Learn about the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on freedom of expression, displacement, and militarisation in Latin America, and what human rights defenders are doing about it.
Chair
John Dew, PBI UK patron and former UK ambassador in Colombia
Speakers
Dina Meza, award-winning journalist and founder of digital newspaper Paso de Animal Grande, Honduras
Yadira Sandoval, member of the Nicaraguan Peasant Movement
Alirio Uribe, renowned Colombian lawyer and CAJAR Colombian lawyers’ collective member
10/06/2020 at 17:00 (GMT+1)
Responses to the outbreak in Latin America have put human rights defenders in extreme risk. At the same time, hunger and poverty are set to spike in Latin America as the impact of the novel coronavirus ravages the region´s economies and disrupts supply chains. We will be speaking to those under siege from state and non-state actors doing their best to continue supporting their communities. Seasoned diplomat John Dew will introduce the panel of Latin American human rights defenders.
International journalist Dina Meza will discuss the political implications of COVID-19 in Honduras, as well as the situation as it stands for journalists in the country. Esteemed lawyer and CAJAR member Alirio Uribe will tell us about the rise in assassination of human rights defenders and collapse of the criminal justice system in Colombia, and Yadira Sandoval will talk to us about the effect of the outbreak on refugees in Costa Rica and peasant communities in Nicaragua. Yadira Sandoval has been a member of the Nicaraguan peasant movement since 2013 and is currently in Costa Rica organising for the Nicaraguan community in exile.
