This paper summarizes AI’s concerns in Peru over the past nine years. Since 1983 AI has received reports of widespread « disappearances », extrajudicial killings and torture, including rape, by members of the security forces. AI considers the phenomenon of virtual impunity for perpetrators a key factor in the persistance of such violations, which occur in the context of violent campaigns waged by armed opposition groups, namely « Sendero Luminoso » and the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru. The official response to attacks by these bodies has been to place large areas under military control. Some 4,000 « disappearances » and 15 mass killings, mostly in emergency zones, have been reported since 1983 and those trying to defend human rights have been threatened and attacked.
