December, a technical working group was set up to address the problem and a single 1. Paraguay: Indigenous Community at Risk of Eviction (Index: AMR comprehensive care route was finally 45/0614/2019), 2 July. approved. 2. Paraguay: They Are Girls, Not Mothers: Steps to Ending Sexual The authorities failed to shed light on the Violence against Children and Adolescents and Forcing Girls into Motherhood in Paraguay (Index: AMR 45/5031/2021), 1 December circumstances surrounding the deaths of two 11-year-old Argentine girls during an operation by the Joint Task Force in the PERU department of Concepción in September 2020. There were also no answers regarding Republic of Peru the flawed investigation by the Public Head of state and government: José Pedro Castillo Prosecutor's Office and the authorities failed Terrones (replaced Francisco Rafael Sagasti to establish a special commission to Hochhausler in July) investigate the incident or to seek the assistance of the Inter-American Commission Peru recorded the highest number of on Human Rights, as requested by civil Covid-19 deaths per million people. society organizations. Concerns remained about impunity for WOMEN´S RIGHTS excessive use of force by law enforcement officials. Formal criminal charges were In November, a sentencing court found a brought in cases of forced sterilization and priest responsible for the sexual harassment proceedings in other cases of systematic charges brought by Alexa Torres, and he sexual violence resumed. The authorities faced a suspended sentence of one year had yet to adequately address the health imprisonment. crisis experienced by Indigenous peoples A bill declaring femicides a national due to environmental contamination by emergency was passed in the context of an toxic substances. Cases of gender-based increasing number of killings of women. violence increased, as did the number of Congress also discussed another bill which missing women. would define cases as family violence even BACKGROUND where the perpetrator and victim are not cohabiting. The Supreme Court of Justice During the first half of the year, presidential approved the protocol for dealing with cases and congressional elections were held. The of domestic violence against women and the campaign was marked by discrimination and Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare racism towards voters from rural and issued a manual on support services for Indigenous peoples’ communities. victims of domestic violence. EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE The Public Defender’s Office reported in mid-November that a record 2,312 women Investigations by the Attorney General’s Office had been assisted in the first six months of into the deaths of Inti Sotelo and Bryan the year within the framework of Law 5777. Pintado, two young men killed by police The National Police and Ministry of Women during a protest in November 2020, made SOS helpline registered 4,469 cases of slow progress. Although the government domestic violence in the same period. granted the families economic, health and A bill to prevent, punish and eradicate educational assistance, their right to truth gender-based political violence against and justice had not been fulfilled by the end women was before Congress at the end of the of the year. year. The 2020 Police Protection Law, which includes a presumption in favour of the police about the reasonableness of the use of Amnesty International Report 2021/22 296