Amnesties in a Time of Transition
![handle is hein.journals/gwilr41 and id is 583 raw text is: AMNESTIES IN A TIME OF TRANSITION
ELIZABETH B. LUDWIN KING*
I. INTRODUCTION
In the past twenty-five years, more than a dozen countries have
enacted amnesties exonerating perpetrators of human rights
abuses.' In fact, [a]mnesties of one form or another have been
used to limit the accountability of individuals responsible for gross
violations of human rights in every major political transition in the
twentieth century.2 Although several reasons exist for govern-
ments enacting amnesty legislation, national leaders often face the
task of weighing the peace they believe will result from an amnesty
against the justice that results from holding trials. Indeed, some
leaders have justified providing an amnesty as crucial for the peace
process; in these instances, the desire for stability simply outweighs
that of accountability.3 As this balancing process shows, many gov-
ernments believe that the tradeoff between peace and justice is
valid and that the freedom from prosecution central to amnesties
is an acceptable price to pay for ending war or removing authorita-
rian governments.4 Other nations, however, disagree, believing
instead that a state has a duty to prosecute alleged perpetrators of
mass human rights violations. Amnesties, it follows, violate this
* Visiting Professor, Wake Forest University School of Law. L.L.M. 2009, The
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; J.D. 2002, Georgetown University Law Center. The
author would like to thank Hurst Hannum for his guidance and support, Don Hafner for
his thoughtful suggestions and edits, and Maggie Martin for her always wise comments.
1. These countries include Afghanistan (2005), Argentina (1986), Chile (1989), El
Salvador (1993), Guatemala (1996), Haiti (1994), and Sierra Leone (1999). See Charles P.
Trumbull IV, Giving Amnesties a Second Chance, 25 BERKELEYJ. INT'L L. 283, 295-97 & nn. 58-
59, 61-62, 66-67 & 69 (2007).
2. Ronald C. Slye, The Legitimacy of Amnesties Under International Law and General Prin-
ciples of Anglo-American Law: Is a Legitimate Amnesty Possible?, 43 VA. J. INT'L L. 173, 179
(2002).
3. See Lisa J. Laplante, Outlawing Amnesty: The Return of Criminal Justice in Transitional
justice Schemes, 49 VA. J. INT'L L. 915, 917 (2009).
4. Amnesty procedures are particularly popular in countries moving toward democ-
racy from the shadows of dictatorial or repressive regimes. See Emily W. Schabacker, Rec-
onciliation or Justice and Ashes: Amnesty Commissions and the Duty to Punish Human Rights
Offenses, N.Y. INT'L L. REV., Summer 1999, at 1, 1-2. Such countries include Zimbabwe,
Argentina, Chile, and Haiti. See id. at 2.
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