[Opinion] Canada must suspend arms sales to Peru

“Jhonatan liked to play volleyball, he dreamed of becoming a policeman after his studies”, says Katalina Arias in Quechua about her 18-year-old son.

Jhonatan’s dream will never come true. He was killed by Peruvian police as part of a deadly crackdown on popular protests sparked by the ousting and arrest of ex-president Pedro Castillo after he sought to dissolve Congress in December 2022. A repression that goes as far as extrajudicial executions and the massacre of 18 protesters in a single city, in a single day.

Amnesty International has carried out an investigation, the report of which, presented this week and entitled Lethal Racism: Extrajudicial Executions and Illegal Use of Force by Peruvian Security Forces, reports some very disturbing findings. We found that at least 49 people had been killed and 1,200 injured, as Peruvian police and military forces implemented a deliberate strategy of fear to quell protests, including the use of targeted and widespread lethal force, prohibited under international human rights law, in the context of demonstrations or operations relating to public order (assault rifles, live ammunition, illegal and indiscriminate use of tear gas canisters and pellet weapons with also caused death).

Amnesty’s investigation revealed a very marked racist bias on the part of the authorities. Police only opened fire in predominantly indigenous towns, such as Andahuaylas, Chinchero, Ayacucho and Juliaca, targeting peaceful protesters, bystanders, people assisting the injured and journalists.

Jhonatan was with others on a hill in Andahuaylas, filming the protests with cellphones, when they saw the police firing tear gas at a funeral procession. Video footage verified by Amnesty shows police snipers firing from a nearby rooftop, fatally hitting Jhonatan as well as 18-year-old aspiring medical school student Wilfredo Lizarme.

The Peruvian government’s disregard for the lives and rights of the most marginalized populations should sound alarm bells for any country that has sold or plans to sell arms to Peru. Including Canada, which exported $81.4 million worth of military goods and technologies there between 2014 and 2021 (2022 data not available): light armored vehicles, chemical riot control agents, etc.

Further protests are planned for July. It is feared that the repression will be even more deadly and that the weapons sold by Canada will be used. Preventing further deaths and injuries is of utmost importance.

Amnesty International calls on Canada to suspend all arms sales to Peru under the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to which it is a signatory. Spain did so, citing its support for human rights to suspend its arms and riot control agent exports to Peru.

In a meeting with representatives of Global Affairs Canada and one of the Parliamentary Secretaries to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amnesty International was told that a possible suspension of arms sales to Peru would not be made. public.

However, in 2020, Canada publicly suspended the export of arms to Turkey, to “protect the populations”. Exports to Belarus were also suspended in 2020, based on concerns about state-sponsored repression and violence against public protests in the country.

There should be no double standards when lives are at stake. Canada’s economic interests should not preclude a strong stance on human rights.

Peru is Canada’s second largest bilateral trading partner in Central and South America, and Canada is one of the largest foreign investors in Peru’s mining sector. In 2021, Canadian companies have invested billions of dollars for the construction, exploration and mining operations of the ten largest producing mines.

Trade should not overshadow human rights. We are counting on Canada to respect its international legal obligations by suspending arms exports to Peru and by sending an unequivocal message: Peru must end the murderous racist repression and the use of inappropriate or prohibited weapons to control demonstrations.

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