Annual Report 2006
Regional Overview - Americas
The denial of human rights continued to be a daily reality for many people in the Americas, particularly those in the most vulnerable sectors of society such as indigenous communities, women and children. However, civil society, including the human rights movement, continued to gain strength and influence in their demands for better living conditions, government transparency and accountability, and respect for human rights.
The lives of the majority of people were blighted by discrimination and poverty, both of which led to social unrest and political instability in a number of countries. Indigenous movements, representing some of the poorest and most marginalized people in the Americas, stepped up their challenge to traditional political structures, particularly in the Andean region.
Police abuse, torture and ill-treatment of detainees remained widespread. "Disappearances" continued to be reported in the context of Colombia's internal conflict. Violence against women was endemic throughout the region and the murders of hundreds of women in El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, as well as the apparent indifference of the authorities, caused widespread outrage. The conflict in Colombia and high levels of organized crime throughout the region, continued to adversely affect the rights of vast numbers of people.
US policies pursued in the name of security undermined human rights both within the USA and in many countries around the world.
Natural disasters, including a series of devastating hurricanes, affected countries in the Caribbean and Central America and the southern states of the USA, exacerbating already serious levels of poverty and marginalization. In many cases, such as in New Orleans and other communities in Louisiana State in the USA, the authorities did not provide adequate protection and aid provision was slow and insufficient.
National security and the ‘war on terror'
Hypocrisy and a disregard for basic human rights principles and international legal obligations continued to mark the USA's "war on terror".
Thousands of detainees remained held without charge in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan, GuantE1namo Bay in Cuba, and in secret detention centres known as "black sites" believed to exist in Europe, North Africa and elsewhere. Torture and other ill-treatment continued to be reported and further evidence emerged that the US authorities "outsourced" torture by means including "rendition" – the transfer of individuals to another country without any form of judicial or administrative process, sometimes in secret.
Around 500 detainees remained in GuantE1namo Bay, where they were held in conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and continued to be denied their right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.
Despite mounting evidence that the US government had sanctioned "disappearances" as well as interrogation techniques constituting torture or other ill-treatment, there was a failure to hold officials at the highest levels accountable, including individuals who may have been responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
US "war on terror" policies that undermined human rights standards were challenged during 2005. Legislation was passed prohibiting the torture and inhumane treatment of detainees anywhere in the world, despite initial objections from the Bush administration that the prohibition would hamper its ability to obtain information from detainees. However, the bill also severely limited the GuantE1namo detainees' access to federal courts and called into question the future of some 200 pending cases in which detainees had challenged the legality of their detention.
The USA increased its military assistance programme in Colombia despite continued evidence of grave human rights violations by military personnel and paramilitary groups operating with their active or tacit support.
Conflict and crime
The rule of law in several countries was threatened by abusive government policies, corruption, discrimination and inequality that sparked social protest by marginalized communities, particularly in the Andean countries. Indigenous movements were again at the forefront of many of the extended protests and were increasingly vocal in demanding their rights and participation in political life. The governments in Ecuador and Bolivia were forced to resign as a result of mass discontent.
In Colombia, the rule of law was threatened by government policies in the context of the long-running conflict. All parties to the conflict continued to commit widespread human rights abuses principally against the civilian population.
Human rights and the rule of law were also under threat through high levels of violence in several countries, especially in urban areas. In some Brazilian, Central American and Caribbean cities, entire neighbourhoods were trapped between criminal, often gang-related, violence and the repressive response of the state security forces whose methods violated the rights of entire communities. Although most public attention was devoted to crime against the wealthy, it was the lives of the urban poor which, deprived of state protection, were most dominated by violence.
The trend towards militarization of law enforcement continued. In Central America the role of the armed forces was increasingly directed towards maintaining public order and combating crime.
In Haiti, illegal armed groups and police officers were implicated in the killing and kidnapping of civilians.
The proliferation of small arms remained a concern, despite attempts by some governments to restrict them. In a referendum in Brazil, 64 per cent of the electorate voted against a proposal to ban commercial sales of firearms.
Impunity and justice
Members of the security forces continued to commit widespread human rights violations with impunity. Across the region torture and other ill-treatment, sometimes resulting in deaths in custody, were reported but few of the perpetrators were punished. Victims, their relatives or those representing them when they filed complaints, as well as witnesses, members of the judiciary and investigators, were frequently intimidated, harassed, threatened with death and sometimes killed.
Many prisons were severely overcrowded and lacking in basic services. Often, the conditions amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. This caused several riots across the region resulting in scores of deaths, mostly of young, poor men. Inefficient, corrupt and discriminatory judicial systems meant that detainees who came from poor and marginalized communities could languish for months and even years in prison without being tried and sentenced, and frequently without access to defence lawyers.
Excessive use of force by the security forces to curb crime and civil unrest were reported in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Paraguay and elsewhere in the region. In some cases, people were killed as a result.
The lack of independence and impartiality of judicial systems in the region – because of corruption or political bias, or because of corporate interests within police and military courts – remained a serious concern and fed the cycle of impunity for human rights violations.
There was significant progress in addressing the unresolved legacy of past human rights violations in some Latin American countries. Former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet was placed under house arrest on charges related to human rights violations. Having been stripped of his legal immunity and declared "mentally competent" to stand trial, victims and their relatives were hopeful that their quest for justice for over 30 years might be fulfilled.
Victims and relatives of more recent grave human rights violations saw their right to justice move closer to realization when the former Peruvian President, Alberto Fujimori, was arrested in Chile pending an extradition request on charges of murder, forced disappearance and torture.
The Argentine Supreme Court of Justice declared the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws null and void, opening the way towards truth and justice for thousands of victims of human rights violations committed in Argentina between 1976 and 1983.
Adolfo Scilingo, an Argentine former naval officer who had admitted to being aboard planes carrying detainees who were drugged, stripped naked and thrown into the sea during the military governments in Argentina, was tried and sentenced in Spain on charges of crimes against humanity. In another case, a ruling by Spain's Constitutional Court opened the way for former Guatemalan President Rios Montt and other former military officials to be tried for human rights violations.
However, there were also significant setbacks. In Colombia, the Justice and Peace Law threatened to guarantee impunity for members of illegal armed groups implicated in human rights abuses, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, who agreed to demobilize. In Haiti, scores of former military and paramilitary officials serving sentences for their involvement in past massacres escaped prison and some were granted unconditional release for no apparent lawful reason. Despite five years in office, the Special Prosecutor assigned to bring to justice those responsible for widespread human rights violations in Mexico in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s achieved virtually no progress.
Gender-based violence
Violence against women continued to be one of the most pressing human rights challenges in the Americas. Countless women and girls faced violence on a daily basis and could not count on their government to provide them with the basic level of protection and security that is their fundamental right.
Governments across the region continued to ignore provisions enshrined in women's human rights treaties. Although most countries in the region had laws to prevent and protect women from violence in the home and community, police investigations into allegations of violence against women were rarely effective, criminal justice systems frequently failed to take violence against women seriously and perpetrators were rarely punished.
The number of women and girls murdered in Ciudad JuE1rez, Mexico, continued to rise and there was insufficient progress to end impunity for past abductions and murders both in this city and in the city of Chihuahua. The number of women killed in Guatemala rose to up to 665 compared to 527 in 2004, and the increase of sexual abuse and murders of women in El Salvador that began in 2002 continued. Little progress was made in investigating these killings and preventing future ones.
The lack of specific definitions in law to criminalize violence against women continued to be an obstacle to obtaining justice in a region where gender-based discrimination remained endemic in state institutions. However, some progress was made. In Mexico, the Supreme Court ruled that rape within marriage is a crime, ending a 15-year legal battle during which members of the judicial system argued that since the purpose of marriage was procreation, forced sexual relations by a spouse was not rape but "an undue exercise of a [conjugal] right". In Guatemala, the Constitutional Court suspended a law that allowed rapists, in certain circumstances, to escape prosecution if they married their victim.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people continued to suffer discrimination and violence. In the USA a study carried out by AI indicated a heightened pattern of misconduct and abuse by police of transgender individuals and of all LGBT people of colour or who are young, immigrants, homeless or sex workers. In Nicaragua, gay and lesbian relationships continued to be criminalized and a number of sodomy laws were still in force in Caribbean countries.
Economic, social and cultural rights
According to UN studies, there were signs of a slight reduction in poverty levels in some countries in the region. However, these figures masked pockets of decline in some places, including Haiti, and in some rural areas in Guatemala, Peru and elsewhere. Income and social inequalities remained among the highest in the world, undermining the potential for overall development. Marginalized and dispossessed communities in rural and urban settings in many countries continued to live in extreme poverty with their rights to health care, clean water, a livelihood, education and shelter disregarded.
Participation of indigenous peoples in political affairs was not matched with improvements in their enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, despite repeated calls by international banks and others to develop help and support for indigenous peoples and afro-descendants and to invest in rural communities. A World Bank study of indigenous peoples in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru found that indigenous peoples were 13 to 30 per cent more likely to be poor than non-indigenous peoples.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 24,000 lives in the Caribbean in 2005, making it the leading cause of death among adults aged between 15 and 44. A total of 300,000 people were believed to be living with HIV in the region, including 30,000 people who became infected in 2005. In the other parts of the region, infection rates rose, especially among men. Women sex workers were also badly affected.
The conflicts over resources, such as land and water, and privatization plans were reflected by the number of human rights defenders attacked on account of their efforts to raise legitimate concerns in these areas.
A summit of Americas' governments held in Argentina in November failed to break the deadlock on long-stalled negotiations to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Some countries, led by Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, vigorously opposed the initiative.
However, liberalized trade and investment continued to prevail in the region, through bilateral agreements or sub-regional arrangements. There were protests about the effect of such agreements on entrenching poverty in large sectors of the population and the failure of governments to ensure that human rights safeguards were built into the agreements. Human rights continued to take a back seat to economic interests, increasing the risk that irresponsible trade practices or investment decisions would undermine human rights. Areas of specific concern included labour rights, access to affordable medicines and intellectual property rights.
Death penalty
Death sentences continued to be handed down in several countries, including Belize and Trinidad and Tobago. However, the only executions in the region were in the USA. Mexico abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
In December the USA carried out its 1,000th execution since 1977, when executions resumed after a moratorium. Despite this shameful landmark, the trend towards restricting its application continued. In March, the US Supreme Court banned the execution of child offenders (those aged under 18 at the time of the crime), bringing the USA into line with international standards prohibiting such executions. Two people were released from death row on grounds of innocence. However, among the 60 people executed in 2005 were people with mental disabilities, defendants without access to effective legal representation and foreign nationals denied their consular rights.
Human rights defenders
Human rights activists across the Americas campaigned vigorously to hold governments and armed groups to their obligations to respect international and domestic human rights standards.
Women's rights activists struggled to reform antiquated laws on rape and domestic violence and were often threatened or intimidated for trying to support victims of violence and sexual abuse. Indigenous activists in Central America championed their community's rights to defend their livelihoods and the right to be consulted on issues that affect their ancestral lands, such as the extraction of natural resources or the construction of dams. AI feared that some gay, lesbian and transgender activists went underground following mounting homophobia in Jamaica and some other Caribbean countries.
The difficulties and dangers faced by activists in the Americas ranged from intimidation and restrictions on travel, to arbitrary detention and unfounded accusations of terrorism and other violent activities. The authorities often refused to take reports of violations against human rights defenders seriously, suggesting that the reports were fabricated or exaggerated. Activists working locally on rural poverty and development, often in isolated areas, and journalists covering issues such as corruption were killed in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. In Ecuador, members of an NGO that campaigns to protect indigenous communities and the environment from the adverse effects of oil drilling and fumigation of coca plantations were threatened with death. In Cuba human rights activists, political dissidents and trade unionists continued to be harassed and intimidated and attacks on freedom of expression and association were frequent.
The use of the judicial system to hamper the work of human rights defenders by threatening them with investigation or detention on unfounded criminal charges was a serious problem in Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico. Cases were also reported in the USA.
Government efforts to protect human rights defenders at risk were marred by extended delays by some authorities in implementing requests for precautionary measures to protect named individuals, as recommended by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. Some governments only managed to offer protection measures such as bullet-proof vests and were unable to muster sufficient political will to tackle deep hostility towards human rights work within their governments, or to correct legal provisions restricting the right to defend human rights.
