Criminalization of Activism in Central America, Not Make It Worse
by Rachel Margolis
August 22, 2022
Latin America is one of the world’s most dangerous regions for human rights activists, and the criminalization of human rights defenders and civil society actors — loosely defined as the misuse of criminal law to impede their work — is on the rise. President Joe Biden’s administration recently launched an initiative to address this growing threat in Central America. But as the reality on the ground in Honduras and Guatemala shows, the United States risks fueling the criminalization crisis through its other policies, including its reliance on private-sector investment to foster economic development and slow migration. The U.S. government can and should do more to reduce the criminalization risk by integrating human rights protections into all of its policies and programs in Central America, especially those involving problematic industries.
The new Biden program came in the context of the Summit of the Americas in June, when the administration announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) would launch the “Voices” (or “Voces” in Spanish) Initiative to “protect, defend, and promote civic space in Central America.” Among other priorities, USAID plans to “promote freedom of expression” and “work to counter [the] increasing trend of trying to criminalize civil society actors, providing them with enhanced physical, digital, and legal protection.”
The recognition of criminalization of human rights advocacy as a significant issue is encouraging, but the addition of an isolated program will not be enough to curb this phenomenon, nor to make up for years of U.S. foreign policy that neglected human rights defenders and even aided in their persecution. If U.S. policy is to be more helpful than harmful in its overall impact, the administration must adjust its approach to reflect the role of the private sector in criminalizing human rights advocacy.
The Role of U.S. Investment
U.S. policymakers should be paying close attention to these events. The United States, through its own development agencies as well as international finance institutions, already has a history of financing projects linked to violence against human rights defenders. For instance, just months before renowned Honduran activist Berta Cáceres was murdered in March 2016 for her opposition to a hydroelectric dam, USAID signed an agreement with the hydroelectric company in support of the project. And the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank invested U.S. dollars in Dinant Corporation, an agribusiness conglomerate that has been implicated in numerous human rights abuses against farmers and land-rights activists.
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The Role of U.S. Investment
U.S. policymakers should be paying close attention to these events. The United States, through its own development agencies as well as international finance institutions, already has a history of financing projects linked to violence against human rights defenders. For instance, just months before renowned Honduran activist Berta Cáceres was murdered in March 2016 for her opposition to a hydroelectric dam, USAID signed an agreement with the hydroelectric company in support of the project. And the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank invested U.S. dollars in Dinant Corporation, an agribusiness conglomerate that has been implicated in numerous human rights abuses against farmers and land-rights activists.
More:
https://www.justsecurity.org/82759/the-us-must-help-fight-the-criminalization-of-activism-in-central-america-not-make-it-worse/