..

.t
hereiss uff
i
cientevidencet or eas onablystatethatt heextr
a-l
egalexecuti
oncommitt
edby
Stateagents..
.wasc ommi t
tedf ol
lowingas y
stematicandgeneral-
i
zedpatter
nagainsttheci
vi
li
an
populat
ion,andthus ,i
ti
sac ri
meagai ns thumanity.
.
..t
heSt atescannotnegl ecttheirdutyt oinvesti
gat e,
identi
f
y,andpunishthosepersons
responsibl
eforc ri
mesagai nsthumani t
ybyenf orci
ngamnes t
ylawsoranyot hersi
mil
ar
domes t
icprovisions.Consequent ly
,c ri
mesagai nsthumanityarecri
meswhi chcannotbe
1
23
s
usc
ept
ibl
eofamnes
ty.

Mor er ec ent
ly,i nGomezLundetal .v.Br azil
,theIACtHRonc eagai nputas i
deamnes t
y
l
aws ,i
nt hiscas e, i
nt heBr azi
li
anc ontex t
, ast heCour tfoundt hataBr azil
ianamnes tylaw
i
mpededt heinves tigati
onandpuni s
hmentofs eri
oushumanr ight svi olationsand,asa
cons equenc e,t hes aidamnes tylaws houl dlac kl
egalef fec t
s.24 I
1 nGel manvs.Ur uguay,
the IACt HR putas i
de an amnes t
yl aw al beitithad been appr oved bya nat i
onal
referendum. 125

T heECt HRi nr elati

velyrec entc as e-
lawhasal sofoundt hatamnes tylawsc annot
appl yt os er i
ous human r i
ght s vi ol
at i
ons and,t hus ,pot ent i
allyc onsti
tuti
ve of
i
nt ernat i
onal c rimes ,incl
udingc ri
mesagai ns thumani ty.T hus ,t heGr andChamberof
theECt HRi nMar gušv.Cr oatiafoundt hat :“Thepos sibil
it
yf oraSt atet ogr antan
amnes tyi nr es pectofgr avebr eac hesofhumanr ight smaybec ircums cri
bedby
treatiest owhi cht heSt at
ei sapar ty
.T her eares ever alinter nat ionalc onvent ions
thatpr ovidef oradut ytopr osec utec rimesdef i
nedt her ei
n. ..”.26 A
1 lso,inCes tar ov.
I
taly,t heECt HRf oundt hat“amnes ti
esandpar donss houldnotbet oler
ated”i n
cas esoft or
-tur eori l
l
-tr
eatmentper petrat edbys t
ateagent s .1
27

Att he domes ti
cl evel,int
eral ia,nationalc ourtsi n Latin-Amer i
ca have int
ernall
y
embr aced the IACt HR’sabove- examined f i
ndings.F orins t
anc e,t he Cons t
it
utional
Tri
bunal ofPeruandt heSupr emeCour tofAr gent i
na.28 T
1 hef or merpoi ntedoutt heab
i
niti
olac kofeffec tsoft hePer uvianamnes tylawsasdet erminedbyt heIACtHR.T he
Argent i
ni
anSupr emeCour tbasedon, especial
ly
, f
indingsint heI ACt HR’sBarri
osAltosv.
Peruj udgment,f oundt hel awsoff i
nalstopanddueobedi enc e( Argenti
nianamnes t
y
l
aws )unc onsti
tutional.I
tc oncl
udedt hattheAr gent i
nianamnes tylawspr esentedt he
samef l
aws i
,.e., obstructi
onofj us t
ice,t
hatpr ompt edt heI ACt HRt odec l
arenul land
voidt hePeruvi ans elf-
amnes tyl
aws .
 VI
I
.CONCLUSI
ONS

Two mai nc onclusi

ons whi ch addres st he r es earch ques t
ions and ver i
fyt he
hypothesespr esentedi nt heintroduc tionc anbepr esentedher ein.First,thereis
i
ndeedar elati
ons hi
pbet weent henot ionofs erioushumanr ight svi ol
ationsandt he
l
egal conceptofc ri
mesagai nsthumani ty.Underi nt erna-
t i
onal l
aw, thisrelati
ons hipi
s
ofac l
oseandi ntri
nsicnat urealthought hos et woc ategor i
esr emai naut onomous
fr
om eac hot her.T heover al
lbalanceofdi f
ferenc esands i
mi l
ar i
tiesbet weent hem
pointtot heirbeingi nter-
twined.Sec ond,t her elat i
onshipbet weens erioushuman
ri
ghts violati
ons and c ri
mes agai ns thumani tyi s mani fested i nt wo mut ual
l
y
complement aryway s
.Ont heonehand, seri
oushumanr ightsvi olationsmaybeand
havebeenc ri
minali
zedasc r
imesagai nsthumani tyand,t herefor e,ar ec onsti
tu-ti
ve
ofthiscategor yofinternationalcrimes .Ont heot herhand,c r
imesagai ns thumani t
y
consti
tuteaver yimpor tantmani festationofs erioushu- manr i
ght svi ol
at i
onsint he
fi
el
dofi nt
er nati
onal cri
minal l
aw.

Accor
dingl
y,ther
ei sanintenser el
ations
hipbet weens eri
ousviol
ati
onsofhuman
ri
ghts,parti
cul
arl
yt hose aff
ec t
ing hardc ore human r ights,and cr
imesagainst
humanity.Di
versenat ur
es ourcesofi nter
nationallaw havei ncr
easi
nglyandmore
oft
enhighli
ghtedthisrel
ati
ons hi
p.Agener al r
uleoni ndi
vidualc
ri
minalr
esponsi
bi
li
ty
for seri
ous human r i
ghts violati
ons has emer ged s i
nce indi
vi
dualc r
imi
nal
responsi
bil
i
tyhasbeens uff
ici
entlyimpl
ement ed.1
29

Partic
ularly,t
hisimpl ement at
ionhasbeenunder t
akenbyt hees tabli
sh-mentofawi de
arrayofi nternationalandhy bridcri
minalcourtswithc om-petenceoverc r
imesagai nst
humani t
yi nthel as ttwent yyears,al
lofwhichhasl edt oanever -i
ncreasingcase-lawon
thes ubject.Thisint urnhasl argelytr
iggeredthenat i
onali
ncorporationofinternati
onal
provisi
onsonc r
imesagai nsthumani t
yc l
oselyl
inkedt ocri
minalrespons i
bil
i
tyfors er
ious
humanr i
ght sviolat i
onswor l
d-wide.I
nt ur
n, byus i
nginternati
onal cri
minall
aws ources
i
ni nterpretinghumanr ightspr ovi
sionsc oncerningc asesofs eri
oushumanr i
ghts
violat
ions ,case-lawofr egionalhumanr i
ghtsc ourtssuchast heI ACtHRhasal soand
i
mpor t
ant l
yc ontributedt ot hi
st r
end.