International Day for the Right to the Truth

The Dominican Delegation is also grateful for the valuable and interesting presentations made by Commissioner Julissa Mantilla Falcón, First Vice President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and Commissioner Flávia Piovesan, Second Vice President; and we join in the congratulations expressed by those who spoke before us on the fact that the Commission today has a board of officers made up entirely of women.

Our Delegation is delighted to have co-sponsored, together with the Permanent Missions of Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Chile and El Salvador, the inclusion on the agenda of this regular meeting of the Permanent Council of this important item on the International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, whose observance each March 24 was proclaimed by resolution A/RES/65/196 of the General Assembly of the United Nations, dated December 21, 2010.

We are here today to support the firm commitment of our Organization to pay tribute to all the victims, and their families, of grave violations of human rights and international crimes committed in times of dictatorship and internal armed conflict and also, regrettably, under democratic regimes. We recognize the importance of the remedies available for obtaining reparations for the victims of human rights violations and of grave breaches of international humanitarian law. We further recognize the importance of guaranteeing the right to the truth in order to help end impunity and to promote and protect human rights.

The United Nations resolution also pays tribute to those who have devoted their lives to the struggle to promote and protect the human rights of all, and to those who have lost their lives in that endeavor. In this regard, it highlights the important and valuable work of Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador, who devoted himself actively to the promotion and protection of human rights in his country, work that was recognized internationally through his messages, in which he denounced violations of the human rights of the most vulnerable populations. That arduous work on behalf of humanity was, regrettably, extinguished on March 24, 1980. Yet his dedication, legacy and example will always remain among us as a model of generosity and of devotion to protecting the values of the most vulnerable.

Before concluding, we would like to recognize the work done on this subject by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and specifically by its Rapporteurship on Memory, Truth and Justice, which supports and makes important contributions to the fight against impunity and to the promotion of comprehensive reparation, truth and memory on the continent.

Also worthy of note are the country visits and the preparation of reports monitoring the state of processes of memory, truth, justice and reparation, as well as guarantees of non-repetition, generally in the aftermath of contexts of grave human rights violations, always intervening on behalf of the rights of the victims and their families and in keeping with the principles of transitional justice.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.