April 7, 2000
April 7, 2000
Contact HRF Communications (212) 845 5245 media@humanrightsfirst.orgHuman Rights First Releases Report on the World Bank
and Judicial Independence in PeruReport Released on Eve of Peruvian Elections
New York--Human Rights First chronicles the World Bank's ill-fated partnership with the Peruvian government of President Alberto Fujimori on judicial reform in a report released today. It highlights both the Fujimori government's attacks on judicial independence in Peru and hopeful signs that the World Bank recognizes the importance of insisting on respect for such values when it finances judicial reform.
The report, Building on Quicksand: The Collapse of the World Bank's Judicial Reform Project in Peru, examines the circumstances leading to the suspension and cancellation in 1998 of the World Bank's $22.5 million Peru Judicial Reform Project after unrelenting attacks on judicial independence by the Fujimori administration. The report documents several incidents including the 1997 dismissal of three of Peru's Constitutional Tribunal judges after they opposed a law permitting President Fujimori to run for a third term.
"On the eve of the April 9 elections in Peru, the harm done to Peru's democratic institutions by the Fujimori government is under the spotlight," said Human Rights First's Protection Director Robert Varenik. "Attacks on Peru's judicial institutions not only undermined their independence; they also eroded support for much-needed reform."
The Report argues that the loan, which was approved in December 1997 to help Peru modernize its ailing and discredited judicial system, should never have been made in the first place due to the government's well-documented hostility to judicial independence. However, it concludes that the World Bank acted correctly when it obtained written commitments from Peruvian officials, which were incorporated in the loan documents, to comply with values such as judicial independence. Further, the report applauds the Bank's decision to enforce those commitments by withholding disbursements under the loan in March 1998. That decision, which ultimately led to the loan's cancellation, followed the mass resignation of the members of an independent body responsible for appointing judges after the government dramatically diminished its powers.
"The World Bank and other multilateral development banks have had to respond to criticism that they have ignored issues of human rights and democracy," said Varenik. "The fact the World Bank withheld loan payments in the face of new attacks on judicial independence was an important step towards turning the Bank's rhetoric about new approaches into reality. Hopefully, this decision represents a new recognition by multilateral banks of the importance of building judicial reform on the firm foundations of judicial independence."