OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Nominated by: Erik Leaver, Institute for Policy Studies

WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (OneWorld.net) - Francisco Soberón has worked to find justice for Peruvians for over 25 years, and the human rights group he founded has been instrumental in bringing former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori to trial for alleged crimes against humanity.

© Institute for Policy StudiesA young lawyer with a background in education and agricultural cooperatives, Soberón founded the Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) in 1982 to help protect ordinary Peruvians caught in the crossfire between the Shining Path guerrilla group, the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), and the Peruvian armed forces.

Beatings, torture, "disappearances," and arbitrary detentions were common during the almost 20 years of active conflict. During APRODEH's first two years of work alone, the group documented over 2,000 forced disappearances. Over 600,000 people were forced from their homes and villages by the fighting. Some 30,000 were killed.

In 1985, Soberón helped found the National Coordination Network of Human Rights, an umbrella organization that now brings together 70 human rights organizations in Peru. He has worked at every level to help promote justice -- from educating peasants about their rights, to working within the country's beleaguered judicial system, to petitioning international human rights bodies and the United Nations.

In the past 25 years, APRODEH has come to play an increasingly central role in monitoring and documenting rights violations.

APRODEH has been the driving force behind the current trial of Fujimori. While in power from 1990 to 2000, Fujimori was accused of human rights violations in what he described as a campaign to uproot terrorism in Peru. Fujimori was allegedly involved in the 1991 Barrios Altos massacre of 15 men, women, and children as well as the disappearance and murder of eight students and a professor from La Cantuta University in 1992, according to Amnesty International.

APRODEH led the international pressure campaign that saw Fujimori extradited last year from Chile, where he had taken refuge. It was the first time a former head of state had been extradited to his own country to stand trial for human rights violations. A decision is expected in the Fujimori case in December.

Several of Soberón's colleagues have been attacked, killed, threatened, exiled, or have simply disappeared over the years, most likely because of their work to expose human rights violations in the country.

In her book Speak Truth to Power, Kerry Kennedy Cuomo highlights Soberón and the challenges he has faced. "In the violent, vicious military and political battle that has divided his country, Soberón has been viewed with suspicion and fear by both sides," she writes. "Throughout the last arduous 20 years, Soberón has never failed to report abuse, even though doing so has endangered his life."

Soberón received the Letelier-Moffitt 2008 International Award earlier this year for his work with APRODEH.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Soberón reflected back on his group's 25 years of work. "Human rights abuses and crimes against humanity were a common thing in my country....In these 25 years a lot of things have happend in Peru. [The country is] not perfect yet. We have to keep struggling against impunity. There are obstacles that we have to confront nowadays....[But] I think the future is of hope, the future is of peace, and the future is of justice. Our work will continue in that respect."

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