Introduction

The notion of ‘transitional justice’ in the Inter-American system has been traditionally associated with the fight against impunity. Due to the sad and long history of gross and systematic violations of human rights in the Americas, whether under authoritarian regimes or democratically elected despots, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter ‘Inter-American Commission’ or ‘Commission’) and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (hereinafter ‘Inter-American Court’ or ‘Court’) have extensive case law and jurisprudence dealing with the intricacies of transitional processes and the affirmation of fundamental human rights. This ‘hemispheric laboratory’ effectively allows the review of situations such as the dictatorships in the southern cone, the civil wars in Central America, the ‘democratic’ dictatorship of the Fujimori regime, and the protracted war still affecting Colombia.