Rule-of-law tools for post-conflict states: amnesties
Amnesties are now regulated by a substantial body of international law that sets limits on their permissible scope. This publication is designed as a tool to help develop sustainable institutional capacity within United Nations missions, as well as to assist transitional administrations and civil society to better craft their responses to transitional justice needs. It highlights the relationship between amnesties and various processes of transitional justice and provides guidance to practitioners who may encounter questions when seeking to apply the principles summarised in Amnesties to ambiguous situations in the field.
This tool identifies core principles that should guide United Nations frontline staff and others working in this area when confronted with draft amnesties that may be inconsistent with international law and United Nations policy. It covers four important areas:
- defining amnesties: what is their use and how can they be distinguished from other legal measures that bear some similarities to amnesties
- assessing amnesties: addressing inconsistencies with international law, United Nations principles and policies restricting amnesties, the legal effects of amnesties and the right to know
- amnesties and measures of transitional justice such as truth commissions, right to remedy, and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes
- applying the principles of amnesties to ambiguous situations in the field: guidance for practitioners and concrete examples of unambiguous and ambiguous application of amnesties in Sierra Leone, Uruguay, Indonesia, Colombia, Solomon Islands, and Guatemala
The tool includes a checklist of definitions as an annex. Other publications from the Rule-of-law tools for post-conflict states series can be linked to under Further Information.
