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Situation Analysis: The situation in Latin America and the Caribbean is paradoxical. On the one hand, the region has a strong and effective system for protecting human rights in the Inter-American Commission and Court for Human Rights. In addition, almost every country in the region has a national human rights institution. Governments are eager to cooperate with international and regional human rights mechanisms, and there is a large base of experienced and effective civil society organizations willing to cooperate with governments in tackling the causes of human rights violations.
On the other hand, however, there are persistent and growing human rights challenges, such as: exclusion of and discrimination against large segments of the population resulting in a lack of access to economic, social, and cultural rights, which, in turn, creates social tensions and internal conflicts; a high foreign-debt burden; institutions for the administration of justice that are too weak to effectively address high levels of corruption, impunity, and public insecurity; the many serious human rights abuses committed under dictatorial regimes in the past, and during the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia, which have not been investigated and prosecuted; and one of the lowest rates of ratification of international human rights treaties in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Regional priorities and strategies: OHCHR aims to gradually increase its presence in the region during the coming biennium. A new country office will be established in Bolivia in response to the Government’s request for assistance.
OHCHR’s regional office in Santiago will gradually focus on economic, social, and cultural rights, strengthening its cooperation with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and providing expertise to all other OHCHR field presences in the region. A new regional office will be opened in Central America with a focus on discrimination, violence against women, and exclusion.
Human rights officers are deployed: in Ecuador, to work primarily on reinforcing the country’s administration of justice system; and in the English-speaking Caribbean, to carry out awareness-raising campaigns and human rights education, and to promote ratification of international human rights instruments and reporting.
The strengthened New York Office will enhance cooperation with Washington-based regional institutions, such as the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, and other organizations focused on the region, including civil society organizations.
The new presences will complement the country offices in Mexico, where OHCHR aims to renegotiate its current mandate, Colombia, and Guatemala. In Haiti, OHCHR will continue to support the human rights component of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). In addition, there will be an increased focus on Brazil. Other activities and presences, such as ongoing projects with Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay will be phased out during the biennium.
Thematically, OHCHR will focus on the most pressing human rights concerns, namely: exclusion and discrimination; the weak administration of justice and ensuing impunity; protection of vulnerable groups, particularly indigenous peoples and afrodescendants; and violence against women. OHCHR will continue to work closely with our partners in the region, which include the United Nations system; the United Nations Country Teams; the United Nations Peace Mission in Haiti; the Organization of American States and its human rights components, the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights; the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD); ECLAC; and the Interamerican Development Bank.
In the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, OHCHR’s field deployment is projected as follows:
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