Breaking The Wall Of Impunity
CHALLENGE
After a recent Inter-American Court for Human Rights (IACHR) ruling that Uruguay was required under international law to ensure justice for victims of the dictatorship, the legislature was unwilling to pass a national law calling for immunity from prosecution for these cases. Our challenge was to encourage judges in Uruguay to open new cases related to crimes of the dictatorship and effectively overcome a national impunity law, using the IACHR ruling.
SOLUTION
Develop two videos, one for civil society and one for judges themselves, to promote the opening of cases of dictatorship crimes and to build popular support for judges to open such cases.
OVERVIEW
This video was created in partnership with victims’ organizations across Uruguay to push for Uruguayan judges to accept new cases to hold perpetrators of crimes of the 1980s dictatorship accountable. Because of a recent decision at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Gelman Decision, a national law promoting impunity for crimes of the dictatorship was technically invalidated, and opened a space for judges to take on cases related to accountability for dictatorship crimes. The longer film targeted judges and encouraged them to interpret the new decision by the Court to ensure justice to the victims of the dictatorship’s crimes.
To achieve our goals for this project, we held several meetings with our clients to understand the legal and social landscape in Uruguay and the challenges faced in trying to promote the opening of new cases. We spent significant time in pre-production developing a plan for both the videos and distribution strategy to make sure these films were impactful. During a 12 day shoot in Montevideo, we met with several victims groups that were the primary promoters of the film in civil society. We also interviewed several members of these groups, journalists, victims of dictatorship crimes themselves, government officials, judges, and lawyers.
This film was accompanied by a shorter version called Never Again What? which was used to promote a similar message among civil society: the importance of accountability for democracy in Uruguay, with the goal of providing citizen support for judges to open new cases.
Impact
As a result of this campaign, and the hard work of victims families and civil society, many courts reopened cases from the time of the dictatorship and the impunity law was overturned. A court decision stated that there was a statute of limitations and cases were being halted, which we disputed with the fact that international law trumps local law. By 2017, victims succeeded in getting justice, a key factor of which was civil society pressure.
Directed by Abby Goldberg. Created in collaboration with the New Media Advocacy Project, CENTER FOR JUSTICE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, HIJOS DE LOS DESAPARECIDOS DE URUGUAY, MADRES DE LOS DESAPARECIDOS DE URUGUAY AND THE MACARTHUR FOUNDATION. Available in English and Spanish.