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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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South Africa: Indemnities by Former Regime
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South Africa: Indemnities by Former Regime
Date Distributed (ymd): 950118
Subject: Human Rights Watch letter to Mandela
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
485 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10017-6104
TEL (212) 972-8400
FAX (212) 972-0905
Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org
1522 K Street, NW, #910
Washington, DC 20005-1202
TEL (202) 371-6592
FAX (202) 371-0124
Email: hrwdc@hrw.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Mike McClintock (212) 972-8400
(New York, NY) - January 13, 1994 - In a letter to
President Mandela today, Human Rights Watch called for
an investigation into the "indemnities" granted by
former President F.W. De Klerk to members of the
security forces and to the former Minister of Law and
Order Adriaan Vlok. Human Rights Watch asserts that
unilateral amnesties granted by governments to their
own security forces are not valid under international
law, and these indemnities should be set aside.
January 13, 1995
President Nelson Mandela
Office of the President
Pretoria South Africa
Your Excellency,
It is with extreme dismay that Human Rights
Watch/Africa has learnt of the indemnities granted by
your predecessor, F. W. de Klerk, to the former
Minister of Law and Order Adriaan Vlok and 3,500 other
members of the security forces. Although there is a
need for further investigation into the circumstances
in which the decision was made, it appears that these
indemnities were not granted in good faith, and we
urge you to set them aside.
As we stated in our report of October 1992, which was
sent to President de Klerk, at the time of the Further
Indemnity Act, we do not believe that unilateral
amnesties granted by governments to their own security
forces are valid under international law. Human
Rights Watch recognizes that in the course of a
difficult transition to democracy, national
reconciliation may require the grant of generous
amnesty measures for those who committed violent acts
on all sides during the previous struggle. But we
firmly believe that such clemency must not (and in
international law may not) extend to offenses so
egregious that they constitute crimes against
humanity.
The successor authorities are under an affirmative
obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish these
crimes, and to invalidate legal subterfuge and secret
measures that are obstacles to their compliance with
that obligation. No concept of "reconciliation" can
justify the upholding of these indemnities where those
indemnified have committed or been responsible for
murder, torture or other gross violations of
internationally recognized human rights. The manner
in which these indemnities were granted and then
concealed brings into question the good faith of the
authorities who were then in power and are now part of
the coalition government, as well as their commitment
to the rule of law in the new order.
Sincerely,
Ken Roth
Executive Director
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This material is being reposted for wider distribution
by the Washington Office on Africa (WOA) and the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC). WOA is a
not-for-profit church, trade union and civil rights
group supported organization that works with Congress
on Africa-related legislation. APIC is WOA's
educational affiliate.
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