A version of this article was first published here on Dejusticia’s Global Rights Blog.
From Chiquita Banana financing Colombian paramilitaries to Argentinean companies supporting the country’s military regime, there is no shortage of stories where businesses have supported or influenced human rights violations. In recent weeks, however, there have been two interesting developments in Latin America in the movement to demand responsibility from economic actors that support serious human rights violations.
The first development is the Argentinean Parliament’s decision to create an “investigatory commission” to look at the complicity of economic groups with the former military dictatorship of that country. This commission, supported by the former Kirchner administration, will be headed by a president chosen by the executive and will include four representatives of the legislature and four senators, chosen by their respective bodies. Their mission will be to write a report that identifies the economic and private actors that contributed to or benefited from the dictatorship, providing economic, technical, political, logistical or other kinds of support. The report should also include proposals to create “memory, hold accountable accomplices, and consolidate and strengthen democratic institutions like legislative reforms that seek to discourage activities like those investigated.”
