Weekly Report - 12 January 2017 (WR-17-01)

The government led by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is using the powers conferred by congress last September to legislate by decree in the public security sphere. On 6 January it published several decrees declaring a state of emergency in the prison system for two years and paving the way for the construction of new prisons, as well as toughening penalties for those guilty of violence against women, an issue which has been granted unusual prominence by the Kuczynski administration.