Serious Dangers to Human Rights. Eleven Decrees of Alan García's Government

"On July 22, 2007, eleven Legislative Decrees were published, announced as an effective mechanism to combat organized crime. In reality, an examination of these norms reflects rather the intention to repress the social mobilizations that have taken place in recent months. The criminalization of social protest is not a phenomenon that this government began: under Fujimori, extremely repressive norms were enacted under the apparent pretext of fighting 'aggravated terrorism,' and during the administration of Alejandro Toledo the penalties for blocking highways were considerably increased. However, as will be seen below, in light of the recently published Legislative Decrees, fundamental rights of individuals are restricted, unconstitutional possibilities for detaining and placing people in incommunicado detention are opened up, criminal offenses are altered, and penalties are raised disproportionately. The vulnerability of citizens is so great that it has even been established that police officers and military personnel who kill people are not liable. The issuing of these decrees coincides, moreover, with an increase in police excesses, which has led to at least ten citizen deaths in what remains of this government, most of them in recent months. For all these reasons, from the Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) we consider it urgent to promote the repeal of these Decrees in the aspects we identify and the commitment of public bodies and civil society to the respect for life and other fundamental rights." (Book Foreword).