Department of Political Science Master’s Degree in International Relations – Major in Global Studies Course of Comparative Public Law Transitional Justice and Human Rights: The Cases of Chile and Uruguay in a Comparative Constitutional Perspective Prof. Cristina Fasone Prof. Elena Sciso SUPERVISOR CO-SUPERVISOR Giulia Girlando - 633632 CANDIDATE Academic Year 2018/2019 Index Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I ................................................................................................................................. 4 The establishment of transitional justice in between international law and human rights theories ......................................................................................................................................... 4 1. Transitional justice: defining a historically heterogeneous field .................................... 4 1.1 The Nuremberg Trials ..................................................................................................... 7 1.2 The aftermath of the Cold War...................................................................................... 10 1.3 The new era of Globalisation ........................................................................................ 26 2. Current approaches to transitional justice ..................................................................... 31 2.1 The Justice Cascade ...................................................................................................... 33 2.2 The United Nations and transitional justice .................................................................. 37 2.3 The holistic approach .................................................................................................... 44 2.4 Transformative justice ................................................................................................... 46 3. Modern pitfalls of transitional justice ............................................................................. 50 4. One field or too many fields? ........................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER II ............................................................................................................................. 62 Mechanisms of transitional justice for gross violations of human rights ............................. 62 1. Dealing with a legacy of violence: from narrow to broad undertakings ...................... 62 1.1 Trials: a maximalist justice ........................................................................................... 62 1.2 Amnesties: a minimalist justice ..................................................................................... 67 1.3 Truth Commissions: a moderate justice ........................................................................ 73 1.4 Reparations: a socioeconomic justice ............................................................................ 77 1.5 A combination of efforts? ............................................................................................. 81 2. Constitutionalism in transition ........................................................................................ 83 2.1 Revised constitutionalism ............................................................................................. 86 2.2 Narrowing the focus: constitutionalism in Latin America ............................................ 91 3. Beyond national efforts: the regional system of human rights protection in Latin America .................................................................................................................................. 98 3.1 Structure of the Inter-American Human Rights System ................................................ 98 3.2 The functions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights .................................... 103 3.3 Effectiveness and developments of the inter-American system .................................. 117 4. Tug-of-war: balancing political constraints and the role of the judiciary ................. 124 CHAPTER III .......................................................................................................................... 127 Pacted transitions and delayed justice in Chile and Uruguay ............................................. 127 1. The National Security Doctrine in Latin America ....................................................... 127 2. Chile: an unfinished affair .............................................................................................. 130 2.1 Legacy of the Pinochet era: authoritarian enclaves ................................................... 130 2.1.1 States of exception ................................................................................................... 131 2.1.2 The 1978 Amnesty Law ........................................................................................... 135 2.1.3 The 1980 Constitution .............................................................................................. 137 2.2 Negotiating transition: the difficult return to democracy ......................................... 144 2.2.1 Do ut des: leyes de amarre and unfulfilled expectations .......................................... 145 2.2.2 Resorting to alternative mechanisms: truth commission and reparations ................ 151 2.2.3 The turning point: 1998 ............................................................................................ 156 2.3 A cautionary tale: new developments .......................................................................... 165 2.3.1 Remedies for accountability at the turn of the millennium ...................................... 165 2.3.2 The 2005 reforms ..................................................................................................... 170 2.3.3 Recent developments and obstacles ......................................................................... 174 3. Uruguay: the sanctuary of impunity ............................................................................. 178 3.1 The democratic path towards authoritarianism ......................................................... 178 3.1.1 The armed forces take over politics ......................................................................... 179 3.1.2 Emptying the Constitution ....................................................................................... 185 3.1.3 The 1984 Naval Club Pact ....................................................................................... 189 3.2 The construction of immunity ...................................................................................... 192 3.2.1 The National Pacification Project............................................................................. 192 3.2.2 The 1986 Amnesty Law ........................................................................................... 196 3.2.3 A matter of political will: the first pursuits of justice and truth ............................... 200 3.3 Uruguay: the land of paradoxes ................................................................................... 205 3.3.1 New impetus to judicial proceedings ....................................................................... 206 3.3.2 Abrogation of the amnesty ....................................................................................... 212 3.3.3 New developments or new obstacles? ...................................................................... 215 4. Comparing Chile and Uruguay: similarities and differences in reckoning with the past ........................................................................................................................................ 220 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 226 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 229 Introduction This dissertation aims to provide a constitutional assessment of transitional justice in Chile and Uruguay with regard to the promotion and protection of human rights. As a young field of academic inquiry, transitional justice has stemmed from the third wave of democracy starting in the 1970s and developed as a result of the reflections concerning the legacies of human rights abuses committed by authoritarian regimes. Therefore, the first chapter illustrates through a theoretical approach how the discipline has changed and assumed distinct connotations with respect to different eras. Indeed, the chief conundrum that dominated scholarship’s discussions since the inception of transitional justice as a proper field is represented by the very definition of the doctrine, which explains why observers and policymakers have embraced disparate mechanisms in order to attain the common purpose of justice and truth. Overall, transitional justice encompasses a variety of theories and instances that strengthen the legitimacy of the field as an inquiry of its own. The significant variety that characterises the transitional justice discourse is reflected also in the vast array of mechanisms employed in order to deal with the past human rights violations. Thus, the second chapter explores the benefits and pitfalls of transitional justice instruments that all the countries facing heinous