Seminar discusses connections between Latin American dictatorships
"Latin American countries still struggle to change their authoritarian cultures", said Paulo Abrão
Representatives from ten countries shared their experiences relating to human rights violations committed by authoritarian governments at an international seminar called Against Impunity and Oblivion: Justice and Records. The event brought together members of the Latin American Network for Transitional Justice (RLAJT) on Monday (June 1st) at the University of Brasília (UnB). The discussions covered two main aspects: the role of the legal system in Transitional Justice, and principles and rules for keeping records of human rights violations in the context of Latin American dictatorships.
The term “transitional justice” refers to a set of approaches, tools (whether legal or otherwise) and strategies to redress legacies of past mass violence, establish liabilities, enforce the right to memory and truth, strengthen institutions founded on democratic values, and prevent further abuses. By holding the seminar, RLAJT has sought to facilitate and foster communication and knowledge sharing in the context of transitional justice in Latin America and give visibility to Latin American experiences.
In the opening session, the chairman of Amnesty Commission of the Ministry of Justice, Paulo Abrão, pointed out that many countries have difficulties accessing official records that are instrumental in creating knowledge and taking action to change their realities. “Because of their long experience with dictatorial governments, Latin American countries still struggle to change their authoritarian cultures. Research groups had no official archives, ”Abrão said. “We hardly have any literature describing Brazil's reality back then. This alone is enough reason to create the network [RLAJT],” he added.
Another pressing issue, according to Paulo Abrão, is how these crimes committed by states under dictatorial governments are dealt with legally. Taking legal action requires looking into how the violations were committed in order to find common standards and legal approaches. “We want to identify agents and actors that experienced similar situations in their own countries. This will allow us to create a set of recommendations for building evidentiary basis that can help us take legal action,” he said. “But what's at stake here is something much bigger – turning all [this] into an appropriate policy,” he said.
According to Rodrigo Lliedo, Legal head of Chile's Interior Ministry Human Rights Program, creating an international court could help prevent inappropriate legal approaches. “The question we have to ask is: 'Is the legal system ready to create other jurisdictions apart from Law?' If these are international crimes, crimes against peace, or genocide, they should be covered by international law because [in many cases] we're not sovereign to enforce our rights,” Lliedo argued.
“In order for the legal system to act as a bridge between bureaucracy and transitional justice, non-state actors must be involved in the process,” said the coordinator of the Center for Transitional Justice Studies of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Emílio Peluso Neder Meyer.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Seminar discusses connections between Latin American dictatorships
