Major human rights report condemns Americas

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued its 2008 World Report today criticizing numerous governments for their substandard human rights records. For example, the report claimed that “established democracies” (e.g. U.S. and most of Europe) have impeded the progress of growing democracies in other parts of the world. The report also blasted autocratic governments like Kenya and Pakistan and critiqued the United Nations for being “too soft” on Sudan.

The HRW account also focused on the lack of progress in human rights in several Latin American countries. Here are just a few of them:

• Brazil - Police brutality in favelas and their impunity.
• Haiti – Attacks against human rights activists and journalists.
• Colombia – Violence against labor leaders and paramilitary influence in politics.
  
• Venezuela – Impeding freedom of expression and influencing the judicial system.
  
• Mexico – Obstacles to freedom of the press and denying reproductive rights.
  
• Cuba – Incarceration of political prisoners and travel restrictions.
• Guatemala - Impunity against leaders from the civil war.

Sources (English)- Human Rights Watch, Al Jazeera, Guardian UK, Reuters Africa

Sources (Spanish)- Human Rights Watch

Image- BBC News (“HRW said Kenyan leaders believed the US would tolerate electoral fraud.”)