In December 2023, Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s President from 1990 to 2000, was released from prison by the order of the Peruvian Constitutional Court (CC). In response, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) declared Peru in contempt of the Court and imposed a reinforced monitoring of its judgments in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases. Although both decisions constitute a new chapter in Fujimori’s pardon history, uncertainty still exists with regard to a minimum reasoning to exclude arbitrary or fraudulent concession of pardons. I. The CC’s Decision of 4 December 2023: Fujimori’s Release The CC decision of 4 December 2023 which orders Fujimori’s release is a response to a judge’s refusal to execute a previous CC decision of 21 November 2023. This decision had ordered the execution of an earlier CC decision of 17 March 2022, which reinstated Fujimori’s pardon. The reasoning of the CC’s December 2023 decision, in essence, as follows: While the CC acknowledges that Fujimori’s conduct…
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
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What’s at Stake in the Abortion Case Before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights?
El Salvador’s punitive treatment of women through its absolute criminalization of abortion will come under scrutiny by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the “Court”) on March 22-23, in a case involving the state’s treatment of a woman in need of a life-saving abortion. Beatriz was a young woman from the impoverished state of Usulután,…
Another Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency? The Added Value of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The highest human rights tribunal in the Americas, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), sits in Costa Rica’s capital San Jose, part of a region significantly exposed and vulnerable to climate impacts. If the global temperature continues to rise due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that remain trapped in the atmosphere, enjoying the whole…
EJIL:The Podcast! Episode 18 – “Be Careful What You Ask For”
In this episode Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb are joined by Philippe Sands (University College London and 11KBW) and Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh (University of Amsterdam and University of the South Pacific). The focus is on the advisory function of international courts and tribunals. In December 2022, the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International…
The subtle erosion of democracy in Latin America: the case of Lula in the Human Rights Committee
On 12 March 2022, the Human Rights Committee delivered its views on the complaint filed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President of the Federal Republic of Brazil who was imprisoned in 2018 in the context of the anti-corruption operation known as ‘Operation Car Wash (in Portuguese, ‘Operação Lava Jato’). The representatives of Lula asked the…