Speeches
in the Signing of Agreements
Signing of Agreement with the Ministry
of Internal Affairs
Speech by TRC President
Minister of Internal Affairs,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Among the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s most
important endeavors there is the laying of foundations for
future national reconciliation, a reunion of the nation with
itself, which would have sense and validity only if it is made
with adherence to democracy and justice ideals that have been
so often postponed in our country.
The notion of democracy implies many different elements.
Some of them are secondary and others are essential to that
notion. Among the latter, the Rule of Law
undoubtedly has a central position indeed, we cannot speak properly of democracy
where there is no balance among State powers in the first place. Secondly,
general respect for laws and thirdly, a basic equality of all the citizens
before the law. In the acknowledgement of the importance of the Rule of Law
a fortunate confluence of purposes between the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is generated. This coincidence is today
formalized by the signing of this inter-institutional cooperation agreement.
Allow me to briefly reflect on this point. Every Ministry
of Internal Affairs has the declared objective of preserving
order. Sometimes this goal is distorted, most of all when an
authoritarian government seizes power. In those cases, order
is misunderstood as social stability and even paralysis on
behalf of the State and against the citizens, instead of being
understood in its only valid sense, that is, as a daily expression
of the above mentioned Rule of Law. The function of a Ministry
of Internal Affairs in a democratic government is safeguarding
respect to laws and regulations for the coexistence of citizens
and to guarantee the right of all of us, citizens, to live
in a state of security and peace. A social calmness achieved
by transgressing citizens’ rights cannot receive, in
any case, the name of public order. In fact, it constitutes
said order denial.
This identification between public order and Rule of Law
is what distinguishes the action of a Ministry of Internal
Affairs corresponding to a democratic regime. And the present
authorities have assumed it in this way.
The cooperation the Ministry of Internal Affairs is offering
the Truth Commission for the compliance with its tasks is a
concrete expression of this democratic commitment. Our work,
as we know, is sensitive and complex, but indispensable. Eventually,
the investigation of violence facts occurred between 1980 and
2000 and their public exposure is a way of making the above
mentioned citizen equality true. Before already committed crimes,
before, abuse of human rights already produced and irreversible,
we must, at least, seek social acknowledgement of the damages
caused and, in this way, the civic and human dignity of victims.
In that effort, the Truth Commission’s personnel faces
some risks, because some will always feel threatened due to
the revelation of truth. The security that the Ministry of
Internal Affairs offers us through this agreement is a fundamental
cooperation we appreciate and thank very much.
Having said this, I must highlight that the agreement we
sign today comprises another very significant collaboration
area for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I refer to
accepting the testimony of members from Peru’s National
Police who were victims of political violence or their families’ testimonies
a contact that shall be facilitated by the Ministry of Internal
Affairs and which would permit us to comply with a task that
is the essence of our mission as we understand it: serving
any victim without making any distinctions among them.
Indeed, we have explained in several documents and fora how
our commission is distinguished by its preferent service to
victims. The north of our efforts is providing public acknowledgement
to those who were affected by violence and to end, in this
way, a prolonged indifference and a long silence that have
made damage, suffered by those who were abused, harder, so
as to say. Among these victims whose story we want to rescue
so that the whole country knows about it, the members of Peru’s
National Police are extremely important. These were men and
women who lost their lives or suffered painful mutilation and
deep emotional damage when complying with their mission of
defending citizens. Of course, those widows, orphan children
and adolescents who lost their beloved ones, so that others
could preserve their families, are also victims. These victims
bear hard stories that should not be silenced, but narrated
to the whole country so that we learn that in the same way
in which violence brought up the worst in us, it also gave
way to abnegation and selflessness acts that we should call
heroic.
This agreement will help Peru to know a story that has still
not been told, that of victims at large and of Peru’s national police victims in particular.
This is why, Mister Minister, it has a critical importance for us, members
of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. By offering sincere testimony of
what occurred, no matter how hard it is, we will be laying the foundations
for this reunion of Peruvians in a democratic society and, hence, a fair society.
I then thank the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ authorities for this commitment
with a task that, more than an obligation, is and ideal we all share.
Salomon Lerner Febres
President
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Lima, May 9th, 2002
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