Regarding the situation in Venezuela

A democratic and peaceful resolution needs to be achieved and the full enjoyment of human rights guaranteed. Interventionist moves by the United States must be rejected by the international community.

  

The United Nations recognizes the rights of peasants

The Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas promotes measures to guarantee access to land, the protection of seeds in light of their commodification and a stop to evictions, among many other issues.

  

The Global Compact for Migration was adopted

More than 160 UN member countries endorsed the Global Compact for Migration at an intergovernmental conference held on December 10-11. This agreement includes some important advances, above all in a context of growing xenophobia and nationalism in Latin America and the world.

  

We seek to act as plaintiffs in the Acindar case

A plant owned by the Argentine steelmaker housed both a clandestine detention center and a police outpost during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Company executives pointed out the workers who should be kidnapped and provided the military with photographs from their personal files so they could be identified.

  

The Ford case: prison terms of 10, 12 and 15 years

After 15 years of judicial investigations and a year-long trial, a federal court in Argentina found two former heads of Ford’s plant in General Pacheco guilty of acting as direct participants in illegal detentions and torture during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. This is a milestone in the sanctioning of civilian responsibility in state terrorism.

  

IACHR sounds alarm over rising militarization in the region

In a hearing they described as “historic,” members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) affirmed that the militarization of public security leads to an exponential increase in human rights violations. They also cautioned about the return of the national security doctrine in the region.

  

Supreme Court rules the “2 for 1” benefit is not applicable to crimes against humanity

The high court ruled on the case of Rufino Batalla, convicted to 13 years in prison for the kidnapping, torture and murder of Laura Carlotto and Olga Noemí Casado, and who had requested that the “2 for 1” sentence reduction provision be applied to his case. By determining it was inapplicable, the Supreme Court modified the criteria it had utilized in the Muiña ruling, which prompted widespread repudiation and led to the approval of a new law.

  

Militarization of the region at the IACHR

The militarization of public security is on the rise across the Americas, with very troubling consequences. For that reason, 17 organizations from 10 countries requested a regional hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which will be held on December 6.