IMPUNITY WATCH
Impunity Watch is a new initiative that seeks to contribute to the international fight against impunity through systematic, long-term monitoring in selected countries facing the challenges of accountability and doing justice in post-war or transition periods. Even in countries where large-scale human rights violations have ended, impunity often remains deeply entrenched and seemingly intractable, thus restricting possibilities for the development of new relationships among citizens and between citizens and the state, processes that are central to social reconstruction and reconciliation.
Impunity for past – and present – human rights violations reflects the continuing abuse of power by and through the state. It affects not just the victims, but rather all members of the society. Nor is impunity only a problem of the judiciary, although that is where it is manifest. Impunity reflects weaknesses in all three powers of the state, as well as in the society more generally. Its underlying causes are unfortunately not just technical and institutional, where most attention has been directed, but involve also complex cultural, social, and political factors.
Impunity Watch seeks to complement the work already being done by other organizations and institutions, by providing periodic monitoring and analysis of the workings of impunity in various countries over time. The monitoring will use a specially developed set of indicators with a sharp focus on the multidimensional causes and obstacles to be overcome. Impunity Watch will work in partnerships with local organizations and experts to develop its reports and proposals. By offering insights into the evolving characteristics and root causes of impunity and identifying innovative approaches in the fight against it, Impunity Watch reports will be designed to support ongoing advocacy on these issues. In this way, Impunity Watch works to:
ü Generate base-line information and an initial assessment/characterization of impunity in selected countries;
ü Monitor the evolution of key indicators in the fight against impunity in selected countries;
ü Provide comparative analysis on the workings of impunity in different countries;
ü Strengthen national capacities for monitoring, developing proposals, and implementing concrete measures to overcome impunity;
ü Support policy-makers, activists, and the international community to direct their efforts more effectively, by providing careful analysis on the causes and obstacles for overcoming impunity; and
ü Develop and advocate for policy proposals to strengthen efforts to combat impunity around the world.
Impunity Watch is now in its pilot phase and is working to develop a methodology, including appropriate indicators, which can be applied in a range of countries. In this work, Impunity Watch draws on the UN Principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through actions to combat impunity and other relevant international instruments. The focus is on exploring the obstacles to overcoming impunity in several overlapping aspects: i) normative framework; ii) institutional resources and capacity; iii) judicial/institutional independence iv) entrenched interests; v) the exercise of citizenship; and vi) political will.
Impunity Watch will work in selected countries together with local human rights and justice organizations to gather and analyze the required information and to develop proposals for advancing the fight against impunity. Monitoring and reporting on common indicators will be done to permit comparative analysis of the situation in different countries, as well as focused follow-up in each specific context. A two-year reporting cycle will permit sufficient time for review and political action on initial results. Impunity Watch will work to join diverse national and international actors around common goals. With its findings and proposals, Impunity Watch will work with others to engage with policy makers in specific countries, as well as in the appropriate international fora and venues, with a special emphasis on United Nations bodies, the European Union and major donor countries that consistently work on these issues.
Founded by long-time activists and practitioners with a scholarly bent, Impunity Watch has been established as an initiative of the Dutch organization, Solidaridad, which has worked on the problems of impunity in Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and Haiti. Through a variety of co-financing arrangements, Solidaridad works closely with others on the ground, with an emphasis on supporting national efforts to end impunity in those countries. At the same time, it does international advocacy work with policy makers and has pushed for trials of major human rights violators under universal jurisdiction. Building on this experience, Impunity Watch is committed to developing strong partnerships with activist and professional organizations and to strengthening international alliances in the fight against impunity.
While Impunity Watch has grown out of the very rich Latin American experience, during the current pilot phase it is building ties in Europe, Africa and Asia, as well. With an active program of informal consultations already underway in 2005, Impunity Watch will convene an international experts meeting in early 2006 to review and enrich the proposed methodology. The first country studies will be carried out in 2006 in collaboration with local partners and initial results presented later that year.