On January 9, 2023, the city of Juliaca in Peru witnessed the deadliest day of repression during recent protests. According to a multimedia report by Human Rights Watch, Peru‘s security forces used disproportionate and indiscriminate force, resulting in the deaths of 18 protesters and bystanders. The report, titled “They, the Policemen, Killed My Brother,” evaluates the events of that fateful day, contradicting official accounts provided to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and in public statements.
The Peruvian government insists on telling an official version of events in Juliaca that evidence contradicts. Instead of trying to minimize or discredit the mounting evidence of abuses, President Dina Boluarte should acknowledge the grave human rights violations in Juliaca and elsewhere in Peru, pledge to ensure accountability and reparation and health care support for victims, and take immediate measures to prevent those abuses from happening again.
## Disproportionate Force Use
According to Human Rights Watch, although some protesters hurled rocks, fired homemade fireworks at security forces, and entered the tarmac of Juliaca’s airport, the response by police and military to those acts of violence was disproportionate, in violation of Peruvian and international law. The report analyzed more than 500 photographs and 10 hours of video footage posted to social media, as well as autopsy and ballistics reports and the criminal file of the Prosecutor’s Office investigation into killings and injuries there. Human Rights Watch confirmed that 15 of the 18 civilian victims died from wounds caused by gunfire. The three others died from pellets fired by shotguns of the type used by police.
## Call for an Independent International Expert Commission
With a total of 49 protesters and bystanders dying in the context of the police and military response to demonstrations across Peru from December 2022 through February 2023, most of them being rural workers and Indigenous people in the southern part of the country who called for early elections after a failed coup by then-President Pedro Castillo and protesting against inequality and marginalization, Human Rights Watch calls for an independent commission of international experts to support ongoing investigations and draft a report on the structural factors that led to the current political and social crisis, and to the human rights violations.
The government should take concrete actions to regain public trust and pave the way for dialogue with protesters and affected communities, and work with Congress to secure long-needed police reform to make the police force more efficient and respectful of the law. Prosecutors should conduct prompt, thorough, and independent investigations into the police abuses in Juliaca, going up the chain of command and including civilian authorities, to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.
## Philosophical Discussion on Human Rights
The right to protest is protected by international law as a fundamental human right. However, the state’s right to maintain public order is also paramount. In the face of such challenges, states must balance these competing obligations while respecting human rights, including the right to life, freedom of expression, assembly, and association.
While a state has the right to resort to proportionate force to restore order, it must do so in full respect of human rights. The excessive use of force by state actors resulting in unnecessary deprivation of life, injury, torture, or other human rights violations must be prevented and punished.
Therefore, Peru should ensure that law enforcement personnel who exceed their authority are held to account. Moreover, the state has a duty to investigate and prosecute alleged violations promptly, efficiently, independently, and impartially.
## Advice
In light of the suggestions by Human Rights Watch, Peru‘s government should re-evaluate their position and cooperate in setting up an independent international commission of experts to provide a full and impartial investigation into the events in Juliaca. The government should also ensure that investigations into the alleged human rights abuses are prompt and impartial, with those responsible held accountable. Additionally, the government should work to ensure that police reform occurs to make the force more efficient and respectful of the law. It is only through such actions that Peru can regain public trust and move forward to a more stable and equal future for all Peruvians.
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