Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Latin America (2015-2020)

               This report is a really good text to read. I'd like to congratulate the authors, Vegard Bye and Peder Ostebo for such a good human rights report about the situation in Latin America. And also to thank them for their work and also the Chr. Michelsen Institute for its work for democracy, human rights and justice. We all need to embrace this fight for a fairer, democratic, transparent and inclusive world. This post is a summary of the report with the incomplete title above published in 2020 at   https://www.cmi.no/publications/file/7264-literature-review-democracy-and-human-rights-in-contemporary-latin-america-2015-2020-trends.pdf

               The attitudinal development of Latin America citizens has raised widely discussed set of topics in the region throughout the last decades, namely the issues of citizenship, political participation, and the relationship between citizen and government. Centre-left and left-wing governments promoted different mechanisms to deepen participation beyond electoral channels. The legacy of these efforts survive in citizen understanding of democracy. There are, however, inherent problems with these mechanisms. Participatory democracy has in several countries been misused by authoritarian leaders, a tendency which has likely led to both an erosion of faith in democratic institutions and reduced support for the idea of participatory democracy. Many Latin America countries face a multitude of problems impeding effective governance, including economic decline, political instability, diminishing political trust, and polarization. Lack of effective governance is, however, also a cause underpinning many of these problems. While L.A. countries face an array of different governance challenges, a topic that has proved to be particularly acute is the problem of corruption. More than any other event, the corruption scandals concerning the Brazilian companies Petrobras and Odebrecht have contributed to transforming domestic and regional politics. Moreover, corruption scandals have received public attention as an indirect consequence of the rise of political leaders hostile to democratic governance. The combination of a more potent effort to tackle corruption, combined with increased access to information may for instance prove relevant in revealing corrupt practices. The introduction of human rights discourse was a key element in the L.A. transitions to democratic governance. International human rights standards have been a common framework for political and social claims in L.A. societies. This is as true in L.A. as elsewhere. The transition to democracy opened up a wave of constitutional acknowledgement of human rights, and spurred the creation of both national human rights institutions and judicial mechanisms for compliance with international human rights convention. There is, however, a vast gap, between the legal framework and the capacity, or in some cases willingness, of governments to comply and improve the situation. Like the panorama of causal explanation of violent crime are complex. In scholarly literature, crime is often thought of as a determinant of declining political trust, thereby impeding both democratic and economic development. Combinations of high levels of violence, corruption, delegitimization of political regimes, and the presence of strong illegal economic actors (illicit drugs, mining, illegal logging) with capacity to influence the state apparatus and control populations is an example of such a pattern. In many cases, understanding such patterns is key to understanding attacks against human rights defenders and activists. Since the introduction of contemporary human rights discourse in L.A., protection of political activists and promoters of human rights has been a key issue in the region. Moreover, several scholars have highlighted the connection between the influence of activists and the maintenance and effectiveness of human rights institutions. This is perhaps especially relevant for L.A., where human rights activists have played a vital role in pressuring justice, specifically for the adoption of stronger legal framework for prosecuting human rights violations. Summarizing and presenting an overview of democratic development and human rights in L.A. is a highly difficult task. The authors of this report recognize that any such attempt will lead to an incomplete overview. This is partly because of regional diversity, partly because existing literature is only beginning to grasp the complex societal developments that have been taking place over the last half-decade. Understanding past developments is especially acute during the current coronavirus crisis. While the crisis has thrown the region into turmoil, the dynamics deciding its outcome will be shaped by existing capacities, cleavages and conflicts. Protests against corruption and broader protests waves against the functioning of democratic regimes tap into two overarching and connected topics that L.A. political leaders must address to change political dynamics. Firstly, that of performance, transparency, and lacking delivery of welfare policies. Secondly, a more open and including political system. Human rights and the nature of democratic rule are intimately connected. While the human rights agenda has expanded, and continues to expand still, many human rights actors see political rights as threatened. This must be seen in light of weakened regional mechanisms and decreased international presence and pressure by international actors truly committed to human rights work. The current complex political landscape, economic conjunctures, and the sudden and unexpected outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic makes it difficult to make reasonable and credible projections for the coming five-years. It is, however, possible to suggest some key factors that will greatly influence the development of democracy and human rights in the region. 1) Basic human rights are under serious threats, including right to food and right to health. But also security and right to life. Political rights, may again be threatened if authoritarian trends continue, with Brazil as the most worrisome case. 2) When it comes to a more effective promotion of human rights, a key factor will be civil society's capacity to create a climate in which rights discussions thrive and political polarization is prevented from overtaking rights. 3) On an international level, the geopolitical rivalry between the U.S.A. and China and Russia, will have an important effect on political development. In this situation, European countries may have to take a vital role in facilitating conflict resolution and the promotion of human rights and democracy.