REPORT No. 187/20
CASE 12.204
ADMISSIBILITY AND MERITS
ACTIVE MEMORY CIVIL ASSOCIATION
ARGENTINA
July 14, 2020
I.
INTRODUCTION
1.
On July 16, 1999, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American
Commission,” “the Commission,” or “the IACHR”) received a petition signed by a group of victims and relatives
of the victims of the terrorist attack perpetrated against the headquarters of the Israeli-Argentinian Mutual
Association [Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina](AMIA) organized through the Active Memory Civil
Association [Asociación Civil Memoria Activa]1. The petitioners affirmed that the Argentine State (hereinafter
"the Argentine State", "the State" or "Argentina") is internationally responsible for the violation of its duty to
prevent the terrorist attack that occurred on July 18, 1994, which caused the death of 85 people and serious
injuries to the detriment of at least 151 other people (“the alleged victims”), and due to the state of impunity,
to date, of the facts.
II.
PROCEDURE OF THE PETITION BEFORE THE IACHR
2.
The initial petition was presented on July 16, 1999 by the Active Memory Civil Association with the cosponsorship of the Center for Legal Studies (CELS), the Center for International Law and Justice (CEJIL) and Dr.
Alberto Luis Zuppi. On September 23, 1999, Human Rights Watch expressed its interest in participating as a
co-petitioner. Likewise, on September 28, 1999, CELS indicated that Human Rights Watch would participate as
a co-sponsor of the petition.
3.
On August 3, 2000, the State sent a communication by means of which it made various considerations
on the development of the investigation at the domestic level and extended an invitation to the IACHR to attend,
as observer, the oral and public trial that would be held in the following months. For its part, on September 26,
2000, the IACHR received a brief from the petitioners in which they set out various arguments on admissibility
and merits and expressed their consent to the appointment of an observer. On August 3, 2001, the IACHR
decided to appoint its then president, Claudio Grossman, as an observer to the oral trial, which was scheduled
to begin on September 24 of the same year. On February 22, 2005, Mr. Grossman issued his final report 2.
4.
On March 4, 2005, a hearing was held between the representatives of the petitioners, the Argentine State,
and members of the Inter-American Commission in the framework of the 122° Regular Period of Sessions of
the IACHR. At the end of that hearing, the parties signed an agreement by means of which the Argentine State
accepted its international responsibility, in accordance with the formulations contained therein. In the same
act, the parties expressed their willingness to initiate a friendly settlement process in order to repair the
consequences of the international crime. By means of Decree 812/05 dated July 12, 2005, the National
Executive Power approved the actions and instructed the Ministries of the Interior and of Justice and Human
On August 24, 1999, the IACHR received a communication from the Association Mothers of Plaza de Mayo - Línea Fundadora in which
they expressed their support for the petitioners' complaint. In the same vein, the Commission received communications from the Service,
Peace, and Justice Foundation on August 31, 1999, from the International Human Rights Law Group on September 16, 1999, from t he
organization of relatives of disappeared and detained for political reasons, on September 8, 1999, and from the Permanent Assembly for
Human Rights on October 5, 1999. On April 18, 2019, at the request of Daniel Eduardo Joffe, the Commission indicated that his petition will
be considered in a separate petition.
2 Annex 1. Report signed by Dean Claudio Grossman, International Observer of the IACHR in the trial of Israeli-Argentinian Mutual
Association (AMIA). February 22, 2005. Hereinafter: “Grossman Report”. Annex 5 to the petitioner's communication dated November 11,
2019.
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