UNexperts today expressed grave concern for the rights and liberty of Peruvian anthropologist and human rights defender Marcela Poirier Maruenda, who was convicted of an aggravated defamation crime earlier this year, after she accused a former university professor of alleged sexual harassment.
Poirier was convicted by a judge in May 2022, who ordered her to pay nearly $50,000 USD in damages and sentenced her to one year and eight months in jail. Ahead of her appeal, which will be heard on 19 October, the experts raised the alarm that if the lower court judgment is upheld, it could have a chilling effect on those who speak up against sexual and gender-based violence.
“We are concerned that the lower court judgment sentencing Poirier failed to integrate a victim-centred and gender-sensitive approach,” the UN experts said ahead of the appeal hearing.
“If the court’s decision stands, it could silence other victims and survivors of sexual violence and prevent them from speaking out against their aggressors,” they said. “Defending against a defamation claim can be costly and stressful, leading to potential re-victimisation and mental trauma.”
The then Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders during his visit to Perú in 2020, raised that defamation lawsuits facilitate strategies to silence or discredit human rights defenders and journalists who report on human rights violations. In her thematic report issued in July 2021 the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion reiterated her concern about the abusive use of the justice system, particularly through criminal offenses such as defamation, to silence women. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls also highlighted the need to break the cycle of impunity and increase the rate of prosecution in cases of gender based violence.
Echoing the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in its review of Peru in February 2022, the UN experts urged the State to expedite the investigation and prosecution of all acts of harassment, gender-based violence against women and discrimination and acts of intimidation and reprisals perpetrated against women human rights defenders.
The experts are in dialogue with the Government of Peru on this issue.