In its decision on a complaint raised by five women victims of forced sterilization in the 1990s, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) recommended that the Peruvian State provide comprehensive forms of reparations to the complainants, and that it conducts all necessary inquiries into the practice of forced sterilization and implement a broader reparations program for all people affected. The Committee found that the practice of forced sterilization in Peru in the 1990s ‘amounted to sex-based violence and intersectional discrimination’, and recognized that rural, Indigenous and economically marginalized women were particularly affected by the State’s reproductive health and family planning program implemented during those years. Pursuant to the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women, Peru has six months to inform the Committee of the measures adopted to address CEDAW’s decision and recommendations. 

Sources: OHCHR, El Comercio Peru 

Former President Alejandro Toledo was convicted and sentenced on 21 October for the crimes of laundering of assets and collusion, in the context of the ‘Lava Jato’ scandal that originated in Brazil. It is the first conviction of a high-level Peruvian official related to this corruption scandal. He was accused of receiving over USD 35 million in bribes from the Odebrecht construction company in exchange for contracts to build sections of the Interoceánica Sur highway. During the hearing, in which he was found guilty, he was sentenced to 20 years and six months imprisonment, after a lengthy process that required his extradition from the United States. Toledo has denied all accusations, and his lawyer announced he would appeal. 

Sources: La Republica, Infobae, El Pais, The Guardian

A chamber of the National Specialized Criminal Court convicted Alberto Rivero Valdeavellano, who in 1984 acted as chief of military command in Huanta, of crimes tantamount to crimes against humanity, committed in the context of Peru’s internal armed conflict (1980-2000). The chamber determined his responsibility as direct perpetrator of the enforced disappearance of journalist Jaime Ayala and 45 other people, including peasants from the Culluchaca community. He was also found responsible as indirect perpetrator of the murder of 17 people. Rivero was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. The resolution regarding Augusto Gabilondo García del Barco, another former official charged in the same case is pending, as he is a fugitive. In an exercise of constitutional control, in García del Barco’s case, the chamber disapplied recently enacted legislation that introduced a statute of limitations on crimes against humanity, considering it is contrary to the constitution and Peru’s international obligations, upholding the charges against him. The judgment has been appealed.

Sources:  Estado Peruano, La República , APRODEH, Infobae, LatAm Journalism Review, El País,  International IDEA

Congress has passed a bill, through which a statute of limitations will be set to crimes against humanity and war crimes committed before 1 July 2002 (date in which the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court entered into force). Lawmakers pushed the piece of legislation through despite provisional measures by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordering the Peruvian state to halt it. A group of UN Special Rapporteurs and the Committee on Enforced Disappearances had also cautioned that establishing a statute of limitations to such atrocity crimes constitutes a transgression to a peremptory norm of international law. Human rights experts have further highlighted that the bill severely undermines access to justice efforts for victims of the internal armed conflict that took place in the country between 1980 and 2000.

Sources: Radio Nacional Peru, Centro para la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional, BBC, El País (1), El País (2), OHCHR

The Health Ministry published a decree in which it introduced changes to policy on health insurance coverage. The decree classifies transgender identity and other expressions of gender and sexual diversity as ‘mental health problems’ that are to be covered by private and public insurance. Protests and widespread criticism of the classification led to the Ministry issuing a statement that the decree’s classification was necessary to ensure access to mental health services for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially for those with private health insurance. Officials have contended that this modification will facilitate billing services to private insurers. Activists and other experts criticize the classification for relying on World Health Organization terminology that is no longer in use. They further argue it could potentially enable harmful practices such as conversion therapy, on account of its stigmatizing and discriminatory terms and given the national context where many rights are not recognized, and violence against LGBTQIA+ people is common. 

Update: Through a subsequent regulation, the Ministry of Health added new codes in June and removed the classification of these expressions of gender identity as mental health problems.

Sources: Infobae, CNN, El Pais, Diario Oficial El Peruano, New York Times, MINSA