On November 17, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights submitted an amicus brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in response to Guatemala’s request for an Advisory Opinion on Democracy and Human Rights.

On December 6, 2024, Guatemala requested the Court to determine whether “States are obligated to guarantee and promote democracy as a human right protected by the American Convention on Human Rights, as a means for social, political, and economic development and for the effective exercise of other human rights; or, alternatively, under both understandings.” 

Guatemala also requested clarification on several points, including the scope of protection for the human right to democracy under the American Convention, whether violating this right would affect other Convention rights, what standards states must meet to guarantee and promote democracy, and whether democracy is protected individually or collectively.

Our amicus brief provides the Court with regional and international human rights standards to inform the development of the Inter-American jurisprudence on state obligations regarding democracy. We argue that an enabling civic space – with the full respect of the rights at its core –  freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly – is a necessary condition for democracy, as these rights create the environment necessary for the effective exercise of political rights.

Therefore, our brief asks the Court to recognize enabling civic space as a precondition for genuine representative democracy under the American Convention. We also highlight how restrictions on civic space in the Americas, such as criminalizing journalists and human rights defenders, limiting peaceful protest, and targeting independent civil society, erode democratic guarantees and weaken the rule of law.

This Advisory Opinion presents a vital opportunity for the Court to affirm the interdependence between human rights and democracy, to strengthen protections for civic space, and to provide guidance to states on ensuring free participation, public debate, accountability, and the full exercise of political rights.

Read the amicus brief in Spanish.