Dirty Wars and Democracy

The announcement on June 25 that Spain will begin to limit its application of universal jurisdiction garnered no more than a humble blip in international media coverage. The principle, which asserts that certain crimes are so egregious that they are an affront to all humanity and therefore prosecutable by any nation, is at the center of fierce philosophical debate in international law. But for survivors of genocide in Guatemala, universal jurisdiction has represented something much more tangible—an important avenue for justice against the lingering impunity left in the wake Latin America’s dirty wars.

Spain’s lower house of Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of narrowing universal jurisdiction so that crimes committed outside of Spain may only be prosecuted if Spanish citizens are affected.

The six judges that make up Spain’s Audencia Nacional are currently handling thirteen diverse cases from all over the world, including several from Latin America. Spain has assured the human rights community that the change will not affect cases under investigation or those currently being tried.

Although the judges have been hailed by rights activists, their recent high-profile investigations into rights abuses by American, Israeli and Chinese government officials have created a diplomatic headache for Spain’s politicians, who pressed Parliament to pass the resolution.

While Washington has admitted to quietly pressuring the Spanish government to drop the investigations into allegations of U.S. torture at Guantanamo, Israel was outspoken in its criticism of the court’s decision to investigate a claim that Israeli forces had committed war crimes in Gaza in 2002. The investigation has since been dropped.

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