Articles

  • Premier threatens to block Maduro visit

    17 February 2018

    Prime Minister Mercedes Aráoz’s announcement that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will be physically blocked from attending April’s hemispheric summit in Lima further ramps up Peru’s defiant posture in relation to Venezuela.

  • Renewed protest in Loreto over oil spill damage

    11 February 2018

    Eighteen organisations representing many of the indigenous communities affected by oil spills from the leaky and badly-maintained Northern Peru pipeline have started a protest a year after the signing of the Saramurillo Accords.

  • Hemispheric summit: a meeting of minds?

    11 February 2018

    Being the organiser of a major international get-together is usually a political plus for the host country; Peru has now hosted a number of such gatherings in recent years. But the hemispheric summit, scheduled for April 13-14 in Lima, looks like being problematic.

  • Inter-American Court judges Peru on Fujimori pardon

    3 February 2018

    On February 2, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) convened a session in San José (Costa Rica) to consider the legality (or otherwise) of the pardon (indulto) extended by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski last December to former president Alberto Fujimori.

  • Fujimori feud leads to rift

    3 February 2018

    After weeks of speculation, Kenji Fujimori has finally broken ranks with his sister’s Fuerza Popular (FP) party. The decision by Kenji and nine other members of the largest party in Congress not to back the motion to impeach President Kuzynski, defying a three-line whip, led to the disciplinary proceedings.

  • Extractives: a watch-list of concerns as prices pick up

    3 February 2018

    As mineral prices strengthen once again, international business analysts are ranking Peru high for the good economic returns they portend. One analyst describes Peru and Brazil as positioned to lead the pack in copper, with Peru the winner "owing to its number of high-value projects and a faster-growing mining industry value".

  • Illegal mining, the Pope's visit and employment in Madre de Dios

    27/1/2018

    Pope Francis travelled to the city of Puerto Maldonado, known as the gateway to Peru's Amazon, before even visiting President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at the palace, a change to the itinerary undertaken, it was said, because of weather concerns but having the effect of signalling that the Amazon indigenous were Francis' top priority in Peru.

  • Sibling warfare

    27/1/2018

    The battle for control of the Fujimori legacy is in full swing. It takes the form of whether or not Kenji Fujimori Alberto Fujimori, is expelled from Fuerza Popular by his sister or whether there is some sort of truce or reconciliation between the two siblings that avoids a definitive party split. The outcome will have significance for whether President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski can hobble along for the time being without being ousted.

  • Prior consultation reduced to meaningless bureaucratic formality

    27/1/2018

    A campaign has been launched on Facebook and Twitter aiming to expose the abuse of prior consultation procedures. The NGOs Oxfam and Cooperacción are speaking out vigorously, citing the findings of a study of eleven consultations in the mining and oil sectors. The full title of the campaign is 'Consult me for Real'. Consultation has been a requirement for companies in Peru for six years, responding to the provisions contained in the ILO's Convention 169.

  • Mapping the 'climate of conflict' as the new year gets under way

    22 January 2018

    Following the introduction of a general state of emergency throughout the 'mining corridor' in southern Peru, José De Echave, former vice-minister of the environment, has produced a trenchant analysis of the “climate of conflict” as he calls it.

  • PSG Aims

    The Peru Support Group exists to promote social inclusion, sustainable development and the observance of human rights in Peru. To that end the PSG highlights shortcomings in observance of established norms, whether international or local in nature, in its research, advocacy and publications. In so doing, it underscores the relationships that exist within the political system, how institutions work, and the effectiveness of policies that aim to reduce poverty and inequality within the context of sustainable development.

  • Historical Overview

    Over the past century Peru has suffered a series of autocratic governments and a civil war in which nearly 70,000 people died. Many of the country's ongoing political and social problems are a legacy of its somewhat turbulent past. 

  • Human Rights

    Human rights violations were widespread during the twenty years after the initiation of armed conflict in 1980. Efforts to convict perpetrators since the war's end have made only limited progress. Today, concerns remain over the treatment of those engaged in social protest, particularly against strategically important investment projects.

  • Why join the PSG?

    • Keep up to date with latest news and developments in Peru
    • Learn about key issues of poverty, development and human rights in Peru
    • Support the work of the Peru Support Group

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