A comparative analysis of the United Nations and OAS failures to positively affect the human rights situation in Peru.

摘要

This thesis examines the effectiveness of the supervisory mechanisms of the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS) human rights systems in dealing with Peru's widespread and systemic violations of human rights that took place during the 1980s and 1990s. Specifically, it argues that despite the abundant evidence implicating Peruvian state agents in patterned violations, the international community failed to respond to the gravity of the situation. Particularly, the UN human rights treaty-based system and the Inter-American human rights system failed to monitor effectively the implementation and compliance by the Peruvian government of its international and regional human rights obligations. Two main factors contributed to the failure of the international community to respond to the human rights tragedy in Peru: first, the socio-economic status and ethnic identity of the majority of the victims, who were mainly poor and powerless Andean Quechua-speaking indigenous people, considered as second or third-class citizens within Peruvian society; and second, the image (veneer) of a Peruvian democracy engaged in a struggle against "terrorism", which to an important extent, shielded itself in a cloak of "democratic" legitimacy.