Document #1056271
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Please find attached a copy of a response
on the subject prepared by the Andean Commission of Jurists (CAJ)
in March 1993, and an article from an early 1991 issue of the
Peruvian weekly newsmagazine Caretas.
According to the 1991 Caretas
report, many policemen seem to have found that committing an
offence was the quickest way to leave the police force (25 Feb.
1991, 43). The report states that a patrolman with an impeccable
service record would not be granted a request for retirement, while
a delinquent policeman would be quickly discharged (Ibid.).
Although the report uses the term guardia, which, as
explained in the attached CAJ report, is a subaltern rank, it is
not clear whether the term in this article refers to policemen of
that rank or to policemen in general. According to a researcher
with the CAJ, the term guardia is colloquially used for
referring to policemen, particularly to members of the
Policía General (PG), a branch of the National Police that
was formerly called Guardia Civil (GC) (25 Mar. 1993). What follows
is a summarized unofficial translation of the attached CAJ
document, provided for your reference (23 Mar. 1993).
A policeman can resign from active service
in the police, either by discharge or by obtaining "availability"
status (situación de disponibilidad, somewhat similar
to a military reserve status). Policemen can be voluntarily
discharged from the force for a variety of reasons, including age,
sickness, judicial sanction and disciplinary measures. The
policeman can also request his discharge without a stated reason as
long as he has served for seven years in the case of officers, or
for five years if the policeman is below the rank of officer.
Regulations also state that policemen may not obtain "availability"
status or resign when the country is in a state of emergency or
exception and the person is carrying out a special assignment or
service of a secret nature (Ibid.).
Policemen are subject to the Code of
Military Justice. Trials for service violations stipulated under
the law are conducted by the War Council (Consejo de Guerra)
and Superior Councils of Justice (Consejos Superiores de
Justicia) of the police forces, which are permanent tribunals
subject to the Supreme Council of Military Justice (Consejo
Supremo de Justicia Militar) (Ibid.).
Police personnel are grouped as follows:
General Officers (Oficiales Generales), Superior Officers
(Oficiales Superiores), Subaltern Officers (Oficiales
Subalternos), Subaltern Police Personnel (Personal
Subalterno Policial) (subofficers, sergeants, corporals,
guards, students), Subaltern Services Personnel (Personal
Subalterno de Servicios), Auxiliary Personnel (Personal
Auxiliar) (armourers, teachers) and civilian personnel
(Ibid.).
Desertion is a crime defined in the Code of
Military Justice and it applies to those who abandon their
compulsory military service or who fail to report for service after
being called for recruitment. In case of war, the crime of
desertion also applies to "officers of any rank or hierarchy of the
armed forces and the police forces" (Ibid.). The Code also
defines the offences of service abandonment and assignment
abandonment (abandono de servicio and abandono de
destino, respectively), and the penalties vary according to the
circumstances and severity of the offence. The norms on this matter
are rather extensive and are therefore attached in their original
form. (Please note that the markings and shades in the copies of
pages of the Code of Military Justice provided by the CAJ appear as
received by the DIRB).
Additionally, the CAJ reports that by 31
December 1992, one quarter of Peruvian territory was in a state of
emergency, a situation which would appear to limit resignations
from force members who are on assignments of a secret nature
(Ibid.). The CAJ also states that because of the intense
political violence affecting the country and the resulting deaths
of military and police personnel among others, and the difficult
material and psychological conditions in which they have to work,
particularly in the emergency zones, there have been a large number
of requests to leave the forces (Ibid.). It is likely,
however, that only a small number of these requests are being
accepted, and at best the procedure for leaving may take a long
time (Ibid.).
Additional and/or corroborating information
could not be found among the sources currently available to the
DIRB.
Andean Commission of Jurists (CAJ),
Lima. 25 March 1993. Telephone Interview with Researcher.
_____. 23 March 1993. Fax Received by
DIRB, Ottawa.
Caretas [Lima]. 25 February 1991.
"Baja Policía."
Andean Commission of Jurists (CAJ),
Lima. 23 March 1993. Fax Received by DIRB, Ottawa.
Caretas [Lima]. 25 February 1991.
"Baja Policía," pp. 40, 42-43.