An Excess of Justice? Argentina and the Politics of Justice for Past Atrocity

• In Event: Managing Memory: Human Rights Landscape and The Road Ahead

Abstract

There is no doubt that Argentina has gone farther than any other country in the world in holding perpetrators criminally responsible for past human rights violations. While such accountability efforts are viewed positively by regional bodies (the InterAmerican Commission and Court of Human Rights) and internationally (United Nations and the International Criminal Court), there are signs of domestic unease with them. This paper will first address the assumed progress that Argentina has made in its accountability efforts, drawing from an original data base and comparing those efforts with the rest of the world. It will then identify evidence of a backlash against these efforts. Unlike the assumptions scholars and practitioners have made regarding backlash from the perpetrators of human rights abuses, this paper will examine criticisms of the accountability model from those on the political left and from the human rights community. The paper thus begins to look at the perils and paradoxes of transitional justice in Argentina.

Author

• Leigh A Payne, University of Oxford