Human Rights

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Human Rights

Human rights became a major framework for organizing resistance to state-sponsored political violence and other injustices in Latin America during the second half of the past century. Nongovernmental human-rights groups emerged as major political actors during the authoritarian military regimes of the 1960s and 1970s. Although these organizations used international norms as the basis for their claims and relied on important international allies, their work was deeply rooted in local political cultures and histories. Critics of the human-rights movements have charged that their focus on legal issues and the courts is excessive and risks depoliticizing grassroots efforts for social change, and that they have been more responsive to international funders than to authentic local concerns. New kinds of human-rights institutions, including state agencies and military programs, further complicate the political terrain of activism in the early twenty-first century.

LEGAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS OF RIGHTS IN THE AMERICAS

Latin American rights debates encompass the European and North American philosophical and legal rights debates, but also incorporate the older traditions of Catholic scholasticism as well as original contributions from Latin American thinkers. Much early debate was devoted to the rights of Latin American indigenous people, most notably in the works of the sixteenth-century Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, who defended their rights in the face of Spanish exploitation and military conquest. Enlightenment ideals and the works of French and North American revolutionaries were widely discussed in the colonies and profoundly influenced a generation of proinde-pendence Creoles, who nevertheless remained suspicious of popular sovereignty, mass democracy and anticlerical views. The adoption of republican forms of government and constitutions guaranteeing rights did not overcome the colonial legacy of authoritarianism, paternalism, personalism, and unequal application of the law, which resulted in significant barriers to full political participation, as well as widespread poverty and inequality.

The twentieth century saw the development of new rights charters. The Mexican Constitution of 1917 was the first in the world to significantly incorporate social and economic rights by, for example, making property rights subordinate to the public interest, restricting foreign control of resources, and regulating working conditions. It served as a model for subsequent constitutional reforms in Latin America and Europe. The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man was the first general international human-rights instrument, adopted at the Ninth International Conference of American States in Bogotá in April 1948; Latin American leaders used this experience when helping to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights six months later.

These international legal instruments were not the only influences shaping human-rights debates; other important factors included the Catholic Church (particularly Catholic Social Action and, later, Liberation Theology) and revolutionary and progressive political movements. Nongovernmental activists produced the 1976 Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples, known as the Algiers Declaration, which stressed collective rights and autonomy. "People's tribunals" were organized outside the formal legal system; the Russell Tribunal II focused on human-rights abuses in Latin America during two sessions, in 1974 to 1976 and in 1989 to 1991.

RESPONDING TO AUTHORITARIAN MILITARISM

A comprehensive history of human-rights activism in Latin America, and the relationship among national groups, has yet to be written. Prior to 1960 there was only one organization in the Southern Cone explicitly concerned with human rights. The military regimes that took power in Brazil (1964–1985), Uruguay (1973–1985), Chile (1973–1990), and Argentina (1976–1983) employed significant political violence against their real and perceived opponents; resistance to them included the creation of nongovernmental human-rights organizations and solidarity groups.

In Brazil the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of São Paulo and other church-based groups played a critical role, documenting violations and providing legal and other assistance; growing repression led to increased cooperation with secular organizations. As state terror declined in the mid-1970s, these and other groups refocused their attention on ongoing problems such as urban and rural working conditions, particularly of landless peasants, slum dwellers, and indigenous peoples.

Chilean activists formed numerous human-rights groups immediately after the 1973 coup. Over the course of the Pinochet regime, several generations of human-rights groups emerged: The first were supported directly by the Catholic Church, the next were made up of family members of victims, and finally were the groups organized by political parties. The best known of these groups was the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, created in 1976. Important factors in the creation of Chilean groups were the support of the Catholic Church, and preexisting transnational and national social and political networks linking religious leaders, progressive students, academics, and other professionals.

Despite sharing Chile's democratic political culture and institutions, Uruguay developed Latin America's fewest and smallest human-rights organizations, in part because of the limited role of the Catholic Church, and was unable to marshal moral authority and devise a way to channel resources to victims of repression in a largely secular society. Greater militarization at the time of the coup in 1973 and the existence of prior legal restrictions meant that much of the repression occurred with a legal framework; Uruguay had fewer disappearances than other nations, but the highest concentration of political prisoners anywhere in the world. Even following the defeat of the generals' constitutional amendment in 1980, the efforts of Servicio Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ) in Uruguay were severely limited by the lack of an institutional funnel through which international funds could be received.

In Argentina, the Catholic Church displayed an ambivalent attitude toward the military government, and the country lacked the embedded activists networks found in Chile. Because of abuses and the erosion of legal rights following pre-coup counter-insurgency efforts, three human-rights groups were established before the 1976 coup, with ecumenical church leaders playing critical roles in all three. The one with the highest profile was SERPAJ, founded in 1974, which focused on local aid and popular education; its founder, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (b. 1931) won the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize. Immediately following the coup in 1976, family members of the disappeared created three new human-rights groups: the Madres (mothers), the Abuelas (grandmothers), and the Familiares (relatives) of the disappeared. Similar associations began appearing in other countries, eventually forming in 1981 a network known as the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared. Argentine exiles played a critical role in assisting human-rights groups throughout the continent, in part because of Argentina's earlier transition to democracy in 1983.

Human-rights groups have played complicated roles in transitions to democracy. In many cases, pressure from these organizations helped to hasten the return to elections and greater political freedoms. During the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner (1945–1989) the Paraguayan human-rights community remained relatively small and focused on particular cases, but his government's loss of legitimacy was in large part due to elite awareness of chronic rights violations. In many countries, groups were accused of being excessively focused on accountability for past abuses and the limitations of newly formed democratic governments. Many countries (including El Salvador, Guatemala, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Peru) established commissions with varying mandates to clarify events and responsibilities during military governments, but groups were largely unsuccessful in bringing to trial the military and civilian officials responsible for atrocities. These issues remain controversial, however, and amnesty laws and the issue of impunity continue to be debated and to be the subjects of legal cases in Argentina, Chile, and other countries.

Cuba is an exception to these trends: an authoritarian government that has focused on promoting socioeconomic rights despite significant economic limitations. Although the Castro government has not resorted to widespread political violence, civil and political rights, including freedom of religion, association, and expression, have been severely restricted, generating significant numbers of political prisoners. In addition, human-rights groups have been the target of repression.

FRAGILE DEMOCRACIES AND INSURGENCIES

The Central American civil wars of the 1980s led to the creation of a number of human-rights groups, particularly in El Salvador and Guatemala. Although documentation of these conflicts has demonstrated that the great majority of human-rights abuses were generated by repressive governments and security forces, human-rights groups also turned their attention to violations by nonstate actors for the first time. In the case of Nicaragua, although the Sandinista government did commit some abuses, extensive abuses by the U.S.-backed Contra forces were documented by rights groups. Agreements to establish human-rights monitoring institutions sponsored by the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS) played a critical role in the peace agreements that settled these conflicts.

Both Peru and Colombia suffered from long-running, serious insurgencies, with massive violence and displacement. The drug trade in both nations has exacerbated political violence by providing financing for illegal armed groups, and complicated human-rights efforts to promote accountability. The most powerful guerrilla group in Peru was the neo-Maoist Shining Path, which viewed civil society (including human-rights leaders) as competition and subjected them to violent attacks, causing Peruvian rights groups to categorically reject revolutionary violence. After the Shining Path was largely defeated with the capture of its leader in 1992, Peru experienced a crisis of democracy. In 1992 Alberto Fujimori staged an autogolpe (self-coup), dissolving Congress and severely weakening the judiciary and other democratic institutions; he used antiterrorism legislation to imprison more than 20,000 people. During this period human-rights groups played a central role in galvanizing civil society support for democracy and pushing for accountability. In Colombia, the largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has committed an increasing number of abuses while expanding their military power; human-rights groups have continued to focus on illegal paramilitary forces supported by members of the military and civilian elite, which commit the majority of abuses.

In Mexico, Haiti, and other countries throughout the region, corruption, poverty, and limits on political participation continue to be problems. Abuses of state power, together with violations of socioeconomic rights, contributed to a peasant uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, in January 1994. Haitian human-rights organizations both on the island and abroad have fought for democratic government and socioeconomic justice, but their work has been complicated by the violent struggles for power by Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the intervention of a UN and OAS mission.

INTERNATIONAL ALLIES AND NEW MANDATES

International nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have provided training, support, and public awareness for human-rights groups throughout the continent. The most important NGOs include Amnesty International, founded in 1961, which campaigned on behalf of prisoners of conscience and fair trials and against torture; their role during the dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s was particularly important. The Washington Office on Latin America was founded in 1974, and was a critical link for groups interested in influencing U.S. policy and needing training in international advocacy. Human Rights Watch established their Americas program in the 1980s, with a focus on documenting abuses and political lobbying. None of this work could have been accomplished without the financial support of individuals, European governments, and private foundations, particularly the Ford Foundation, which was instrumental in funding the best-known human-rights institutions throughout the continent. Solidarity and exile groups in the United States and Europe also played a critical role.

In addition, activists have employed the United Nations system, including the Human Rights Commission and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for remedies and support. The OAS and the Inter-American system also played a growing role by the end of the last century; its American Convention on Human Rights (also known as the Pact of San José) was adopted in 1969 and entered in force in 1978, with compliance overseen by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In 1988 the Court issued its first ruling, finding the government of Honduras responsible in a case of forced disappearance. Since then, the Commission and the Court have played an important and expanding role in addressing human-rights issues. The OAS has adopted a number of measures focused on protecting human-rights work in the region.

State human-rights organizations, including ombudsman offices, national human-rights commissions, thematic human-rights commissions (which address particular issues or vulnerable populations), and national bodies devoted to international humanitarian law, have become increasingly important. Their numbers multiplied throughout Latin America in the 1990s, some as part of the democratization efforts, and most funded by outside sources. Their missions often have been to provide human-rights education programs, documentation of abuses, and support for NGOs, but often they do not have the political power and funding to implement significant reforms or bring cases to trial. In some countries, such as Colombia, the military has developed its own human-rights programs, publishing human-rights reports, hosting conferences, and establishing a network of battalion-level human-rights offices. They claim that military officers are the victims of due-process violations by NGOs, and they incorporate human rights—understood as nonabusive treatment of local populations—into the traditional military doctrine dealing with civic-military relations, psychological operations, and civic action.

Human-rights groups throughout the region continue to struggle with the most effective ways to ensure that rights are respected. New issues include high crime rates that generate public rejection of rights claims, ongoing economic inequality, and new modalities of violence. Constitutional reform in some countries during the 1990s presented new opportunities by creating new legal rights; rights groups have expanded their work to include the rights of women, children, indigenous and Afro-descendent populations, and gays and lesbians.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cleary, Edward. The Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America. New York: Praeger, 1997.

Hayner, Priscilla. Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. New York: Routledge, 2001.

Hillman, Richard, John Peeler, and Elsa Cardozo da Silva, eds. Democracy and Human Rights in Latin America. New York: Praeger, 2001.

Jelin, Elizabeth, and Eric Hershberg, eds. Constructing Democracy: Human Rights, Citizenship, and Society in Latin America. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996.

Melish, Tara. Protecting Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in the Inter-American System: A Manual for Presenting Claims. New Haven, CT: Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School, and Centro de Derechos Economicos y Sociales de Ecuador, 2002.

Stern, Steve. Remembering Pinochet's Chile. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004.

Tate, Winifred. Counting the Dead: The Culture and Politics of Human Rights in Colombia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.

Winifred Tate

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture