Call for Peace and Human Rights in Colombia
On April 16th, the U.N. Security Council warned that “the Colombian peace process stands today at a critical juncture.” In his remarks before the Security Council, U.S.
PBI Guatemala Reports Deteriorating Human Rights Conditions
March 19, 2019
Mexico: A Deteriorating Situation for Human Rights Defenders
In the first four months of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term, which began on December 1, 2018, at least seventeen human rights defenders and journalists were murdered, an increase over last year’s rate. If killings continue at this rate, fifty-two defenders and journalists will be dead by the end of 2019.
Closing of space for dissent in Honduras
Attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, and others exercising their right to free speech in Honduras have increased in the first months of 2019. Below are some selected incidents illustrating a trend toward a continued closing of space for dissent.
Racial discrimination and the dispossession of natural resources in indigenous territories: The case of Choréachi
April 11, 2019
Leaders from the Bajo Atrato express their concerns to the international community
April 5, 2019
“Our lives are confined, we cannot leave, the illegal armed actors are disputing our lands, and those who speak out or try to speak out become military objectives.”
Turning the Tide on Impunity: Protection and Access to Justice for Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in Mexico
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office after campaigning on a platform focused heavily on combating corruption and insecurity and bringing peace and reconciliation to the Mexican people.
A new report from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA and PBI) focuses on how the new government can approach an important aspect of this endeavor: creating a safer and more enabling environment for journalists and human rights defenders to carry out their important work.
Impunity and siege on civil society mark human rights crisis in Guatemala
March 4, 2019
The following is a joint press release of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and Union for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala (UDEFEGUA), released in Spanish and translated into English by PBI-USA.
Imminent Risk of Attacks and Forced Displacement Against Land Claimants in the Bajo Atrato Area
February 25, 2019
Despite multiple alerts, illegal armed actors continue to fight for control of the territory in the Jiguamiandó and Curbaradó river basin areas (in the region of Urabá in northwest Colombia), resulting in ongoing violence and killings, placing the Afro-Colombian, mixed-ethnicity and indigenous communities in the region at serious risk and affecting their physical and emotional security and integrity.