Perú: Reject Executive Order 1095, which authorizes the Armed Forces to intervene in Social Conflicts

September 26, 2010 - The Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), the National Confederation of Peruvian Communities Affected by Mining (CONACAMI), the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP) and the Peasant Federation of Peru (CCP) consider Executive Order (Decreto Legislativo) 1095, which authorizes Armed Forces to use force in social conflicts, unconstitutional.

This regulation, which initially focuses on addressing situations such as the presence of the Armed Forces in the Apurimac-Ene River Valley (VRAE) or the Alto Huallaga Valley against the Shining Path, may now also be used against the so-called "hostile group" that, according to experts, constitutes a generic term that may lead to mistakes in its application.

Before the law in question was passed, the Armed Forces could only intervene with the support of the Peruvian National Police.

Under this new legal provision, a "hostile group" is "anything that is minimally organized and has the capacity and determination to confront the State in a prolonged manner with the use of firearms or sharp or blunt objects in quantity. All parties participating or collaborating in the hostilities are also considered to be hostile."

In a meeting with the Ombudsman, Beatriz Merino, the representatives of the Confederation of Peruvian Amazon Nationalities (CONAP), AIDESEP, CONACAMI and the Advisory Council of Indigenous Peoples of the Andean Community (CCPICAN) expressed concern over the implementation of this regulation.

Indigenous representatives indicated that this Executive Order grants very broad and excessively discretionary powers to the members of the Armed Forces, thus allowing them to intervene in the control of internal order by using force in situations that, in fact, constitute legitimate social protests.

Dr. Merino announced that the Ombudsman's Office is currently studying the constitutionality of the order in question.

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Traducción de Sylvia Fisher, para Servindi.