Peru government offers $13,000 to victims families

• Peru is providing families who lost a relative during statewide protests with financial assistance.
• But Amnesty International has accused the government.
• Of denying responsibility for the killings.

The government of Peru is providing families who lost a relative during statewide protests between December 8 and February 10 with almost $13,000 in financial assistance.

According to the decision, each family would receive about $13,000 US dollars (50,000 nuevos soles), and the injured will receive half of this amount, or $6,500 US dollars (25,000 nuevos soles).

According to the decree, the payments are not considered reparations and are instead classified as financial assistance for civilians and police officers.

In a statement, Amnesty International slammed the government for denying responsibility for the killings.

“Economic assistance to the people killed and injured is a duty by the State due to the families’ patrimonial affectation but does not exempt (the state) of the responsibility to look for truth, justice, and reparation for the victims for the abuse of their human rights,” it wrote on Twitter.

After former president Pedro Castillo was impeached and detained in December, Peruvian families have demanded compensation for fatalities and injuries related to the protests, as reputed media outlet first reported.

The protests against his removal from office were spurred by widespread discontent with the nation’s living standards and inequalities.

According to Peru’s Ombudsman’s office, at least 60 people have died as a result of protests, including one police officer.

Outside of Lima, most of those fatalities occurred. According to the same organisation, as of February 22, seven individuals have perished in Apurimac, ten in Ayacucho, and twenty in Puno, for instance.

The move by the government follows a preliminary assessment from Amnesty International, which accused Peruvian police of behaving with “a blatant discriminatory bias” in their suppression of protests last week.

In addition, the human rights organisation charged that Peruvian security forces had violated international human rights norms by deploying deadly ammunition in weapons “as one of their major ways of dispersing demonstrators, even when there was no evident risk to the lives of others.”

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