The Peruvian National Congress is today, 7 July 1999, debating a draft bill proposing that the State withdraw with immediate effect from the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. If it were to pass, it would deny inhabitants of Peru recourse to this international and independent tribunal, and undermine the inter-American system for the protection and promotion of human rights. This decision follows a ruling by the Inter-American Court that the 1994 trial of four Chileans under Peru’s anti-terrorism legislation had not been fair. Several other Peruvian cases are currently pending before the court.
