforts to implement its respect for human rights policy, the Government in 1997 had abolished the judicial institution of "faceless judges" which was established to judge persons who committed terrorist acts and other acts of treason.

Régis de Gouttes, the Committee expert who served as rapporteur to the report of Peru, said that the report should have contained information on the recent political, social and economic evolution of the country, with special mention of the consequences for the more vulnerable segments of the population, particularly the indigenous population which was affected by the fight against terrorism.

Also taking part in the debate were Committee experts Luis Valencia Rodriguez, Ivan Garvalov, Michael Parker Banton, Deci Zou, Gay McDougall, Shahi Sadiq Ali, Peter Nobel, Theodoor van Boven, and Mario Jorge Yutzis.

As one of the 153 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Peru is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on its measures to implement the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee meets at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 10 March, it will continue its consideration of the report of Peru.


Report of Peru

The thirteenth periodic report of Peru (document CERD/C/298/Add.5) reviews the general legal framework in which the Convention is being implemented. It says that Peru condemns all practices of segregation and discrimination, whatever their form and wherever they may exist. Racism and racial discrimination, particularly apartheid, are crimes that violate the principles of international law and pose a grave threat to international peace and security, says the report.

The report states that in Peru every individual enjoys full protection of the fundamental right not to be discriminated against on grounds of origin, race, sex, language, religion or economic status, among others. In addition, the State guarantees respect for the cultural identity of the peasant and indigenous communities in the Constitution. Likewise, it encourages bilingual and intercultural education, accepting Quechua, Aymara and the other indigenous languages as official languages, in addition to Spanish, in areas where their use predominates.

Introduction of Peruvian Report

MARIA CARLOTA VALENZUELA DE PUELLES, Minister of Justice of Peru, affirmed that the political will of her Government was to work towards the protection and promotion of human rights as well as to fight all forms of racial discrimination. It was also to create grounds for a transparent dialogue which would permit the creation of sustained human development. Furthermore, the Government’s political will was to create conditions which would enable citizens to achieve the ideals of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whose 50th anniversary was celebrated recently.

Ms. Valenzuela de Puelles affirmed that her Government was committed to the obligations of the Convention and was always ready to have a continued dialogue with the Committee to enhance the fight against inhuman practices. Peru had been living in a grave situation of terrorist violence activities. Now, the country had entered into a new period and was reorganizing its political, social and economic conditions.

The Justice Minister further said that the prevention and promotion of human rights and the implementation of concrete remedies for the eradication of racial discrimination were among the priorities of the Government of Peru. In its efforts to implement its respect for human rights policies, the Government in 1997 had abolished the judicial institution of "faceless judges" which was established to judge persons who committed terrorist acts and other acts of treason. The Government had also introduced in the country's legal system a provision making genocide as well as torture crimes against humanity.

Ms. Valenzuela de Puelles recalled that measures had been undertaken in favour of internally displaced persons due to terrorist violence. In 1998 alone, 15,000 displaced citizens were enabled to return to their places of origin with self-sustaining development assistance provided by the Government.

By the year 2000, the Government of Peru had envisaged to reduce the rate of extreme poverty by 11 per cent through the implementation of sustainable development programmes. The entire population participated in these programmes, the Minister said. In addition, the Government had adopted a strategy which would satisfy the basic needs of the population.

REGIS DE GOUTTES, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Peru, said that there were no sufficient contacts and a lack of dialogue between the authorities and members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Peru. The report lacked a lot of information needed in order to better understand the situation in the country. During the last consideration of a Peruvian report, the Committee had urged the Government to include statistical data on the demographic breakdown of the population. The information included in the report was not sufficient.

Mr. de Gouttes said that the report had indicated that the Government had dropped from the census any reference to the racial make-up of the population, and it was difficult to give a complete ethnic breakdown of the country's population, particularly as regards the percentages of the population who were black, of Asian origin, of mixed race or white. Since that situation was not satisfactory to the Committee, the Government should provide more information on the issue.

Mr. de Gouttes further said that the report should have contained information on the recent political, social and economic evolution of the country with regards to the consequences to the more vulnerable segments of the population, particularly the indigenous population, in relation to the fight against terrorism. Quoting the final observations and recommendations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Mr. de Gouttes said that 60 per cent of the Peruvian population continued to live below the poverty line. An extreme form of economic discrimination particularly affected women, indigenous peoples, and other vulnerable communities.

Mr. de Gouttes said that the Committee, on many occasions, had already affirmed that the situation of social marginalization and exclusion from which the indigenous peoples suffered violated certain articles of the Convention because they were the result of racial discrimination.

Concerning the condemnation of all propaganda and all organizations which were based on ideas of racial superiority, Mr. de Gouttes said that the present report, as in the case of the previous one, did not make allusions to the prohibition of such acts. Neither article 129 of the Penal Code, which concerned crimes against the violation of physical integrity, nor article 317 of the same Code on criminal associations and organizations, sufficiently responded to the aspirations of article 4 of the Convention. He underlined the need to enact specific legislation against racism, not only to punish but also to prevent the act.

Mr. de Gouttes, quoting the International Federation of Human Rights, said that the equal treatment of citizens before the law was just an expression for the indigenous people. Interpretation service was not made available to indigenous people to defend their interests before the Peruvian judges. In addition, since the laws were not translated into indigenous languages, a number of indigenous peoples were languishing in prisons accused of crimes whose nature they did not understand.

With regard to violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Mr. de Gouttes said that the analysis given in the report was insufficient, particularly concerning the legal recourse to lodge complaints of racial discrimination. Although an indication was made to the manner in which recourse was made for human rights violations perpetrated by the armed forces, it was of a general nature, he said.

Other Committee experts also raised a number of questions focusing on reported racial discrimination against indigenous people, blacks and other minorities in Peru. Many experts regretted incidents of racial discrimination which had been manifest in 1998 and which concerned access to places of public use.

One expert congratulated Peru for honestly admitting mistakes and failures in its policies with respect to the indigenous populations, socio-economic and political problems. One could only but sympathize with Peru in its overall efforts to fight terrorism on its territory, which had affected the entire Peruvian people, particularly the indigenous populations, said the expert.