10 July 2013 – The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights (ASG), Ivan Šimonovic, attended on 10 July in Bissau, the opening of the first National Conference on Impunity, Justice and Human Rights.

In his remarks, ASG Šimonovic said that “the human rights office’s presence in Guinea-Bissau is a sign of our clear commitment, along with the entire UN system here, to assist Guinea-Bissau in becoming a stable, peaceful, and prosperous country”.

Recognizing the importance of “carefully crafted amnesties”, he said that they can prevent further violence.

“However, the gravest crimes have to be addressed-both to ensure justice for victims and to prevent their repetition. Under international law, amnesties can never be permitted for crimes of genocide, war crimes, crime against humanity or gross violations of human rights” Mr. Šimonovic stressed.

Speaking also at the opening session, the Transitional President, Manuel Serifo Nhamajo said that, " impunity is not the major cause of the numerous conflicts the country has been facing since more than a decade however, it is true that impunity is one of the consequences of political and social instability in the country”

« Social stability, respect and preservation of human dignity are the foundation of the rule of law”, he added, recalling flagrant political assassinations that occurred throughout the history of the country such as those of President Nino Vieira, Chiefs of Army Staff, General Tagmé Na Waié and Muhammed Lamine Sanha and young PRS (Party for Social Renovation) demonstrators.

On his part, the President of the Guinean League for Human Rights, Luis Vaz Martins, hopes that « this conference will enable a dialogue in order for people to stop politicizing the question of impunity”.

The objectives of the National Conference on Impunity, Justice and Human Rights is to bring together the different national actors linked to the justice sector, security and civil society and build a critical consensus on the need to effectively combat impunity and to develop a participatory, integrated, national strategy to combat impunity, including the identification and strengthening of coordination mechanisms between various national and international actors.

In Guinea-Bissau, impunity constitutes the main challenge to the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as, threat to peace, stability, development and national reconciliation, and has become a structural component of democratic institutions – including the judiciary – particularly since the adoption of the Amnesty Law in 2008, which covered all political-military crimes committed from independence in 1973 till 6 October 2004.

According to the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau-UNIOGBIS-, “from 2005 to 2012, the cases of gross human rights violations in Guinea-Bissau increased markedly, with more politically motivated killings in 2012 (after 12 April coup d’état) than in the previous 10 years combined. Because the State lacks any transparent and independent inquiry mechanisms that would lead to the accusation, arrest, trial and sentencing to appropriate penalties of perpetrators, many cases of political assassinations, extra-judicial killings, attacks on physical integrity, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances are not being investigated, while those that are being investigated show little signs of progress”.

On an optimistic note, ASG Šimonovic pointed out that, “the struggle to combat violence and achieve progress on institutional reform takes time, but every long journey begins with one first step […] “The vicious cycle of violence and impunity can be broken. We are here to help you to do it”, he concluded.

The National Conference on Impunity, Justice and Human Rights is organized by the Transitional Government with the support of the UN.

Participants are representatives of the Transitional Government (Ministers of Justice, Interior and Defense), the Justice Sector (Judges, Prosecutor-General, other Prosecutors, Presidents of the Supreme Court and the Superior Military Court, and Bar Association), Members of Parliament, African Union, European Union, Economic Community of West Africa –ECOWAS-, National Human Rights Commission, UN and NGOs.

The Conference ends on 12 July.