Latin America
We work alongside local organizations and human rights defenders to defend civic space and combat violence, repression, and discrimination in the region. Through strategic litigation and legal advocacy before the Inter-American Human Rights system and the United Nations, we work toward protecting human rights, seeking truth, justice, and redress for victims of human rights violations. From combating gender-based violence in Central America, historic racism against Dominicans of Haitian Descent, and systematic repression against critics in Venezuela and Guatemala to protecting freedom of the press in Colombia and Brazil, our mission is to create a region where justice, dignity, and equality prevail for all.
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Private Prison Operator CoreCivic Saw 55% Increase in Immigration Detainee Contracts CoreCivic has seen a substantial increase in revenue over the past six months, driven by a steady rise in new federal government contracts signed as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based private prison operator announced its quarterly earnings Wednesday,…
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Guapinol: A 2 años de las medidas cautelares de la CIDH, el Estado de Honduras sigue sin garantizar la protección de las personas defensoras
Tags Share A 2 años de que la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) otorgara la Medida Cautelar No. 137-23 a favor de integrantes del Comité Municipal para la Defensa de los Bienes Comunes y Públicos de Tocoa y el Bufete Justicia para los Pueblos en Honduras, el Estado de Honduras no ha cumplido con…
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Guapinol: Two years after the IACHR precautionary measures, the State of Honduras continues to fail to guarantee the protection of human rights defenders
Tags Share Two years after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted Precautionary Measure No. 137-23 on behalf of members of the Comité Municipal para la Defensa de los Bienes Comunes y Públicos de Tocoa (Municipal Committee for the Defense of the Common and Public Goods of Tocoa) and the Bufete Justicia para los…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share ICE’s Use of Full-Body Restraints During Deportations Raises Concerns Over Inhumane Treatment The AP identified multiple examples of ICE using the black-and-yellow full-body restraint device, the WRAP, in deportations. Its use was described to the AP by five people who said they were restrained in the device, sometimes for hours, on ICE deportation…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Deaths of Migrants in ICE Custody Reach Highest Level in 20 Years Huabing Xie, an undocumented migrant from China, became the latest person to die in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in fiscal year 2025, after passing away on September 29. His death also brought the total to at least 22 between…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share U.S. Assigned a Specialized Immigration Team to Target Campus Protesters When Rumeysa Ozturk was grabbed by masked federal agents outside her Massachusetts home in March, the video of the Turkish graduate student being handcuffed and hustled into an unmarked vehicle spread around the world. A federal trial that ended Tuesday revealed for the first time the…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Trump Administration Increasingly Places Immigrants in Solitary Confinement, Report Finds Use of solitary confinement in immigration detention is soaring under the Trump administration, according to a report published by Physicians for Human Rights using federal data and records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed at least 10,588 people…
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CNN en Español: Disappearances in Venezuela are not “irregularities” but a “government strategy to show power,” report says
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights recently published a new report outlining patterns of political repression in Venezuela following the most recent election cycles.
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Electoral Repression, Enforced Disappearances and Political Control in Venezuela
Tags Share Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Foro Penal have published a new report outlining patterns of political repression in Venezuela following the July 2024 presidential elections, and the 2025 parliamentary and regional elections. The report, titled Electoral Repression, Enforced Disappearances and Political Control in Venezuela, analyzes how President Nicolas Maduro’s regime has increasingly…
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New report analyzes increasing political repression in Venezuela following 2024 presidential elections
Tags Share Washington, D.C., September 18, 2025 – Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Foro Penal today published a new report outlining patterns of political repression in Venezuela following the July 2024 presidential elections, and the 2025 parliamentary and regional elections. The report, titled Electoral Repression, Enforced Disappearances and Political Control in Venezuela, analyzes how…
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Defending Human Rights Amid Repression: The Escalating Risks for Activists in Venezuela
Tags Share Since the disputed presidential elections on July 28, 2024, Venezuela has experienced a chilling escalation of repression, with human rights defenders (HRDs) at the center of targeted attacks by state actors. What began as a crackdown on protesters evolved into a sustained campaign to silence civil society. The post-election climate has left independent…
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Brazil’s Marco Temporal: Indigenous Land Rights at a Crossroads
Tags Share Brazil is in the midst of a high-stakes battle over Indigenous land rights, centered on the controversial concept of the Marco Temporal, or “time frame” thesis. This legal theory would limit Indigenous territorial claims to lands physically occupied – or under legal dispute – on October 5, 1988, the date Brazil’s current Constitution…
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