NOTIFICATION on Case Julio López

Case n° 27/2017: Inter-Americana Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

NOTIFICATION on Case Julio López

On September 11, 2017, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights communicates with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) as a result of the news that this organization has decided to activate the complaint against the Argentine State for the lack of investigation of public officials about the sad event of the disappearance and possible murder of Julio López in 2006, which was denounced before the IACHR in May 2014 by the Association of Former Disappeared-Detainees (Asociación de Ex Detenidos Desaparecidos AEDD), the Union for Human Rights and the Committee of Juridical Action (Comité de Acción Jurídica CAJ). This means that during the last 11 years, there was impunity and failure to clarify the possible death of Julio López, who was a key witness in a case on kidnapping and torture during the last military dictatorship in Argentina.

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights clearly considers that this activation of the complaint filed 3 years ago demonstrates the total ineffectiveness of the IACHR, which should have proceeded on such an urgent affair in a matter of days and not having taken several years in order to simply ask the Argentine State to investigate. In addition to the fact that the IACHR’s delay is a shame, the Buddhist Tribunal cannot cease to perceive that the only reason why the IACHR has decided to carry out the activation of the complaint about the disappearance of Julio López is actually the climate that exists in Argentina with respect to the forced disappearance of Santiago Maldonado and the arrest of Milagro Sala, cases in which the IACHR has worked quickly and adequately. This shows that the IACHR not only does not work in an adequate time, but it also works in a politicized way, depending on the political influences that the complaints have, and not depending on the international human rights treaties.

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights calls on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) not only to respect the collective human rights of Buddhist Peoples and Tribal Communities, but also to work properly to protect the individual human rights of all citizens under its jurisdiction, having the right to access to justice and to receive serious and objective investigations to know the Truth and determine responsibilities related to any crime.

With spirit of Reconciliation (Maitri),

H.E. Master Maitreya Samyaksambuddha

President and Spiritual Judge of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights