Human Mobility and the Obligation to Protect: Toward a Subregional Perspective (2023)

The report reflects the Commission's observations about how migration flows go mainly from northern Central America to Mexico and the United States, are mixed in nature, and feature varied individual profiles. This north-bound mobility trend is linked to expectations of better living standards, more protection, and greater safety in countries like Mexico and the United States.

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Human Mobility and the Obligation to Protect: Toward a Subregional Perspective

National Protection Systems and the Human Rights of Older Persons in the Americas (2023)

This is the first report that specifically addresses the human rights of older persons in the region and provides an account of the mechanisms provided by States to protect these rights.

The report reflects the paradigm shift concerning old age held in the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons. The Convention states that aging involves just a different stage in an individual's life cycle and is therefore valuable and dignified. The new paradigm of an active, independent old age requires eradicating discrimination based on age, known as ageism. Ageism unfairly restricts the rights of older persons, turns their problems invisible, and particularly exposes these individuals to various forms of violence.

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National Protection Systems and the Human Rights of Older Persons in the Americas

Persons Deprived of Liberty in Nicaragua (2020)

Since April 18, 2018, at least 1,614 people have been deprived of liberty in the context of the human rights crisis. The report is built primarily from the voices of the victims themselves, who reported to the IACHR on the serious situation they experienced, the methods of detention, the realities of their deprivation of liberty, the response of national justice, and the consequences for their personal and family lives. As of the closing date for this report, the continued criminalization of voices critical of the government persists, within a context of a total absence of guarantees of impartiality and independence on the part of Nicaragua's judicial system. A situation of impunity caused by the prolonged weakening of democratic institutions in the country persists, particularly given the failure to investigate the serious violations that have occurred since April 18, 2018.

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Persons Deprived of Liberty in Nicaragua

Violence and Discrimination Against Women and Girls (2019)

Given the context of violence and discrimination faced by women, girls, and adolescents in the region, the Commission has identified them as persons who face particular discrimination and has therefore prioritized lines of work to promote and protect their fundamental rights. The IACHR has played an essential role in the development of legal standards to protect and defend the rights of women, girls, and adolescents and has issued recommendations to identify and overcome structural discrimination and intersecting forms of discrimination specifically affecting them. To fulfil its mandate, the Inter-American Commission has also supported Member States of the OAS in their concrete efforts to comply with the decisions and recommendations of inter-American human rights institutions, whether the Commission itself or the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

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Violence and Discrimination Against Women and Girls

Internal Displacement in the NorthernTriangle of Central America (2019)

Hundreds of thousands of people in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras—a region known as the Northern Triangle—have been internally displaced as a consequence of widespread violence. Those people are particularly vulnerable, as they flee within their own countries in search of protection and safety. Women, children, older adults, indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities are disproportionately affected by this phenomenon. The aim of this report is to provide a practical tool to formulate public policy with a human rights approach to address internal forced displacement.

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Internal Displacement in the NorthernTriangle of Central America

Recognition of the Rights of LGBTI Persons (2019)

People with diverse or non-normative sexual orientations, identities and gender expressions, or whose bodies vary from female and male body standards, live in contexts of physical, psychological and sexual violence. In the Americas, violence, discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes prevent lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people from fully exercising their rights. However, significant progress has also been made towards protecting, recognizing and guaranteeing the rights of LGBTI people in a number of countries in the region.

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Recognition of the Rights of LGBTI Persons

Women Journalists and Freedom of Expression (2018)

Women journalists are two times more likely to be victims of violence for exercising freedom of expression and because of their gender. In addition to the risks of threats and violence faced by all human rights defenders and journalists in the region, women journalists are exposed to additional or specific risks. By challenging chauvinistic stereotypes that disapprove of their participation in public life, they face discrimination based on their gender. In addition, they face a lack of protection and obstacles in access to justice that are also differentiated from their male counterparts.

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Women Journalists and Freedom of Expression

Children and Adolescents in the USA Adult Criminal Justice System (2018)

This report addresses the situation of children and adolescents who are charged, prosecuted and convicted in the United States’ adult criminal justice system. That exposes those juveniles to serious violations of their rights to life, personal integrity and due process, since—by being treated as adults—they lose the special protection the criminal justice system must grant to children and adolescents.

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Children and Adolescents in the USA Adult Criminal Justice System

Fulfillment of Children's Rights (2017)

This microsite works as a user manual for the report on national systems to protect children. The following is a list of obligations, principles and standards applicable to the design and operation of national systems to protect children, with a view to effectively enforcing the rights of children and adolescents.

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Fulfillment of Children's Rights

Poverty and Human Rights (2017)

This report is a preliminary effort by the IACHR to examine the issue of poverty from a human rights angle. From that perspective, people who live in poverty are no longer considered “recipients of charity” and are treated as rights holders instead.

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Poverty and Human Rights

Indigenous Women (2017)

The report describes the different forms of discrimination indigenous women face, based on various facets of their identity. It also analyzes how these situation increases indigenous women’s exposure to violence and discrimination, and limit their adequate access to justice and to their economic, social, and cultural rights. In this report, the IACHR establishes governing principles that should guide the action of States to prevent and address all human rights violations that affect indigenous women in the hemisphere, through a holistic, gendered and intercultural perspective.

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Indigenous Women

Venezuela (2017)

Over the last few years, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has been observing the weakness of democratic institutions and the progressive deterioration of the human rights situation in Venezuela, which has worsened significantly since 2015. This report documents the serious human rights violations that have been taking place in Venezuela in recent years and seeks to raise awareness around them. It also analyzes the underlying causes for these violations and suggests actions the state should take to bring them to an end.

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Venezuela

Violence, Children and Organized Crime (2016)

Children and adolescents are one of the groups most impacted by the various forms of violence and violations of rights, as well as by organized crime. Government responses are inadequate to sufficiently protect children, guarantee their rights, and prevent them from being recruited, used, and exploited by organized crime. Policies for controlling and repressing criminal groups have led to frequent abuses and arbitrary practices carried out by law enforcement against adolescents.

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Violence, Children and Organized Crime

Guatemala (2016)

The report addresses structural challenges on public safety, access to justice and impunity, marginalization and discrimination that seriously affect the human rights of its inhabitants. The report particularly analyzes the system of administration of justice in Guatemala and the need for appropriate, efficient, independent and impartial, in order to respond to structural impunity for several past and present human rights violations. Also, the report especially addresses the situation of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala, whose rights to their ancestral lands and territories have been affected, and suffer exclusion, inequality and malnutrition as a result of racism and structural discrimination. The report analyzes the situation of human rights of human rights defenders, journalists, women, children and adolescents, persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex persons and migrants.

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Guatemala

México (2016)

The report analyzes, in particular, forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and torture, as well as the situation of citizen insecurity, lack of access to justice and impunity, and the situation of journalists, human rights defenders and other groups especially affected by the context of violence in Mexico. It also provides recommendations with the aim of assisting the Mexican State in strengthening its efforts to protect and guarantee human rights in the country, in accordance with the international human rights obligations assumed voluntarily by the State.

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Mexico

Honduras (2016)

This report addresses the violation of rights of the people of Honduras, a situation that results from high rates of violence, citizen insecurity, and high levels of impunity. It also offers recommendations designed to help Honduras strengthen its efforts to protect and guarantee human rights, in accordance with the international human rights obligations assumed voluntarily by the State.

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Honduras

Dominican Republic (2016)

Over the years, authorities in the Dominican Republic have adopted a set of practices, standards and judicial decisions directed to denationalize people born in this country who descend from Haitian migrants. This process of denationalization began with the practice of registry officials in refusing to register the birth of children of Haitian migrants born in the Dominican Republic. Since then, it has gradually expanded through the adoption of various measures, laws, and judicial decisions of other branches of the Dominican State. With no other nationality, this process has meant that tens of thousands of people have become stateless in Dominican Republic.

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Dominican Republic

Violence against LGBTI Persons (2015)

This report addresses the violence, which in different contexts, is perpetuated against LGBTI persons, or those perceived as such, in the Americas and provide recommendations to OAS State members to comply with their obligations to respect and guarantee human rights. OAS Member States have to adopt measures to prevent, investigate, punish and repair crimes and acts of violence against LGBTI persons, or those perceived as such, with due diligence. The IACHR uses the concept of violence based on prejudice to understand the violence against persons who defy traditional gender norms, of the binary men/women, and which bodies differ from those of the standard of “female” and “male” body.

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Violence against LGBTI Persons

Towards the Closure of Guantanamo (2015)

This report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights calls once again on the United States of America to close the detention center at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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Towards the Closure of Guantanamo