Reply #4: Human Rights Watch: Argentina: Holding Rights Abusers Accountable

[Say_What]

<clips>

...“Argentina has decided that those who participated in the massive human rights violations under military rule should finally be held accountable,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Executive Director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. “Tuesday’s vote shows that in a democracy, laws that shield from justice those responsible for atrocities cannot survive forever.”

The Argentine Chamber of Deputies voted to annul the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws just before midnight Tuesday. The Full Stop Law prevented the hearing of cases filed with the courts after a deadline of 60 days. The Due Obedience Law granted automatic immunity to all members of the military except those in positions of command.

The chamber also voted by an overwhelming majority to give constitutional status to the U.N. Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, which Argentina had ratified Monday. And it passed a bill to amend national legislation barring impunity for this type of crime.

The bills now move to the Senate, which is expected to ratify them.

An estimated 15,000 people “disappeared” when Argentina was under military rule from 1976 to 1983.

http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/08/argentina081403.htm