The Human Rights situation in Latin America varies considerably country to country. In some, such as Colombia, disappearances, extra-judicial executions and torture have reached epidemic proportions. In others, such as Perú, hundreds of innocent people continue to be in jail, falsely accused of "subversive activities". Yet in others, the main human rights violations concern police brutality, inhuman prison conditions, and violations to economic and cultural rights. If there is one violation that is common to most of the continent, it's impunity, the lack of punishment - and often even of investigation - to those who are responsible for committing the most dire human rights abuses.
Whether de jure -
consagrated by blanket amnesty laws exculpating government agents from their crimes - or de facto - illustrated
by the lack of investigation and prosecution of government abusers, or their trial by military tribunals, that very rarely
will sentence them-, impunity has the effect not only of leaving scott free those who have committed these abuses, but of
communicating to the rest that they can do as they wish with the population, and will not have to suffer for it. This is a
lesson which soldiers and policemen learn very well, and which they keep present throughout their actions. Impunity, also
atemorizes the population, communicates to it that if it is to do things that the government does not like, its fate will be
like that of the older victims.
Derechos and Equipo Nizkor believe that exposing human rights violations is the first step in battling against them. It is much easier to kill, rape, torture and unjustly imprison under the cover of darkness. We hope that the repors there will be useful to you, and that will also encourage you to work to stop human rights violations in Latin America and the world.
Administriva
Please click on the country of your choise in the map above, or use the list below, to go the country you are intersted in. We will be including information on Latin-America-wide topics in the future in this page.
The pages to which these links will take you are written in Spanish. We think, however, that you should be able to navigate them anyway. They have links to several categories of information, you can find a quick translation of what these are below. Most of the reports included are in Spanish. However, we offer some in English as well. These are marked by the words ENG/ING beside or below them. Make sure to check the links page as well (Otros Webs) as some of the sites linked to are English language sites.
Please write to us if you need any help.
Articles on Human Rights in the Americas
Adjusting to the New Reality: An Overview of the Process and the Proposals to Reform the Inter-American Human Rights System and the Canadian Proposition OAS document on the Inter-American System for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Implementation Plan for the Miami Initiatives on Democracy and Human Rights, as presented to the OAS by Brazil and Canada Religious Human Rights in Latin America - by Paul E. Sigmund Handbook of Latin American Studies Blibliography of books and articles on Latin America Strengthening the Inter-American Human Rights System U. S. Policy in Latin America Problems, Opportunities, Recommendations IRC Bulletin
