Human Rights in Latin America

Abstract

Human rights can be defined in many ways within an array of different intellectual paradigms. In the most general sense human rights are universal entitlements that apply equally to all human beings. Human rights are meant to represent and preserve the minimal requirements for human dignity. Although basic human rights (life, security, personal liberty, etc.) can be exercised and violated in any number of ways, the idea of “human rights” usually refers specifically to the relationships between individuals and states. That is, states have the responsibility to protect, promote, and enforce human rights, and states are in a unique position to violate human rights as well. The legal instruments that define international human rights law today have their origins in the Nuremberg Trials, the formation of the United Nations, and the realization that what had happened in the death camps of Nazi Germany should be positively prohibited in international law. Scholars and practitioners of human rights often differentiate between positive rights (things that states are required to provide, such as food, shelter, education, etc.) and negative rights (things that states are prohibited from doing, such as torture, unlawful imprisonment, discrimination, etc.). Latin America has an important and unique connection to the international human rights regime. Human rights norms were first defined and adopted in the context of the Cold War. Especially after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Latin America was a central battlefield for the Cold War. Much of the region was overwhelmed by violent conflict between revolutionary guerrillas and the counterinsurgent forces of Latin American militaries. In many cases the Latin American militaries assumed dictatorial powers in order to carry out their counterinsurgency plans. And in every instance, Latin American states (governments) committed gross human rights violations against the citizens of those states. In many cases the atrocities committed by Latin American military regimes during this period were among the worst cases of human rights abuse in the post–World War II era. New models for response emerged in the region (e.g., grassroots human rights organizations) that were emulated in other parts of the world. Moreover, as the Cold War ended and these Latin American regimes began to transition to democracy, they developed the first modern tools of transitional justice (e.g., truth commissions and trials for the former rulers), and in many cases Latin American governments undertook serious constitutional reform, incorporating international human rights norms into their own constitutional law. Because of this, there is a highly developed human rights culture in most of Latin America. The international human rights regime functions in Latin America through the United Nations and the inter-American human rights system, including the American Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.