“Dirty Wars”, human rights and the problem of countering state terrorism in Latin America

Abstract

Background. The concept of “dirty war” began to be actively used in Latin America in the second half of the 20th century to define civil conflict. This term was later spread in other countries in the characteristics of the military operations of the police forces, within which emergency powers are used, which significantly restrict fundamental human rights. Such violations have been investigated in foreign doctrine. They also became the subject of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This has updated the research on state terrorism. The formulated conclusions and recommendations can be used in Russian legal science. The puspose of the research is to carry out comparative law research of foreign doctrines and decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights dedicated to signs of “dirty war” and the consequences of state terrorism for about human rights. Materials and methods. The research problems were solved thankfull to the scientific analysis of a wide range of sources devoted to the problems of protecting human rights. As a research method, in the first place, the comparative legal method was used, which made it possible to study the concept of state terrorism and its consequences when introducing the theory of “dirty war”. Results. The general conclusion about the use of extraordinary repressive measures in the modern world to suppress political opponents and get out of tough civil confrontation is presented. In this case, the fight against terror is carried out on the basis of the practice of intimidation, when the law enforcement agencies themselves use terrorist methods in countering radical organizations. Conclusions. The article highlights the general conclusions formulated in the decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, aimed at preventing “dirty wars” in the future. Meanwhile, the doctrine of state terrorism does not find its international recognition, since many countries fear accusations of following this course in the context of the fight against terrorism (both internal and external).

Keywords

• terror
• state terrorism
• “dirty war”
• inter-american court of human rights
• argentina
• peru
• human rights
• emergency legislation