Yesterday, the human rights organisation Amnesty International named the impunity that often surrounds violations of human rights a “norm” in Latin America.
In their annual report named “The State of the World’s Human Rights 2012”, presented yesterday in London, Amnesty International analysed human rights abuses, for example those found in the police, justice system, those against indigenous people, immigrants and women and children if Latin American countries.
The report denounced violations of human rights in Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, Venezuela, Guatemala and Colombia.
The report noted that: “Many human rights cases made slow progress, obstructed by the
absence of meaningful access to justice,” among other factors. The organisation criticised particularly the “threats against and killings of human rights defenders, witnesses, lawyers, prosecutors” as well as the increased targeting of journalists in the above countries.
The report did, however, point out “significant advances in the investigation and prosecution of past human right violations,” naming cases in Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, Haiti and Colombia.
However, the Amnesty International report also noted that these advances are significantly overshadowed by the current situation of serious human rights abuses that plagues many Latin American countries.
“Important though these cases were, they were the exception, and impunity for human rights violations remained the norm,” said the report.
