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Challenging Impunity Through the Guatemalan Justice System

Though Bishop Juan Gerardi was murdered 8 years ago, his case still remains open in the Guatemalan courts. This author argues that the country must use the Gerardi case as a catalyst to address the glaring impunity that has surrounded attacks against human rights defenders and the murders of young people like Darinel in Guatemala. In order to challenge the violence, fear and corruption that have haunted Guatemala, justice must be backed by a legitimate judicial system and a police force that cares more about its citizenry than itself. (Jennifer Mizgata, Toward Freedom, 4 May 2006)

http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/811/

(Added: Fri May 05 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 97)

El Salvador: pro-life nation

There are other countries in the world that, like El Salvador, completely ban abortion, including Malta, Chile and Colombia. El Salvador, however, has not only a total ban on abortion but also an active law-enforcement apparatus - the police, investigators, medical spies, forensic vagina inspectors and a special division of the prosecutor's office responsible for Crimes Against Minors and Women, a unit charged with capturing, trying and incarcerating an unusual kind of criminal. (Jack Hitt, The New York Times, April 12, 2006)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/09/america/web.0409abortioncomplete.php

(Added: Thu Sep 21 2006   Modified: Wed Jan 17 2007   Hits: 133)

"Essential actors of our time": Human rights defenders in the Americas

Amnesty International, 10 November 2003. In the context of persistent human rights violations against human rights defenders, the first section of this report outlines the international framework for the protection of human rights defenders and their work and highlights some developments since the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1998. The second section of this report examines recent cases of attacks and intimidation of human rights activists from the USA to Argentina. The case studies are not an exhaustive account of the difficulties and dangers facing human rights defenders, rather they illustrate how current political and economic trends in the Americas region have aggravated and compounded insecurity for many defenders. Within the confines of this report priority has been given to cases of human rights defenders from civil society, although Amnesty International has also documented many cases of human rights violations against state agents working for the promotion and protection of human rights. Finally, five years on since the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, a set of principles issued to ensure states guarantee the rights of those defending human rights, Amnesty International challenges governments in the Americas to convert human rights rhetoric into real commitments by establishing protection of human rights defenders as a priority on both national and regional human rights agendas.

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR010092003?open&of=ENG-CAN

(Added: Thu Nov 13 2003   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 348)

"I am not ashamed!": HIV/AIDS and human rights in the Dominican Republic and Guyana

This report is based on the findings of research into the connection between human rights violations and HIV/AIDS in two countries in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic and Guyana. It shows how abuses of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights increase people's risk of HIV infection. It also shows how those affected by HIV/AIDS are denied their human rights. AI recommends a comprehensive rights-based approaches to HIV/AIDS in all areas of prevention, treatment, care and support. One of its findings is that the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean could be combated more effectively if the U.S. removed restrictions on how its aid funding is used. (Amnesty International, 11 July 2006)

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGAMR010022006

(Added: Thu Jul 13 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 157)

"You'll Learn Not To Cry": Child Combatants in Colombia

At least one of every four irregular combatants in Colombia's civil war is under eighteen years old. These children, mostly from poor families, fight an adult war. Often, child combatants have only the barest understanding of its purpose. They fight against other children whose background is very similar to their own, and whose economic situation and future prospects are equally bleak. With much in common in civilian life, children become the bitterest of enemies in war. (HRW, 2003)

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/colombia0903/index.htm

(Added: Mon Jun 26 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 99)

A Policy for the Neighbors

Relations between Latin America and the United States are increasingly marked by irritation and distrust. Yet this tension has passed almost unnoticed by the United States press and unaddressed by the United States government. Such indifference has grave consequences not only for diplomacy but also for human rights.

http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/cuba/826.html

(Added: Fri Aug 22 2003   Modified: Fri Jan 19 2007   Hits: 363)

Amnesty International Report 2006: Cuba

Restrictions on freedom of expression, association and movement continued to cause great concern. Nearly 70 prisoners of conscience remained in prison. The US embargo continued to have a negative effect on the enjoyment of the full range of human rights in Cuba. The economic situation deteriorated and the government attempted to suppress private entrepreneurship. More than 30 prisoners remained on death row; no one was executed. (Amnesty International, 2006)

http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/cub-summary-eng

(Added: Tue Oct 10 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 106)

Another SOA? Police Academy in El Salvador Worries Critics

Semi-secretly established in 2005, a Salvadoran branch of the International Law Enforcement Academy, a U.S.-sponsored global network of police schools, has angered critics and human rights activists, who wonder if it will perpetuate long-standing patterns of police and military abuse in the country (Wes Enzinna, Upside Down World, 18 March 2008).

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1182/1/

(Added: Tue Mar 25 2008   Hits: 33)

ARGENTINA: Training Health Agents to Reduce Child Mortality

An ambitious new programme for training health agents to help reduce infant mortality in small rural communities and indigenous villages, launched by one of Argentina's best-known human rights groups, drew many more applicants than the organisers had hoped for. (By Marcela Valente, IPS, April 28, 2008)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42154

(Added: Mon May 05 2008   Hits: 8)

Australian Human Rights Centre

The Australian Human Rights Centre is a Research Institute based in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales established to: Increase public awareness about human rights procedures, standards and issues within the Asia-Pacific region; Provide accessible information on human rights to the general public, NGOs, government departments, human rights advocates, community legal centres, journalists, educators, researchers and students; Undertake human rights research on matters of national and regional interest; and Maintain a comprehensive collection of human rights documentation, provide an on-line database service, undertake research and prepare publications, organise human rights educational activities and, within available resources, respond to requests for advice in the area of human rights.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/ahric/

(Added: Tue Apr 30 2002   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 257)

Bolivian Community in Buenos Aires Divided Over Sweatshops

The Buenos Aires city government's new offensive against slave labour has resulted in the closure of 30 clandestine textile sweatshops in the Argentine capital. But it has also caused divisions in the Bolivian immigrant community: some denounce the exploitative labour conditions, while others desperately want to keep their jobs, however precarious. (6 April 2006)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32800

(Added: Mon May 01 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 147)

Bolivian Social Movements Mobilize for Constitutional Referendum

Among other things, the new constitution in Bolivia seeks to increase rights for indigenous peoples, establishing a legally binding framework for basic human rights. (Upside Down World, 10 March 2008)

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1175/1/

(Added: Mon Mar 17 2008   Hits: 27)

Coca-Cola and Anti-Union Death Squads in Colombia

Violations of human rights are rampant in Colombia due to lawless activities of both the right wing paramilitaries and leftist guerillas. The paramilitaries in Colombia are particularly well known for murdering, abducting and torturing trade union leaders. Specifically, much of the violence against trade unionists in Colombia is directed at leaders of unions at multinational firms, including the Coca-Cola company.

http://lrights.igc.org/projects/corporate/coke/index.html

(Added: Thu May 15 2003   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 212)

Colombia - Fear and Intimidation: The dangers of human rights work

This report - which includes numerous case studies - highlights the difficulties faced by scores of individuals and organizations in cities and in remote areas of Colombia who work to protect civilians and to end impunity. It criticizes the Colombian government for giving a "green light" to attacks against human rights defenders in the country and calls on the international community to support local activists more effectively. (Amnesty International, September 2006)

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR230332006

(Added: Tue Sep 12 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 169)

Colombia: Rosy picture belies stark problems

U.S. officials' myopic and unqualified praise of the Colombian government sends the region the message that politics trumps not only direct U.S. interests in fighting drugs and terror but also the basic principles of human rights and the rule of law that it claims to promote around the world. (José Miguel Vivanco and Maria McFarland, Miami Herald, 16 June 2006)

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/14/colomb13575.htm

(Added: Wed Jun 21 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 76)

Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America: Chiquita, women banana workers and structural inequalities

Chiquita has a comprehensive policy on Coporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and it is making some important visible efforts in this area. Yet, as this report shows, Nicaraguan women banana workers find this is not making much of a difference on the ground and give us some recommendations. The paper argues that a major factor preventing the CSR practices of Chiquita from more fully benefiting workers is the existence of 'hidden' structural problems in the political economy of the banana industry and its gendered nature. If managers in companies are seeking to improve the effectiveness of their CSR policies and practices, they would benefit from the following: learning from the good practices of Chiquita, listening and learning from female and male workers and taking actions to tackle the structural inequalities of the banana industry. (M Prieto-Carron, Siyanda, 2004)

http://www.siyanda.org/docs/CSR_latin_america_prieto_carron.pdf

(Added: Thu Oct 05 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 110)

Gildan Activewear: Taking Sweatshops to new depths in Haiti

The closing of Gildan Activewear's assembly plant in Honduras brings up issues surrounding the American corporation's persistent disregard of human rights in its sweatshops. Its decision to relocate to Haiti and Nicaragua, where labour standards are even more poorly enforced, illustrates the problematic nature of the wandering corporation, and, this article argues, corporate involvement in the subversion of Haitian democracy. (Anthony Fenton, Znet, 24 July 2004

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=5927

(Added: Thu Jun 22 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 153)

Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA

The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA is a non-profit, humanitarian organization founded in 1982 to monitor, document and report on the human rights situation in Guatemala. GHRC/USA also promotes advocacy for and aid to victims of human rights violations in Guatemala.

http://www.ghrc-usa.org/

(Added: Tue Oct 21 2003   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 219)

He gets guns to play song of peace

Guns for peace may sound like an oxymoron, but Colombian Cesar Lopez has a vision. Why not transform a tool of war into an instrument for peace? So was born the "escopetarra" - a combination of the words for rifle (escopeta) and guitar (guitarra) - a symbol of civilization overcoming destruction. (The Boston Globe, June 11, 2006)

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2006/06/11/he_gets_guns_to_play_song_of_peace/

(Added: Thu Jun 15 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 187)

Honor Haiti, Honor Ourselves, Forget Haiti, Forget Ourselves

(Counterpunch) By Randall Robinson, January 1, 2004. "Between 1791 and 1804, hundreds of thousands of Africans enslaved in Haiti ignored the rivers, forests, precipices, swamps, mountains, gorges, bloodhounds, rifles, cannon, and whips that separated them and united to launch a massive, brilliantly executed, spectacular war of liberation that the armies of Spain, England, and France (with the help of the United States) all fought desperately--and failed absolutely--to crush ... They had wrested from Napoleon the engine of France's economic expansion, banished slavery from the land, and ended European domination of 10,000 square miles of fertile land and hundreds of thousands of slaves to work it. They had shattered the myth of European invincibility."

http://www.counterpunch.org/robinson01012004.html

(Added: Wed Mar 31 2004   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 274)

Lost in Transition: Bold Ambitions, Limited Results for Human Rights Under Fox

Mexico's 2000 presidential election marked the end of seven decades of one-party rule and made clear that Mexican society was ready for this change. However, a principle requisite of democratic rule is that a nation's leaders be fully accountable to its citizens, as well as to its laws. This report focuses on human rights issues directly relevant to the challenge of promoting democratic accountability: openness to international rights monitors; public access to government information; accountability for past abuses (Chapter 4); and reforms of the justice system needed to end ongoing abuses (Chapter 5). In its concluding chapter, the report discusses the most notorious human rights case of recent years-the murder and "disappearance" of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez-showing how that tragedy illustrates the main themes of this report. (Human Rights Watch, May 2006)

http://hrw.org/reports/2006/mexico0506/

(Added: Fri May 19 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 97)

Mexico: Death Over Dams

A proposed dam that would displace as many as twenty-five thousand people is being aggressively pursued by Mexico's Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). Mexican villagers are risking their lives to save their livelihoods. (Upside Down World 30 January 2008)

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1110/1/

(Added: Mon Feb 04 2008   Hits: 29)

Mission Report on the Effects on Human Rights of the NAFTA

This mission, conducted in Mexico between 22 and 31 of August 2005, looked specifically at the effects of NAFTA, ten years after its entering into force, on employment and working conditions in the Northern part of the country, in particular in the maquilas (free zones) and in the informal economy. FIDH calls upon Mexican authorities to reform current labour law in order to ensure that workers are protected, and in particular to raise the minimum wage to ensure a basic living wage; to promote an effective and independent mecanism for the protection and enforcement of labour laws and to ensure that trade unions are independent, representative and transparent. (FIDH, November 2005)

http://www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=3304

(Added: Thu Oct 12 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 77)

Paraguay Sojero: Soy Expansion and Its Violent Attack on Local and Indigenous Communities in Paraguay: Repression and Resistance [pdf]

In Paraguay, the expansion of (GM) soy production by Brazilian sojeros, supported by biotech and agrochemical corporations, local and national authorities, and the financial sector, is currently the main cause of violence against small farmers and their organisations, and of severe damage to people's health and to food crops due to fumigations with agrochemicals. Grupo de Reflexion Rural from Argentina presents a new report providing detailed accounts of the current violent acts against rural and indigenous communities in Paraguay, which are strongly related to the expansion of (GM) soy production. (Grupo de Reflexion Rural, 2006)

http://www.aseed.net/images/stories/agrocadabra/soy/paraguay-humanrights-report-72dpi.pdf

(Added: Wed May 24 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 246)

Preliminary report concerning the events of Atenco, Mexico: International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation, Fourth visit, June 4th, 2006

On the third of May 2006, clashes were produced in response to the installation of sale points of a few florists in the market of Texcoco in the State of Mexico. According to the town government, they did not have permission. According to the florists they were acting in accordance with a cultural tradition and in the framework of a tacit agreement with the state representatives. Following this act was a upsurge of violence on the 4th of May resulting in the death of a 14 year old boy killed by a gun shot, the brain death of another boy who was 20 years old and who died a few weeks later, a number of people seriously injured, over 200 people arrested, five foreigners deported, and serious formal complaints of torture and abuse suffered by those detained, including sexual abuse and aggression suffered by almost all 47 detained women. International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation, Fourth visit, June 4th, 2006.

http://cciodh.pangea.org/cuarta/informe_preliminar_eng_word.pdf

(Added: Fri Feb 16 2007   Hits: 98)

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