AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

In February, the World Health Organization
(WHO) declared Zika a public health
emergency after detecting an “explosive”
spread of the virus in the region. Fears that
mother-to-child transmission of the virus may
be linked to microcephaly in newborns – as
well as the possible sexual transmission of
the virus – highlighted barriers for the
effective realization of sexual and
reproductive health and rights in the region.
State failures left power vacuums that were
occupied by increasingly influential
transnational corporations, especially in the
extractive and other industries related to the
appropriation of territory and natural
resources – mostly in land claimed by and
belonging to Indigenous Peoples, other
ethnic minorities and peasant farmers,
without due respect of their right to free, prior
and informed consent. Often, these groups
suffered harm to their health, environment,
livelihoods and culture, and were forcibly
displaced, leading to the disappearance of
their communities.
Political repression, discrimination,
violence and poverty drove another
deepening but largely forgotten humanitarian
crisis. Hundreds of thousands of refugees –
largely from Central America – were forced to
flee from their homes to seek protection,
frequently placing themselves at risk of
further human rights abuses and risking their
lives.
Many governments displayed a deepening
intolerance to criticism, as they stifled dissent
and muzzled freedom of speech.
In Mexico, the authorities’ unwillingness to
accept criticism was so severe that it
retreated into a state of denial about the
country’s human rights crisis. Despite the fact
that almost 30,000 people were reported
missing, that thousands had lost their lives
due to security operations to combat drug
trafficking and organized crime, and that
thousands were forcibly displaced from their
homes as a result of widespread violence, the
authorities ignored criticism from Mexican
civil society and international organizations,
including the UN.
Denial was also a hallmark of a
deteriorating human rights situation in
Venezuela, with the government putting at
risk the lives and human rights of millions by
refuting the existence of a major
humanitarian and economic crisis, and
refusing to request international aid. Despite
severe food and medicine shortages, rapidly
rising crime rates and continuous human
rights violations – including high levels of
police violence – the government silenced its
critics instead of responding to people’s
desperate calls for help.
Notable events during 2016 included US
President Barack Obama’s historic state visit
to Cuba, which put the two countries’ human
rights challenges – including the ill-treatment
of migrants in the USA, the impact of the US
embargo on Cuba’s human rights situation,
and the lack of freedom of expression and
the repression of activists in Cuba – in the
international spotlight.
The ratification by the Colombian Congress
of the peace agreement with the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) after more than four years of
negotiations finally ended the country’s 50-
year-long armed conflict with the FARC that
devastated millions of lives. A peace process
with Colombia’s second largest guerrilla
group – the National Liberation Army (ELN) –
was announced but had yet to start by the
end of the year, largely due to the group’s
failure to release one of its high-profile
hostages.
In Haiti, a deadly hurricane caused a
major humanitarian crisis, compounding
existing damage from natural disasters.
Deeply entrenched and structural problems
such as a lack of funding and political will
had already left Haiti unable to provide
adequate housing for 60,000 people living in
displacement camps in appalling conditions
following the 2010 earthquake. Presidential
and legislative elections were postponed
twice over allegations of fraud amid protests,
against which the police reportedly used
excessive force. In November, Jovenel Moïse
was elected President.
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