# Peru Enacts Amnesty for Security Forces Accused of Conflict-Era Abuses
*Event date: August 13, 2025*
By IO Digest Desk
Peru’s government has put into force a sweeping amnesty law that blocks criminal prosecution and conviction of members of the military, police and self-defense committees accused of serious human rights violations committed during the country’s internal armed conflict from 1980 to 2000. President Dina Boluarte signed the measure on August 13, 2025, after Congress approved it the previous month, according to reporting from *The Guardian*.
The law covers one of the darkest periods in modern Peruvian history, when state forces and insurgent groups, including the Maoist Shining Path, were responsible for widespread violence. Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that nearly 70,000 people were killed and about 20,000 disappeared during the conflict. The commission attributed roughly 54% of the deaths to Shining Path, with the military responsible for most of the remainder.
Boluarte presented the law as recognition for security personnel and local defense groups that fought what the state describes as terrorism. At a ceremony in Lima, she said the amnesty restored dignity to people whose sacrifice, in her view, should never have been questioned. The signing was greeted with applause from senior military officers and cabinet ministers, underlining how strongly the government has aligned itself with the measure.
Human rights advocates and families of victims responded with anger, arguing that the law formalizes impunity for killings, disappearances and rape committed during the conflict. Gisela Ortiz, whose brother was killed in a 1992 massacre carried out by a death squad, condemned the move publicly. Human Rights Watch called the law a betrayal of victims and said it weakens Peru’s rule of law after years of efforts to pursue accountability.
The practical impact could be extensive. *The Guardian* reported that Peruvian courts have already secured more than 150 convictions in conflict-era human rights cases and that roughly 600 investigations remain underway, according to the National Human Rights Coordinator, a coalition of Peruvian rights organizations. By cutting off prosecution and conviction, the new law threatens to halt or undercut much of that work.
The amnesty also deepens broader concern about Peru’s direction on human rights and transitional justice. The law follows a series of contentious moves, including the 2023 release of former president Alberto Fujimori from prison while he was serving a 25-year sentence for human rights crimes, and congressional approval last year of a statute of limitations for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed before 2003.
International warnings had already been issued before Boluarte signed the bill. In July, the UN Human Rights Committee said Peru had a duty to investigate, prosecute and punish serious human rights violations and warned that international standards prohibit amnesties or pardons for such crimes. Analysts quoted by *The Guardian* said the law risks isolating Peru from the regional and international legal order that has shaped accountability efforts for decades.
For supporters, the amnesty closes a chapter they say unfairly targeted soldiers and police who fought insurgents. For opponents, it does the opposite: it freezes unresolved atrocities into law and denies victims one of the state’s core obligations, the pursuit of justice. The political significance of the measure lies not only in what it does to pending cases, but in what it signals about how Peru’s government now intends to balance security, memory and accountability.
