The IX Summit of the Americas: a civil society, female and young person’s perspective
Rest of Latin America The IX Summit of the Americas took place in Los Angeles from June 6 – 10, under the banner of “Building a sustainable, resilient and equitable future” – amid controversy over the decision not to invite certain nations. As Project Manager of Directorio Legislativo, I contributed in person to the civil […]
Concern grows over a law to give arms to citizen security committees
Perú Impact | Negative CIVICUS Rating | Obstructed On June 18, the Congress of the Republic sanctioned a bill that grants legal status to the Self-Defense and Development Committees (CAD in Spanish) and formalizes their inclusion within the citizen security system. The purpose of this measure is to use these structures, which have been in […]
Colombia introduces its Observa platform for monitoring human rights
Colombia Impact | Positive CIVICUS Rating | Repressed On May 17, President Iván Duque launched the Observa platform to follow up and monitor the human rights situation in the country. Observa relies on a database and automated processes that are responsible for collecting information from different sources, processing the data, structuring it, analyzing it and […]
“Opening up the national debate is already a triumph”: a lowdown on the LUC referendum in Uruguay
Uruguay Impact | Positive CIVICUS Rating | Open Any comprehensive assessment of Uruguay’s March 27 referendum – where citizens got the final say over whether to repeal 135 articles of a new flagship law being pushed by the government – should look beyond the turnout and the ‘yes vs no’ voting split. Rather, it should […]
Congress approved a law pardoning political prisoners and creating an Anti-Corruption Commission
Honduras CIVICUS Rating | Repressed On February 2, Congress approved the creation of the International Commission Against Impunity in Honduras (CICIH in Spanish), under the advice of the UN, and authorized the signing of the corresponding agreement. The objective of President Xiomara Castro is that the mission will contribute to unveil the corruption network that […]
The ruling party reforms the Supreme Court of Justice
Venezuela Impact | Negative CIVICUS Rating | Restricted On January 19, the law for the reform of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ in Spanish) was published in the Official Gazette. The law contemplates a reduction in the number of magistrates, from a total of 32 to 20 members. The reduction takes place both in […]
According to Human Rights Watch, fundamental freedoms suffered setbacks across the region
Latin America On January 13, the CSO presented its annual report in which it points out that Human Rights and fundamental freedoms have suffered significant setbacks in Latin America and the Caribbean during the year 2021. Among the main problems at the regional level are the deterioration of detention conditions in prisons, the constant abuses […]
Consensus building on police reform is moving forward
Colombia Impact | Positive Probability | High Civicus Rating | Repressed On November 22, nine presidential pre-candidates discussed one of the most sensitive issues in Colombian politics today: the need for police reform in light of the institutional violence recorded in recent years. The meeting organized by El Espectador was attended by Roy Barreras (La […]
Colombia, one of the most dangerous countries for environmental activism
Colombia Colombia is already one of the most dangerous countries in the world for environmental defenders, with a record 65 murders registered throughout 2020. This is according to the latest report published by the NGO Global Witness in mid-September. A third of these attacks targeted indigenous and Afro-descendant people, while around half affected small-scale farmers […]
How Nayib Bukele is becoming “the world’s coolest dictator”
El Salvador Introduction Since assuming the presidency on June 1, 2019, Nayib Bukele has tightened his grip on power at the expense of eroding democracy and rule of law. At the beginning of this year, the ruling party secured a majority in the Legislative Assembly allowing it to pass laws without negotiating with the opposition […]