El Salvador is considering ratifying the Rome Statute in 2011. Fears that civil war criminals will be prosecuted have subsided, and US President Obama is not tied to former president Bush’s bilateral ‘impunity agreements’.

On a visit to Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Salvadorian MP’s Sigfrido Reyes and Fransisco José Zablah gave IJT an update shortly after they and their colleagues visited the ICC in The Hague. They were joined by David Donat-Cattin, director of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), an international organisation promoting the ICC.

El Salvador was not against ratifying the Rome Statute before the ICC visit, first vice-president of the Salvadorian Parliament Sigfrido Reyes said. “But there were concerns that it could be applied to El Salvador’s civil war. We now understand that won’t happen, which we can explain upon our return.”

Latin American amnesty laws
In the 1980s El Salvador was ravaged by a bitter civil war, which left around 70,000 people dead. It was ended in 1992 by a United Nations-brokered peace agreement. An amnesty law was invoked to avoid prosecutions for past human rights violations.

In some other Latin American countries like Chile and Peru, efforts to limit the scope of amnesty laws like the one in El Salvador have been supported by the Inter-American System of Human Rights. Argentina has nullified its amnesty law and was deeply involved in the effort to establish the ICC.

But Latin American countries unwilling to address past human rights violations have also ratified the ICC Statute. In their case, war crimes occurring in the future may fall under the ICC’s jurisdiction, but past cases will not. If El Salvador ratifies the ICC treaty, it will fall into this group.

MP Fransisco José Zablah said the visit to the ICC has made a considerable difference in the Salvadorian Parliament’s stance. “I think the majority in El Salvador are against impunity, in favour of universal justice and that people don’t want the civil war crimes to repeat themselves ever again in the future. Important obstacles have been taken away during our visit to The Hague.”

PGA
The Salvadorian MP’s were joined on their visit by Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), an international organisation promoting the ICC. PGA director David Donat-Cattin pointed out that Latin America is the region most widely represented at the ICC.

“For good reasons: its history and its current commitment to the rule of law and human rights prove the continent is serious about international justice. If El Salvador ratifies the ICC, the message would quickly reach Guatemala and Nicaragua, two of the few Latin American countries that have not yet joined the ICC.”

Change under Obama
US antipathy to the International Criminal Court has had a substantial impact in much of Latin America, as particularly Central America remains highly dependent on the US. The Bush administration insisted on bilateral ‘impunity agreements’ with El Salvador and other countries to avoid prosecution of US soldiers.

The change from the Bush administration to the Obama administration has played an important role in El Salvador’s changed view on the ICC, the Salvadorian MP’s said. “Obama no longer demands the fulfilment of the agreement. We now feel free to go ahead and ratify the ICC treaty.”