PERU 2022 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Peru is a constitutional, multiparty republic. Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra
assumed the presidency on December 7, following an attempt by then President
José Pedro Castillo Terrones, elected in July 2021, to unilaterally dissolve congress
and his subsequent impeachment and arrest. President Boluarte previously served
as Castillo’s vice president from July 2021, until December 7. The 130 members
of congress, elected in 2021 alongside the executive, continued with their terms.

The Peruvian National Police report to the Ministry of Interior and maintain
internal security. The Peruvian Armed Forces, reporting to the Ministry of
Defense, are responsible for external security in addition to some domestic security
responsibilities in designated emergency areas and in exceptional circumstances.
Civilian authorities maintained effective control over security forces. There were
reports that members of security forces committed some abuses.

Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary
killings; restrictions on free expression and media, including the existence of
criminal libel laws and violence or threats of violence against journalists; serious
government corruption; and lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-
based violence.

The government took steps to investigate and, in some cases, prosecute or

otherwise punish public officials accused of abuses and corruption, including high-
level officials. Nonetheless, corruption and a perception of impunity remained
prevalent.

Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person

a. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and Other Unlawful or Politically
Motivated Killings
There were reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings. The Ministry of Health reported 28 protest-related deaths as of
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2022
United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
December 31. The Attorney General’s Office investigates whether security force
killings were justifiable and pursues prosecution.

At the invitation of President Boluarte, the Inter-American Commission on Human

Rights (IACHR) conducted a visit on December 20-22. The delegation met with
the president in Lima and regional government officials in Cusco and Ayacucho.
The IACHR also consulted with detained citizens and organizations engaged in the
protests that followed former President Castillo’s failed attempt to dissolve
congress and his subsequent impeachment. IACHR findings were expected to
either legitimize or discredit claims of excessive, unlawful, and fatal use of force
during protests that took place between December 7 and December 20.

The Attorney General’s Office continued investigating the May 2021 killing of 16
persons, including two children, in the town of San Miguel del Ene, in the Valley
of the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers (VRAEM). The Joint Command of the
Armed Forces attributed the killings to the self-named Militarized Communist
Party of Perú, which authorities considered the successor of the terrorist
organization Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso). Press outlets reported surviving
witnesses’ testimonies that cast doubt on the official account.

In July the Attorney General’s Office suspended its investigation into the killings
allegedly committed by security forces of Inti Sotelo and Brian Pintado in 2020,
which occurred during protests following the congressional impeachment of
former President Vizcarra. The suspension followed a court ruling that the case
did not amount to a human rights violation and should be investigated as a regular
crime. The Attorney General’s Office appealed the ruling.

The Attorney General’s Office continued investigating the 2020 death of

demonstrator Jorge Muñoz, allegedly killed by police during an agricultural
workers’ strike in the town of Chao, La Libertad.

In March courts sentenced former midlevel police officer Raúl Prado Ravines to 35
years in prison for leading an extrajudicial killing squad from 2012 to 2015.
Fellow former police officers Carlos Llanto Ponce and William Castaño Martínez
also received 35-year sentences, and nine more police officers received lighter
sentences. As of October, the whereabouts of Prado, Ponce, and Castaño were

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unknown. The case, under investigation since 2016, involved the alleged killing of
more than 27 criminal suspects during at least nine separate police operations and
were committed to cover up police corruption and generate awards and
promotions.

As of December, at least three Indigenous environmental rights defenders in the

Amazon region had been killed. In March authorities found the body of Juan
Fernández Hanco at his home in the province of Tambopata, Madre de Dios, with
two gunshot wounds. In April Ulises Rumiche died of a gunshot in the head in
Satipo, Junín, hours after participating in a meeting with the vice minister of
vulnerable populations. On December 7, authorities in Puerto Inca, Huánuco,
found the body of Vilca Ampichi López dead from 14 gunshot wounds alongside
the highway that gave access to his community. Courts issued sentences for only
one of at least 11 killings of environmental defenders that had occurred since 2020.
Activists claimed the slow, ineffective justice process supported continued
impunity.

b. Disappearance
There were no reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or

Punishment, and Other Related Abuses
The law prohibits such practices, but there were reports that government officials
employed them. Local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
stated the government did not effectively prevent the abuses or punish those who
committed them. According to NGO representatives, many victims did not file
formal complaints against their alleged abusers, and those who did so purportedly
had difficulty obtaining judicial redress and adequate compensation.

Investigations of police abuses against protesters during the five-day presidency of

Manuel Merino in 2020 continued, albeit slowly. In June congress formally
allowed criminal charges to proceed against former President Merino, his former
Prime Minister Ántero Flores Aráoz, and Merino’s former Minister of Interior
Gastón Rodríguez. The charges, if confirmed, would hold them responsible for the

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abuses, including two confirmed killings.

Impunity remained a significant problem in the security forces. The lack of

repercussions for the alleged abuses by security forces during the 2020 political
protests heightened public concern regarding accountability. Active-duty police
and military personnel conduct is guided by legal frameworks and extensive
regulatory procedures and formal codes of conduct. Prosecuting high-level
officials, including ministers of interior and ministers of defense, requires a formal
request from prosecutors to congress to lift officials’ immunity and congressional
approval to proceed.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Prison conditions were generally harsh due to overcrowding, improper sanitation,

inadequate nutrition, poor health care, and corruption among prison guards, who
allegedly smuggled weapons and drugs into the prisons.

Abusive Physical Conditions: As of August, the National Penitentiary Institute

(INPE) reported the prison system held 90,155 prisoners in 68 facilities designed
for a total of 41,018 prisoners. The population of the largest prison in the country,
the Lurigancho penitentiary, was 2.8 times above its prescribed capacity. Almost
40 percent of the inmates were in pretrial detention.

Many inmates had only intermittent access to potable water. Bathing facilities
were often inadequate, kitchen facilities were unhygienic, and prisoners often slept
in hallways and common areas due to a lack of adequate cell space.

Most prisons provided limited access to medical care, which resulted in delayed
diagnoses of illnesses. Inmates complained of having to pay for medical care. A
study by researchers from Pedro Ruiz Gallo University found tuberculosis, HIV,
and AIDS remained at levels high enough to constitute a potential threat to the
broader public’s health. The Ombudsman’s Office continued to report insufficient
accessibility and inadequate facilities for prisoners with disabilities. Prisoners with
mental disabilities usually lacked access to adequate psychological care.

Assaults on inmates by prison guards and fellow inmates occurred. Prisoners with
money, influence, or other resources had access to privileges including cell phones,

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illegal drugs, and higher quality meals prepared from outside the prison.

Administration: Independent and government authorities investigated credible

allegations of mistreatment.

Independent Monitoring: The government permitted monitoring visits by

independent human rights and international humanitarian law observers.
Unannounced visits to inmates by International Committee of the Red Cross
officials and representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office resumed after a two-year
halt due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable
Populations and UNICEF monitored juvenile detention centers.

d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention and provides for the right of
persons to challenge in court the lawfulness of their arrest or detention. The
government constitutionally suspended the right to freedom from arrest without
warrant in designated emergency zones, and nationwide during the national state of
emergency for COVID-19, effective until October.

Arrest Procedures and Treatment of Detainees

The law requires a written judicial warrant based on sufficient evidence for an
arrest unless authorities apprehended the alleged perpetrator in the actual conduct
of a crime. In all other circumstances, only judges may authorize detentions.
Authorities are required to arraign arrested persons within 24 hours, except in cases
of suspected terrorism, drug trafficking, or espionage, for which arraignment must
take place within 15 days. In remote areas, arraignment must take place as soon as
practicable. Military authorities must transfer persons they detain to police within
24 hours. Police must file a report with the Attorney General’s Office within 24
hours of an arrest. The Attorney General’s Office, in turn, must issue its own
assessment of the legality of the police action in the arrest.

The law permits detainees to have access to family members and a lawyer of their
choice. Police may detain suspected terrorists incommunicado for 10 days.

Pretrial Detention: Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. According to a

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May report by INPE, 39.5 percent of prisoners were being held under pretrial
detention provisions. The length of pretrial detention occasionally equaled but did
not exceed the maximum sentence of an alleged crime. Delays were due mainly to
judicial inefficiency, corruption, staff shortages, and the backlog created by the
COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. In accordance with the law, courts released
prisoners held more than nine months (up to 36 months in complex cases) whom
the justice system had not yet tried, convicted, and sentenced. The courts factored
pretrial detention into final sentences.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary. NGO representatives
alleged the judiciary did not always operate independently, was not consistently
impartial, and was sometimes subject to political influence and corruption.

Trial Procedures

The law provides for the right to a fair and public trial, and the judiciary generally
enforced this right, although reports of judicial system corruption were common.

Defendants have the right to be present at their trial and to communicate with an
attorney of their choice or have one provided at public expense; however, state-
provided attorneys often had inadequate training and excessive caseloads.
Although the law grants citizens the right to a trial in their own language,
interpretation and translation services for non-Spanish speakers were not always
available. This deficiency primarily affected speakers of Indigenous Andean and
Amazonian languages.

Political Prisoners and Detainees

There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees.

Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies

Citizens may seek civil remedies for human rights violations, but court cases often
take years to resolve. Press reports, NGOs, and other sources alleged that persons
outside the judiciary frequently corrupted or influenced judges.

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f. Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home,
or Correspondence
The law prohibits such actions, and there were no reports that the government
failed to respect these prohibitions. The government’s continued declaration of
emergency zones in the VRAEM and La Pampa – due to drug trafficking and
terrorist activity, and illegal mining, respectively – suspended the right to home
inviolability in those regions.

Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties

a. Freedom of Expression, Including for Members of the Press and
Other Media
The constitution provides for freedom of expression, including for members of the
press and other media, and the government generally respected this right. An
independent press and a functioning democratic political system generally
promoted freedom of expression, including for members of the media.

Violence and Harassment: The Institute for Press and Society, Association of
Foreign Press of Perú, and Ombudsman’s Office denounced an increase in
aggression and intimidation towards journalists who covered local and regional
election campaigns, and in the context of December protests’ call for new elections
and other demands.

The Peruvian National Association of Journalists (ANP) Annual Report on Press

Freedom, published on December 31, stated there were 303 attacks against
journalists during the year, the most recorded since ANP began tracking these
cases in 2005. The highest number of incidents occurred in December (63) during
protests calling for early elections after the impeachment of former president
Castillo. Other critical months were April (34) during agricultural blockades, and
September (28) before the October 2 regional elections. Most media targets
comprised digital press, followed by television, radio, and print. Two-thirds of
cases were physical or verbal attacks. The remaining third involved harassment,
intimidation, and threats. Private citizens represented most alleged aggressors, but
government officials and security officers also participated, according to ANP. In

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November foreign correspondent for Spanish newspaper Diario ABC Paola Ugaz
and other prominent journalists reported they suffered multiple threats and
government-sponsored intimidation. These sentiments echoed June findings from
the IACHR.

Libel/Slander Laws: The law treats libel and slander as criminal offenses. In
January a lower court sentenced journalist and author Christopher Acosta and
Penguin Random House local director Jerónimo Pimentel to a two-year suspended
prison sentence and a civil reparation of 400,000 soles ($103,000), following a
lawsuit by a businessman and head of a political party, César Acuña. Acosta wrote
a book published by Penguin Random House Perú in 2021 in which he cited
numerous identified sources alleging Acuña had engaged in vote buying,
misappropriation of public funds, and plagiarism when campaigning for president
in the 2016 general election.

Nongovernmental Impact: NGO representatives said persons linked to a wide

array of political and economic interests threatened press freedom by intimidating
local journalists who reported on their activities. This was particularly acute in
areas with a strong presence of illegal activities.

Internet Freedom

The government did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet or censor online
content, and there were no credible reports the government monitored private
online communications without appropriate legal authority.

b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The constitution provides for the freedoms of peaceful, unarmed assembly and
association, and the government generally respected these rights. Freedom of
assembly may be suspended in areas under state of emergency. The government
declared a 30-day, countrywide state of emergency on December 15 due to protests
following former President Castillo’s attempt to dissolve congress and his
subsequent impeachment, and it set curfews in 15 provinces across eight regions.
Other emergency zones included the VRAEM, where elements of the Militarized
Communist Party of Perú and drug traffickers operated.

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Freedom of Peaceful Assembly

The law does not require a permit for public demonstrations, but the government
may restrict or prohibit demonstrations at specific times and places to ensure
public safety and health. Police used tear gas and force occasionally to disperse
protesters in demonstrations. Although demonstrations were generally peaceful,
protests in some areas turned violent, resulting in at least 55 deaths, with at least 26
of them resulting from December’s political protests following former President
Castillo’s attempt to dissolve congress and his subsequent impeachment.

c. Freedom of Religion
See the Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report at
https://www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/.

d. Freedom of Movement and the Right to Leave the Country

The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration,
and repatriation, and the government generally respected these related rights.

In-country Movement: The government maintained emergency zones that

restricted movement in the VRAEM due to the presence of the Militarized
Communist Party of Perú. These illegal actors at times interrupted the free
movement of persons by establishing roadblocks. In addition, individuals
protesting extractive industry projects occasionally established roadblocks
throughout the country. On December 15, the government declared a state of
emergency that included evening curfews in 15 provinces across eight regions.

e. Protection of Refugees
The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection
and assistance to refugees, returning refugees, and asylum seekers, as well as other
persons of concern.

More than 1.5 million foreign-born persons, including immigrants, refugees, and
asylum seekers, lived in the country. Venezuelans were by far the largest

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nationality, numbering 1.49 million, according to government officials. As of July,
434,000 Venezuelans had regular migratory resident status and 532,000 had status
of asylum seekers, per the national migration and refuge authorities. In July the
government expanded the validity of temporary migration status to two years,
giving beneficiaries more time to adjust to permanent status.

Access to Asylum: The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status,
and the government has established a system for protecting refugees. The
government cooperated with UNHCR and recognized the Peruvian Catholic
Migration Commission as the official provider of technical assistance to refugees
and asylum seekers.

Durable Solutions: The government does not have a formalized integration

program for refugees, but it received persons recognized as refugees by other
nations, granted refugee status to persons who applied from within the country, and
provided some administrative support toward their integration. The Office of
Migration started a working group to facilitate integration, but their role and
funding was not defined. UNHCR provided these refugees with humanitarian and
emergency aid, legal assistance, documentation, and, in exceptional cases,
voluntary return and family reunification.

Temporary Protection: As of September, the government provided temporary

protection to 532,000 individuals, almost all of whom were Venezuelan, while they
awaited a decision on their refugee status. Venezuelan asylum seekers were also
eligible for humanitarian residency migration status while their asylum
applications remained active with the foreign ministry.

f. Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons

The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Population’s National Registry for
Displaced Persons recognized 59,846 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the
country, most of whom were victims of the 1980-2000 internal conflict. The
registration and accreditation of IDPs provided for their protection, care, and
humanitarian assistance during displacement, return, or resettlement. According to
the government’s Reparations Council, some IDPs who were victims of the 1980-
2000 internal conflict experienced difficulties registering for reparations due to a

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lack of proper identity documents.

Section 3. Freedom to Participate in the Political Process

The law provides citizens the ability to choose their national and local government
in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot and based on universal,
compulsory, and equal suffrage.

Elections and Political Participation

Recent Elections: In July 2021 national elections, José Pedro Castillo Terrones
from the Free Perú party won and assumed the presidency, with Dina Ercilia
Boluarte Zegarra as vice president. Presidential runner-up Keiko Fujimori from
the Popular Force party and some of the party’s political allies presented legal
challenges to the second-round result that brought Pedro Castillo to the presidency,
alleging fraud. Electoral authorities reviewed the challenges per the electoral rules
for six weeks after the election and eventually dismissed them as unsubstantiated.
Citizens elected all 130 members of the single chamber congress freely and fairly,
according to observers.

Vice President Dina Boluarte assumed the presidency on December 7 following an

attempt by then President Castillo to unilaterally dissolve congress and his
subsequent impeachment and arrest.

Political Parties and Political Participation: By law groups that advocate the
violent overthrow of the government and adhere to ideologies “intrinsically
incompatible with democracy” cannot register as political parties.

Participation of Women and Members of Minority Groups: No laws limit

participation of women or members of minority groups in the political process, and
they did participate.

Section 4. Corruption and Lack of Transparency in

Government
The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials; however, the
government did not always implement the law effectively. There were numerous

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reports of corruption by government officials during the year, including at the
highest levels. Citizens continued to view corruption as a pervasive problem in all
branches of national, regional, and local governments.

Corruption: As of September, Attorney General Liz Patricia Benavides Vargas

was investigating six corruption cases with alleged involvement of former
President Castillo and other high-level members or former members of
government, and additional charges were filed in December after former President
Castillo attempted to unilaterally dissolve congress. According to the constitution,
presidents may be accused of crimes during their mandate only for a narrow list of
charges, such as treason, impeding scheduled elections, or unlawfully closing
congress.

Several high-profile political figures remained under investigation for corruption,

particularly in relation to the Odebrecht corruption scandal. There were
widespread allegations of corruption in public procurement and in public-private
partnerships. Large transportation and energy infrastructure contracts frequently
generated high-ranking political interference and corruption, including by former
presidents and regional governors. Companies also reported mid-level government
officials skewed tender specifications to favor bidders who paid bribes.

There was evidence of widespread corruption in the justice system. Prosecutors

continued an investigation initiated following 2018 media reports of a judicial
scandal involving allegations of influence peddling and graft by judges and
prosecutors at multiple levels. Allegations of corruption existed at all levels of the
Peruvian National Police.

Section 5. Governmental Posture Towards International and

Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human
Rights
A variety of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Government officials were somewhat cooperative and
responsive to their views.

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Retribution against Human Rights Defenders (HRDs): NGOs, fellow activists,
the United Nations, and various government actors expressed concern regarding
the increase in killings of environmental activists (see section 1.a.). Activists
claimed the slow, ineffective process for punishing harassers and killers effectively
led to impunity.

Government Human Rights Bodies: The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights,
and in particular the Vice Ministry of Human Rights and Access to Justice,
oversaw human rights policies and issues at the national level. The Ministry of
Interior, Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations, and Ministry of Labor
and Employment Promotion played significant human rights roles. These
government bodies were generally considered effective. The independent
Ombudsman’s Office operated without government or party interference. NGOs,
civil society organizations, and the public considered the Ombudsman’s Office
effective.

Congressional committees overseeing human rights included Justice and Human

Rights; Women and the Family; Labor and Social Security; Andean, Amazonian,
Afro-Peruvian Peoples, and Environment and Ecology; Health and Population; and
Social Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities. Effectiveness varied, with
committee priorities often subject to partisan interests and agendas.

Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses

Women
Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalizes rape of men and women,
including spousal rape, and stipulates penalties ranging from 14 years to life in
prison. Enforcement of sexual and domestic violence laws was inadequate, often
at the discretion of the relevant authorities, according to gender-based violence
experts. Undue dismissals of charges were allegedly common.

The law defines femicide as the crime of killing of a woman or girl based on
expectations, assumptions, or factors distinctive to her gender. The minimum
sentence for femicide is generally 20 years, or 30 years when the crime includes
aggravating circumstances (for example, crimes against a child, the elderly, or a

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pregnant victim). Police action to enforce the law was weak and slow, and
prosecution of cases was often lengthy and ineffective.

During the year, the Ombudsman’s Office began tracking cases of missing women
and girls in monthly reports. As of September, the Ombudsman’s Office reported
3,528 cases of women who went missing and were not found between January and
September, an increase of 22 percent compared with the first nine months of 2021.
Of the missing persons, 68 percent were young girls and teenagers.

The law prohibits domestic violence; penalties generally range from one month to
six years in prison. The law authorizes judges and prosecutors to prevent a
convicted spouse or parent from returning to the family home. The law also
authorizes the victim’s relatives and unrelated persons living in the home to file
complaints of domestic violence. The law requires a police investigation of
domestic violence to take place within five days of a complaint and obliges
authorities to extend protection to female victims of domestic violence.
Enforcement of the law was lax, according to NGOs specialized in combating
gender-based violence.

Violence against women and girls, including sexual, physical, and psychological
abuse, was a serious, underreported national problem. As of September, the
Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations reported 71 percent of women
victims of violence did not file formal charges.

The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations operated 430 service centers
for victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other crimes, including sex
trafficking, and their accompanying children. Almost half of the centers were
embedded in police stations. Some of the centers provided basic short-term shelter
as well as legal, psychological, and social services. NGO representatives
expressed concern regarding the quality and quantity of the program’s services,
particularly in rural areas. The ministry operated a toll-free telephone hotline and
implemented projects to sensitize government employees and citizens to the
problem of domestic violence. The Attorney General’s Office operated emergency
accommodations that women and children survivors of domestic violence and
other crimes, such as human trafficking, could use for short-term accommodation.
The government made efforts to expand temporary shelters, but NGO

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representatives and members of congress said these measures were not enough.

Provincial prosecutorial offices are required by law to incorporate survivors of

sexual violence into the national Victims and Witness Assistance Program or to
request required protection measures from the court; however, an NGO reported 15
percent of criminal prosecutors did not make these requests.

Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment was a serious problem. The law defines
sexual harassment as comments, touching, or actions of a sexual nature that are
unsolicited and unwanted by the victim. The penalty for sexual harassment is up to
eight years in prison. Sexual harassment in the workplace is also a labor rights
violation subject to administrative penalties. Government enforcement of the law
was minimal, according to experts on gender-based violence.

Reproductive Rights: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary

sterilization on the part of government authorities.

The law requires public health centers to provide free access to emergency
contraception, which was also available for purchase in commercial pharmacies.
Postsexual assault kits included emergency contraception. There were complaints
of unnecessary delays due to staffing shortages and logistical problems in
processing the kits.

Both public and private health centers provided care for post-abortion obstetric
emergencies. Experts noted, however, that because abortion is criminalized, there
was a risk of public health centers filing charges against the patient following the
procedure. This was less of a concern at private health centers, leading to
socioeconomic disparities regarding the legal implications of abortion.

Access to menstrual health products and adequate spaces for menstrual hygiene
(including bathrooms and clinics) were a problem, particularly in rural and poor
areas, due to the lack of water and sanitation, high price of menstrual hygiene
products, and lack of information and awareness by teachers and employers.

Of births nationwide, 94 percent occurred in institutional facilities, such as

hospitals, clinics, and health centers. This figure dropped to 84 percent in rural
areas. NGOs reported women in rural areas, especially Quechua women, were

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distrustful of health-care providers, who sometimes imposed fines on Indigenous
women who gave birth at home. NGOs focused on sexual and reproductive health
reported health-care staff at times threatened to withhold birth certificates, and
Indigenous women in rural areas experienced “verbal aggressions, mistreatment,
the imposition of institutionalized and horizontal childbirth, and ignorance of their
language and customs” when seeking reproductive health services. Factors such as
lack of sexual education, location of health centers, economic hardships, and
religious, spiritual, and social customs also contributed to the mistrust of the state
health-care system among certain populations.

Early motherhood continued to be a risk to adolescent health. The 2020 data (the
latest available) from the Demographic and Family Health Survey reported 8
percent of female adolescents ages 15-19 had been pregnant at least once (12
percent in rural areas).

Discrimination: The law provides for equality between men and women. It
prohibits gender-based discrimination between partners regarding marriage,
pregnancy, pay, and property rights. Despite this, the law obliges only women to
wait 300 days after widowhood or divorce to remarry. The government did not
always enforce the remarriage law effectively, according to specialized NGOs.

Arbitrary dismissal of pregnant women and workplace discrimination against

women were common. The law stipulates women should receive equal pay for
equal work, but women often were paid less than men for the same jobs.

Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination

The constitution grants equality of rights. Government enforcement was uneven.
Racial or ethnic discrimination is a crime in the criminal code, alongside other
factors such as language, religion, age, gender, or socioeconomic status. It carries
penalties up to four years in prison and fines of up to 1.9 million soles ($500,000).
Enforcement varied, subject to case visibility, power of those affected, and
corruption, among others.

Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous persons remained politically, economically, and socially

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disadvantaged. Indigenous communities in the Amazon region faced threats from
land grabbers, narcotics traffickers, illegal miners and loggers, and extractive
industries that operated near or within Indigenous land holdings. Indigenous
persons were particularly at risk for both sex and labor trafficking. Many
Indigenous persons who lived in rural communities had limited access to the
justice system, protection, or abuse prevention activities. Indigenous leaders
claimed the national and regional governments did not adequately protect their
communities nor their property interests.

Regulatory measures and protection responses were insufficient to deter threats

posed to environmental rights defenders. Experts cited a need for public policy
changes to provide effective protection, including a system in line with the Escazú
Agreement, whose purpose was to deepen the link between human rights and
environmental justice. They criticized congress for refusing to ratify the
agreement.

While the constitution recognizes Indigenous communities have the right to own
land communally, Indigenous groups often lacked legal title to demarcate the
boundaries of their land. Amazonian Indigenous communities continued to accuse
the national government of delaying the issuance of land titles. By law, Indigenous
communities retain the right of nonassignability, which is designed to prevent the
title to Indigenous lands from being reassigned to a non-Indigenous person. Some
Indigenous community members, however, sold land to outsiders without the
majority consent of their community.

The national government retains subsurface mineral rights for land nationwide.
This led to disputes between local Indigenous communities, the national
government, regional governments, and various extractive industry interests. The
law requires the government to consult with Indigenous communities on proposed
extractive projects or on changes to current extractive projects. The law also
requires the government to produce a detailed implementation plan to facilitate
government and private-sector compliance. Observers considered implementation
of this law as somewhat effective.

The law requires the Ministry of Culture to establish a database of Indigenous

communities entitled to consultation. The ministry recognized 55 Indigenous

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peoples entitled to “prior consultation” and confirmed the existence of another 24
Indigenous “peoples in voluntary isolation” with very limited or no contact with
the rest of the country, all of them located in the Amazon rainforest. As of
September, the government initiated 81 prior consultations with 801 Indigenous
communities belonging to 19 Indigenous peoples, which generated 487
agreements. Of the 81 prior-consultation processes, 70 were concluded and 11
continued as of September. NGOs, legal experts, and the Ombudsman’s Office
expressed concern that Indigenous communities often did not have sufficient
training to engage effectively in consultations with the government and extractive
industries.

Quechua is the most widely spoken Indigenous language, with 14 percent of

citizens (4.4 million individuals) claiming it as their first language. Quechua is the
co-official national language with Spanish, and access to essential public services
and government action in Quechua should be available, but enforcement remained
weak at the national level.

Children
Birth Registration: Citizenship is derived either by birth within the country’s
territory or from either of the parents. Birth registration was provided on a
nondiscriminatory basis. At birth, the state issues an assigned national
identification number and a subsequent identification card, which is essential to
access most public and many private services. More than 98 percent of resident
citizens had a valid national identification card; rural Amazonian areas had the
lowest coverage, at 96 percent. Government and NGO representatives assessed
that undocumented individuals were particularly vulnerable to labor exploitation,
human trafficking, and other crimes.

Child Abuse: The law requires all government authorities, courts, and social
service institutions to use the “best interests of the child” standard in decisions
affecting abused children. The law imposes prison sentences ranging between six
years’ and life imprisonment for crimes listed in the criminal code as “child
abuse,” including sexual exploitation of children, child abuse, and child trafficking,
but these crimes were sometimes confused with one another by prosecutors. Police
did not always collect the evidence required to meet the prosecutor’s evidentiary

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burden, and judges regularly applied a higher evidentiary threshold than required,
resulting in courts applying lesser, easier-to-prove charges, particularly in
trafficking cases.

Violence against children, including sexual abuse, was a serious problem. The
2020 (the latest available) National Health Survey reported 9 percent of parents hit
their children to punish them. At-risk children may be placed with guardians or in
specialized residential facilities for different kinds of victims. Not all shelters
provided psychological care, although the law requires it. In most regions,
residential shelters operated by provincial or district authorities were supplemented
by shelters operated by schools, churches, and NGOs. The Ministry of Women
and Vulnerable Populations operated six specialized shelters for girl trafficking
victims that provided psychosocial, medical, and legal support.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The legal minimum age of marriage is 18.
The law allows a civil judge to authorize minors 16 and 17 to marry.

Sexual Exploitation of Children: The law prohibits child pornography and

stipulates a penalty of six to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine. The law prohibits
child sex trafficking, with prescribed penalties of 12 to 20 years in prison if the
victim is 14 to 17, and at least 25 years if the victim is 13 or younger. Government
officials and NGOs identified numerous cases of child sex trafficking during the
year, although officials continued to classify many child sex trafficking crimes as
sexual exploitation, which provides fewer protections to victims.

Although the country has strong laws to protect children, the government did not
enforce the laws effectively. Media reported on the sex and labor trafficking of
girls and women in the illicit gold-mining sites of the remote Amazonian Madre de
Dios region. Law enforcement operations against illegal mining sites were not
effective in identifying victims and removing them from exploitation.

The minimum age for consensual sex is 14. A conviction for rape of a child
younger than 14 by an adult carries a sentence of life imprisonment. The law also
prohibits adults from using deceit, abuse of power, or taking advantage of a child
in a vulnerable situation to have sex.

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Antisemitism
Estimates of the Jewish population ranged from 3,000 to 4,000 persons. There
were no serious reports of antisemitism. In April former Prime Minister Aníbal
Torres Vásquez praised Adolf Hitler’s infrastructure developments as a national
model in comments during a public cabinet meeting in the city of Huancayo. The
international community and media condemned Torres’ comment, for which he
apologized.

Trafficking in Persons
See the Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report at
https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/.

Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex
Characteristics
Criminalization: There are no laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual
conduct between adults. Civil society organizations reported that occasionally,
local-level regulations against “indecency” and “loitering” disproportionally
affected lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+)
individuals, and abuse in the application of local laws against street sex work was
more prevalent against transgender women.

Violence against LGBTQI+ Persons: Harassment and abuse of transgender

individuals, including by police and other authorities, was a serious problem.
LGBTQI+ persons were particularly vulnerable to human trafficking and largely
lacked access to comprehensive protective services.

Discrimination: The constitution includes a broad prohibition against

discrimination, and individuals may file legal claims of discrimination based on
sexual orientation or gender identity. Few national laws, however, mention sexual
orientation and gender identity as explicit categories for protection from
discrimination, which left room for interpretations that overlooked rights for
LGBTQI+ persons. Some regions and municipalities, including La Libertad,

Page 20
Loreto, Piura, and San Martín, had regulations that explicitly prohibit
discrimination against LGBTQI+ persons and provide administrative relief but not
criminal charges.

Government officials, NGO representatives, journalists, and social leaders reported

official and societal discrimination against LGBTQI+ persons in employment,
housing, education, law enforcement, and health care based on sexual orientation
and gender identity. NGO representatives reported law enforcement authorities
repeatedly failed to protect and, on occasion, disregarded the rights of LGBTQI+
citizens.

Availability of Legal Gender Recognition: The law provides transgender

persons the right to update their national identity documents to reflect their gender
identity, but it requires a long, expensive legal challenge process with
unpredictable results. Transgender persons, therefore, often did not have valid
national identification cards, which limited their access to government services. In
June, a lower court ordered the National Identity and Civil Status Registry to allow
citizens to change their gender, name, and picture to reflect their current identity.
The registry had allowed only for name changes and would approve changing
one’s gender on the document only after receiving proof of completed gender-
reassignment surgery. The issue gained widespread visibility following the August
detention of two transgender Peruvian citizens in Indonesia and the death of one of
them under Indonesian police custody, whose gender identity and appearance did
not match that written in their passports. Spokespersons of the victim’s family and
LGBTQI+ activists argued this discordance played a role in the outcome.

Involuntary or Coercive Medical or Psychological Practices Specifically

Targeting LGBTQI+ Individuals: LGBTQI+ persons reported instances where
they were persuaded or forced to seek “conversion therapy” treatments to change
their sexual orientation or gender identity due to “hostile family environments.”
According to a September study by the domestic NGO Más Igualdad Perú, 40
percent of LGBTQI+ persons surveyed reported having undergone “conversion
therapy” practices. Half of reported instances occurred in a religious institution or
at the hands of professionals who subscribe to a faith tradition.

Restrictions of Freedom of Expression, Association, or Peaceful Assembly:

Page 21
There were no laws restricting freedom of expression, association or peaceful
assembly of LGBTQI+ persons or LGBTQI+ advocates.

Persons with Disabilities

Accessibility in public transportation and streets and highways varied widely
according to locality, and while accessible infrastructure existed, it was not always
reliable. Local government regulations and construction licenses require public
spaces and buildings to be accessible for persons with disabilities. Nevertheless,
problems facing persons with disabilities continued, due to frequently inaccessible
or suboptimal infrastructure. Persons with disabilities also faced hurdles in their
access to education, insufficient employment opportunities, and employment
discrimination, according to government and civil society leaders. The
Ombudsman’s Office reported that approximately 87 percent of children with
disabilities did not attend school before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020,
and that 76 percent of persons with disabilities did not work. One government
survey reported that 70 percent of employers stated they would not hire a person
with a disability.

The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities, defined as

individuals with a physical, sensory, or mental impairment that limits one or more
major life activities. The law establishes infractions and punishments for
noncompliance. It provides for the protection, care, rehabilitation, security, and
social inclusion of persons with disabilities, and it mandates that public spaces and
government internet sites be accessible to them. It requires the inclusion of sign
language or subtitles in all educational and cultural programs on public television
and in media available in public libraries. The government did not always
effectively enforce the law.

The law requires companies to have job selection processes that give persons with
disabilities the opportunity to apply for jobs on equal terms with persons without
disabilities. The law also requires employers to provide employees up to 56 hours
of leave per year to accompany their relatives with disabilities to medical
appointments.

The government failed to enforce laws protecting the rights of persons with mental

Page 22
disabilities. NGO representatives and government officials reported an insufficient
number of medical personnel providing services in psychiatric institutions.
Nevertheless, awareness of mental health issues was growing, including through
public messaging from the Ministry of Health and in public remarks by the
president of the council of ministers in October.

Other Societal Violence or Discrimination

Persons with HIV and AIDS faced widespread discrimination and harassment with
respect to employment, housing, and social inclusion. The Ministry of Health
implemented policies to combat such discrimination. HIV and AIDS affected
transgender women and girls disproportionately, and many transgender women
could not obtain health care because they lacked national identification cards
reflecting their gender and appearance.

Section 7. Worker Rights

a. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining
With certain limitations, labor laws and regulations provide for freedom of
association, the right to strike, and collective bargaining. The law prohibits
intimidation by employers and other forms of antiunion discrimination. It requires
reinstatement or compensation of workers fired for union activity. The law allows
workers to form unions without seeking prior authorization. By law at least 20
workers must join to form an enterprise-level union, and 50 workers to form a
sector-wide union or federation. Some labor activists viewed this requirement as
prohibitively high, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, which
represented 96.5 percent of all businesses.

Long-term employment under short-term contract schemes was widespread,

including in the public sector. The use of unlimited consecutive short-term
contracts made the exercise of freedom of association and collective bargaining
difficult. Unions asserted the Ministry of Labor did not apply the required
procedures for legal use of limited-term contracts.

In 2021, congress approved the progressive elimination of “administrative service

contracts,” a hiring method of short-term contracts with diminished rights widely

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used in the public sector, even for de facto permanent positions.

Private-sector labor law sets out nine categories of short-term employment

contracts that companies may use. The law sets time limits on contracts in each
category and has a five-year overall limit on the consecutive use of short-term
contracts. A sector-specific law covering parts of the textile and apparel sectors
exempts employers from this five-year limit and allows employers to hire workers
indefinitely on short-term contracts. In 2020, following protests against an
additional exceptional arrangement to the agricultural labor law, congress passed a
revised nontraditional exports promotion law allowing consecutive short-term
contracts (which in turn undermined freedom of association), compensation, and
paid-leave benefits for workers through 2031. The law sets mechanisms to
compensate terminated workers, gradually raises workers’ participation in revenue
sharing (from the current 5 percent to 10 percent in 2027), and sets explicit
requirements for the provision of transportation, meals, sanitation services, and
emergency health care. It also forbids child labor, gender discrimination, and
sexual harassment.

The law allows unions to declare a strike in accordance with their governing
documents, with prior notice of five days for the private sector, 10 days for the
public sector, and 15 days for emergency services. Essential services must also
receive the approval of the Ministry of Labor to strike and provide enough workers
during a strike to maintain operations. Neither private- nor public-sector
institutions may legally dismiss workers who strike.

The government did not effectively enforce the law on freedom of association,
collective bargaining, or other labor laws. Penalties were not commensurate with
penalties for other laws involving denials of civil rights, such as discrimination.
Penalties were rarely applied against violators.

Workers faced prolonged judicial processes and lack of enforcement following

dismissals for trade union activity. In October workers at the major television
channel América TV formed a union but reported that they faced harassment and
threats from the corporation. Authorities launched an investigation of the matter
following the workers’ statement.

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b. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits and criminalizes all forms of forced or compulsory labor, but the
government did not always enforce it effectively. The law prescribes penalties of
eight to 15 years’ imprisonment for labor trafficking crimes committed against
adults and six to 12 years’ imprisonment for exploitation crimes classified as
forced labor. The government had a separate commission, interministerial
protocol, and national plan for combating forced labor and child labor.

Forced labor continued to occur in domestic service, agriculture, forestry, gold

mining and related services, manufacturing, brick making, and organized street
begging, as well as in illegal activities such as counterfeit operations. Illegal
logging affected many Indigenous communities, who found themselves trapped in
forced labor. The self-styled drug-trafficking organization the Militarized
Communist Party of Perú, which authorities considered the successor of the
terrorist organization Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), used force and coercion to
recruit children to serve as guards and porters in the VRAEM. It also used force
and coercion to subject children and adults to forced labor in agriculture,
cultivation or transportation of illicit narcotics, and domestic servitude, as well as
to carry out terrorist activities.

Also see the Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report at

https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report.

c. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment

See the Department of Labor’s Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor at
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/findings.

d. Discrimination with Respect to Employment and Occupation

The law prohibits employment discrimination based on race, skin color, sex,
religion, political opinion, national origin, citizenship, social origin, disability, age,
language, or social status. Nonetheless, NGOs working on labor and
discrimination issues reported employment discrimination based on race, gender,
skin color, national origin, social origin, disability, language, and social status
continued. The new agricultural promotion law also prohibits gender

Page 25
discrimination and sexual harassment.

The law does not specifically identify discrimination based on sexual orientation,
gender identity, HIV-positive status, or other communicable diseases.
Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity occurred.

The law establishes employment quotas for persons with disabilities: 3 percent for
private businesses with more than 50 employees, and 5 percent for public-sector
organizations. The law prohibits discrimination against domestic workers and
prohibits any requirement by employers for their domestic workers to wear
uniforms in public places. The National Council for the Integration of Persons
with Disabilities oversees compliance with employment quotas for persons with
disabilities. Compliance with quotas varied.

The government did not effectively enforce the law on discrimination. Penalties
were less than those related to civil rights, such as election interference. Penalties
were rarely applied against violators.

NGO representatives and labor rights advocates noted discrimination cases often
went unreported.

The law stipulates women should receive equal pay for equal work, but women
often were paid less than men for the same jobs. In 2021, the national statistical
institute reported that the average salary of working women was 72 percent of the
average salary of working men. Arbitrary dismissal of pregnant women and
workplace discrimination against women were common.

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

Wage and Hour Laws: The law provides for a national minimum wage, which
was above the official estimate for the poverty income level. The law provides for
a 48-hour workweek and one day of rest for workers in the formal sector. There is
no prohibition on compulsory overtime, nor does the law limit the amount of
overtime that a worker may work. The law stipulates 30 calendar days of paid
annual vacation. Domestic workers have the same rights as other formal-sector
workers, such as required vacation time and yearly bonuses.

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Occupational Safety and Health: The National Occupational Safety and Health
commission, led by the Labor Ministry and including the Health Ministry and
employer and union representatives, is responsible for defining the national
occupational safety and health (OSH) policy. The law establishes appropriate
OSH standards and requires employers to ensure safe workplace conditions.
Workers may remove themselves from situations that endanger their health without
repercussions. The law requires workers to prove an employer’s culpability before
they can obtain compensation for work-related injuries. The Ministry of Labor
reported that as of May, there were 11 fatal workplace accidents, 1,469 serious
workplace accidents, and 1,571 light accidents. Manufacturing accidents
contributed 25 percent to this total.

Wage, Hour, and OSH Enforcement: The government did not effectively
enforce wage laws, and penalties were less than those for similar crimes, such as
fraud. Noncompliance with the law is punishable by fines. The government rarely
applied penalties against violators. According to a labor NGO and labor experts,
many fines went uncollected, in part because the government lacked an efficient
tracking system and at times lacked political will. Labor inspectors have the
authority to make unannounced inspections and initiate charges or other penalties.

The law permits fines and criminal charges for OSH violations. The government
did not effectively enforce OSH laws, and penalties for these violations were less
than those for analogous crimes, such as negligence. The number of labor
inspectors was not sufficient to enforce compliance. Criminal penalties are limited
to cases where employers deliberately violated OSH laws, and where labor
authorities had previously and repeatedly notified employers who subsequently did
not adopt corrective measures.

Informal Sector: As of June, 76 percent of workers were found in the informal

sector, reaching 95 percent in rural areas, a significant increase from 66 percent in
2019, largely a result of the restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most informal workers were self-employed. Many workers in the informal sector
received less than the minimum wage, as wage, working time, OSH and other
labor regulations are not enforced in the informal sector. Nearly 90 percent of
Venezuelan migrant workers were in the informal sector, most of them in
suboptimal conditions and earning less than the minimum wage due to their lack of

Page 27
proper documentation and inability to validate their academic credentials. Workers
in the informal economy were at increased risk of exploitation in sex or labor
trafficking.

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