The International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims - 2021

                             Last Wednesday, precisely on 24th March, the world celebrated the day to remember the victims of human rights violations and their fight for truth, justice and dignity. So, this post is a tribute to all victims that suffered injustice and died without have it, to all human rights defenders who helps to bring justice and truth for anyone looking for them, and to all victims that are fighting now for truth, justice and dignity. We all should participate in this fight because as I said before, it is very important to fight against injustice. Without justice the violations could spread and reach you and we all would become slaves in the nightmare called dystopia that would become a new system increasingly difficult to combat. Therefore, help fight human rights violations and injustice, when many abuses have systematically been done for so long time the justice is even more important.  Do not think you are unreachabel and the evil will never reach you and your family. Even if the suffering of other do not annoy you, think in yourself and protect you helping to do justice with the violations happening now. The systematic violations, the impunity, the daily bullying in the mainstream media, the threats online and offline exist to do the victims give up to fight for justice and reparations. Besides, the violations, the systematic abuses, the daily humiliation and the impunity can have a dehumanizing effect in the population, trying us accept what can not be accepted, do not let this happen to you, the solidarity and the emphaty are the essence of the human being. We need them to a better world. This post is a summary of four articles. The first was published at   https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/secretary-generals-message-the-international-day-for-the-right-the-truth-concerning-gross-human-rights-violations-and-for-the-dignity-of-victims-scroll-down-for-french-version. The second was published at  https://kubatana.net/2021/03/24/commemoration-of-the-international-day-for-the-right-to-the-truth-concerning-gross-human-rights-violations-and-for-the-dignity-of-victims/. The third was published at   https://www.carpeglobal.com/event/international-day-for-the-right-to-the-truth-concerning-gross-human-rights-violations-and-for-the-dignity-of-victims/2022-03-24/. The fourth was published at  https://www.rycowb.org/?p=9897

              Today we commemorate the life of Monsignor Oscar Romero, who was murdered for his vocal opposition to inequality, marginalization and injustice in El Salvador. We honour all victims and survivors of human rights violations around the world. We reaffirm and celebrate their dignity by acknowledging their experiences, by renewing our commitment to justice and remedy for them, and by pledging to do everything in our power to prevent any recurrence of such crimes. Acknowledgment, justice, and prevention can only begin with uncovering and acknowledging the facts. Without truth, there can be no justice or reparation. A public accounting of the truth surrounding the perpetration of human rights abuses enables societies to address their underlying causes. Today, as we honour those who experienced such abuses, let us reflect on what each of us can do to prevent serious human rights violations in our own societies. Let us reach out to others, listen to them, find common ground and overcome divisions. The truth is an empowering and healing force. We embrace it for the past, the present and the future.                                                                                                  Today, the National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG) joins the rest of the world in commemorating the International day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims. Today the NTJWG stands with survivors and victims of past conflict acknowledging their right to know the truth about what.  transpired during the various periods of human rights violations. The commemoration of this day signifies a global recognition that survivors, victims, their families, and society have the right to know regarding gross human rights violations.  This year's commemoration of this important day come at a time when there is increase in discourse about the past and the need for exhumations and reburials of the remains of victims of past conflict in Zimbabwe. An exhumations policy would have to take cognisance of the right to truth and facilitate for exhumations and reburial processes to be carried out in a manner that will enable the families of victims of past conflict and society to finally know the truth about what happened in the past. The NTJWG implores to ensure that processes dealing with the past are driven by the desire to promote truth-telling and truth-seeking as these are key to national healing. Furthermore, the NTJWG calls upon the government of Zimbabwe to demonstrate its sincerity to deal with the past by providing the support it needs to uncover the truth about the past and help victims, survivors and their families, and the nation find closure and healing.                                                                       This day pays tribute to the memory of Monsignor Oscar Romero, who was murdered on march 24th, 1980. Monsignor romero was actively engaged in denouncing violations of the human rights of the most vulnerable individuals in El Salvador. The purpose of this day is to remember those victims of systematic human rights abuses and recognize those who dedicate their lives to fighting injustice.                                                                                                                                                                                              This commemorative day was established by the U.N. General Assembly on December 21, 2010, to honor the memory of victims of gross and systematic human rights violations, as well as to promote the importance of the right to truth and justice. Furthermore, this day pays tribute to those who have devoted their lives to, and lost their lives in the struggle to promote and protect human rights for all. On this  day, Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) draws attention to the fact that reconciliation results from a comprehensive and constructive approach to dealing with the past through truth. By opening the path to justice, acceptance and healing, truth helps to overcome divisive narratives, address the causes of conflicts and prevent their recurrence. Moreover, truth, justice and reconciliation are not only a matter of democratic governance and state policy. They are, above all, the responsibility of each citizen, which strives to live in a region that is safe, democratic, peaceful and respecful of human rights.

Who Will Be Accountable?

                This post is a summary of the book with the title above, published at    https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/WhoWillBeAccountable_summary_en.pdf

               The Millennium Development Goals embodies on unprecedented international consensus on poverty reduction as a shared global enterprise, framed around a limited set of commitments to which countries would be held accountable. By setting quantifiable, time-bound targets around a range of indicators, they instilled a shared sense of urgency and provide a statistical basis for reliably  tracking progress across countries. The goals, thereby, held promise as an instrument of accountability and an incentive to action. However, the experience of the past 12 years indicates that their pledge of accountability has been more rhetorical than real. Accountability has been undermined by a lack of clarity about who should be responsible to whom and for what. The weakness of the goals' monitoring and reporting mechanisms has rendered these declaratory political commitments difficult to enforce. The world is weary of broken promises. Future commitments will have litle credibility, and are unlikely to be implemented, unless they are backed by effective accountability mechanisms at every level and translated into tangible results in people's lives. Aligning goals more explicity with the binding obligations States already have under international human rights treaties is not only a legal imperative. It can also strengthen incentives to improve policymaking and implementation. In line with these recommendations, the post-2015 agenda must include a strong accountability framework anchored in human rights standards and reinforce by human rights mechanisms. It will mean ensuring mechanisms are in place to ensure that relevant institutions are answerable for their commitments and subject to enforceability where delivery is falling. And it will mean linking accountability assessments to existing international human rights mechanisms, like the United Nations treaty bodies. Accountability is a cornerstone of the human rights framework, itself a system of norms that govern the relationship between "duty bearers" in authority and "rights holders" affected by their actions. Effort to increase accountability in the post-2015 agenda can draw on human rights norms and mechanisms to strengthen the three dimensions of accountability. Accountability has a corrective function, making it possible to address individual or collective grievances, and sanction wrongdoing by the institutions responsible. However, accountability also has a preventive function, helping to determine which aspects of policy or service delivery are working, so they can be built on, and which aspects need to be adjusted. Accountability mechanisms can help identify systemic failures that need to be overcome in order to make policymaking more effective and responsive. The bond of accountability between state and citizen lies at the centre of an elaborate web of interrelated responsibilities. A vast number of national institutions with distinct responsibilities defined in domestic statutes and administrative law, are responsible and accountable for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and their impact on human rights. Accountability is primarily ensured at the national level. A range of institutions and machanisms exist that can and have been used to hold decision makers answerable for their commitments. These include political accountability mechanisms, such as parliamentary committees, independent oversight bodies, including human rights commissions and ombuds offices. When individuals are adversely affected, mechanisms should enable them to enforce their claim against those in authority and seek appropriate redress if their rights have been violated. Judicial mechanisms are key in this regard. Despite the obstacle that people can face in accessing justice through the courts, litigation can be an important avenue of accountability, whose function is preventive as well as corrective. Beyond the courts, other administrative mechanisms may perform quasi-judicial functions, providing alternative dispute resolution procedures for human rights violations. International accountability mechanisms generally have a supervisory or oversight role, rather than an enforcement function. Yet they can play an important role in fostering responsibility, for example by agreeing targets and benchmarks that can be applied domestically. They can also strengthen answerability, for example, by scrutinizing whether adequate national mechanisms of redress exist. They offer additional forums for raising and negotiating grievances, and are particularly helpful to individuals whose opinions are disregarded by their own governments. International human rights mechanisms such as the universal periodic review of the United Nations Human Rights Council, should be enabled to take more consistent account of monitoring and reporting processes. As well as focusing on the conduct of national actors in their own countries, international accountability mechanisms also have a role to play in ensuring the accountability of those operating at the global level, including non-state actors, which are playing an increasingly influential role. Human rights should be the baseline and metric for assessment of domestic and international policy coherence. There is much to be done. A new global deal is needed. Its ultimate objective should be to realize the full range of rights that all human beings should enjoy in order to live a life with dignity.

Unfulfilled Promises: Latin America Today

                This post is a summary of the book with the title above, published in 2019 at   https://www.thedialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/unfulfilled-promises-english-new.pdf

                 In 1992, in commemoration of the 500-year anniversary of Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas, Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes penned one of the most notable essays ever written on Ibero-American history entitled "The Buried Mirror". Yet it is fair to say that the image of that unfinished building continues to be the most accurate depiction of Latin America reality. Our inability to carry out plans and objectives, our difficulty in finishing tasks, our propensity to improvise continue to be the signs of our predicament. These problems are not exclusive to Latin America, but we can think of few other places where there is such s strong sense of wasted opportunities. Latin America is a region identified with unfulfilled promise, untapped potential, and unfinished business. Throughout history, some Latin America countries have stood at the threshold of success. Argentina by the first two decades of the 20th century ranked among the 10 richest nations in the world. But the most visible and tragic example of economic and social decline is Venezuela. By 1970, this country had become the richest in Latin America and it was among the 20 richest in the world. In contrast, today, with a inflation of one million percent and a GDP growth rate of -15% for 2018, Venezuela is suffering a humanitarian crisis of severe shortages of food, medicine, medical supplies, and thousands of Venezuelans flee the country daily. This erratic trajectory of some countries in the region is evident not only in our economic performance but also in our political development. Periods of stability and institutional consolidation have been interrupted by episodes of authoritarian rule, repression and human rights violations. Regarding the economy, we must admit that something positive that has happened is the consolidation of macroeconomic and fiscal responsibility in most L.A. countries. Economic growth was also impressive by the beginning of the current century. Between 2003 and 2011, overall per capita income rose by 3% and our share in the world economy rose from 5% to 8%. However, since 2013 the tide has turned. Ever since L.A. boom came to a end, some countries have struggled to avoid negative GDP while others have faced minimal growth. The most visible reasons behind this downturn were external: prices for primary goods and commodities dropped and demand went down and external financing conditions became scarce and expensive. However, there were certainly more reasons behind the downturn such as low productivity and lack of competitiveness of our economies. Analyzing the response to corruption helps determine the health and maturity of the rule of law. In December 2016, following the remarkable progress made by Brazilian prosecutors, the U.S. department of Justice revealed that from 2001 to 2016 Odebrecht paid some US$788 million in bribes across 10 Latin American countries. Brazil and Peru have prosecuted and convicted prominent politicians and businesspeople. But in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela, impunity has been the rule. The checked progress made in the anti-corruption fight shows how much remains to be done to fully guarantee court independence and transform the political culture. Moreover, some politicians under investigations are using their clout to escalate polarization and question the justice system. Latin America's violence problem is the subject of considerable global debate. Latin American states and cities routinely rank among the world's most murderous. The regional homicide rate is at least three times the global average, and citizens routinely list insecurity among their top concerns. 43 of the 50 cities with the highest homicide rates on the planet are found in Latin America. Criminal violence is multifactoral: several variables influence the scale and dynamics of lethal and nonlethal violence in Latin America. Among these are poverty and inequality, unemployment, low-quality education, high impunity rates, and social norms condoning violence against women and girls. Other homicide triggers include rapid unregulated urbanization, the penetration of gangs, drug trade, and access to alcohol and illicit firearms. In Brazil, the rate of convictions to homicides is 8 in 100. The abundance of unlicensed firearms are also associated with the region's disproportionately high burden of gun violence. Transparent civilian oversight of the region's law enforcement and justice institutions is a precondition for restoring their credibility and legitimacy. Positive outcomes will require enlightened leadership and robust citizen engagement. The successes have arisen when policies are sustained across multiple electoral terms and are genuinely owned by local populations. What is driving the sustained increase in labor income in Latin America? Recent trends show that the wage gap between low- and high-skilled workers is becoming smaller. The average gap between college-educated workers and workers with only primary schooling declined from about 330% to 240% since 2003. First, and foremost, is the expansion in educational achievement. Second, during the period 2005-2015, there were significant widespread improvements in real minimum wages, which rose an average of 42%. The Andean countries experienced the highest increases, followed by those of the Southern Cone. Third, many countries also implemented labor policies designed to improve youth's skills and foster women's labor participation. At the same time, itt has a wide gap between the pool of available skills and those skills that economies and businesses require. In Latin America, around 50% of formal firms do not find employees with the skills they need. This is a particularly pressing issue in countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. Another big issue concerns the behavioral and political changes needed to dismantle exclusions. Citizens security and violence challenges have not abated with the booming economic growth. While there is much work to be done on changes in social and cultural norms will need to match the magnitude of the challenge. A common theme of the past 15 years has been pushing the frontiers of social policy beyond social transfers. Labor, productive and industrial policy are part of the ecosystem of policies that create incentives for human capital. The socioeconomic landscape of Latin America is evolving, but so are the policies that affect the shape of its landmarks. The first decade of the 21st century brought new hope with an economic boom in South America, fueled by China's appetite for commodities. This expansion allowed governments to increase public spending, create social programs, and preside over a reduction in poverty and even inequality in some countries. At the time of publishing this book, however, most of Latin America is once again grappling with frustations and a sense of lost opportunities. Between 2003 and 2013, governments were focused on responding to pressing social demands and, blinded by their own electoral success, acted as if the boom were going to last forever, rather than being a temporal and unique opening. Most Latin America countries did not implement reforms to improve productivity, diversify exports away from raw materials, or increase the efficiency of the state apparatus. Again Latin America sacrificed its future on the altar of the present. On the rule of law, Catalina Botero reminds us of the progress Latin America has made in leaving behind a tragic cycle of military dictatorships, internal conflicts, and human rights violations. Today, most countries in the region are democracies, and two of them, Costa Rica and Uruguay, are among the most robust democracies in the world. Anti-corruption movements in many countries have had mixed effects on Latin America democracies. On the one hand, judicial work against corruption, in part connected to the lava jato case in Brazil, has proven the strength of rule-of-law institutions. On the other, the endless succession of scandals has eroded the legitimacy of democratic rule in the eyes of their citizens. In Latin America countries, state institutions are concentrated in main cities, virtually ignoring the millions who live outside these "islands." Moreover, the concentration of power in the executive branch limits the ability of governments to reach meaningful consensus with civil society. Only by building efficient, decentralized, legitimate, and inclusive institutions will Latin American countries to be able to strengthen the rule of law and restore their citizens' trust in democracy, contain violence and crime, reduce socioeconomic inequalities, implement forward-looking policies, and design mechanisms to deepen regional and global integration.