La agenda actual de los derechos humanos en la región andina: Reflexiones para el análisis y el debate

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to address issues on the current human rights agenda in three Andean countries: Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. This paper analyzes the traditional agenda that is focused on serious human rights violations in the context of political violence in the 1980s and 1990s. Concerning this topic, this paper highlights the work of the Commissions of Truth and Reconciliation in Ecuador and Peru, and identifies the challenges related with the investigation and punishment of these crimes, but also the importance of strengthening the individual and collective reparations for victims as a way to improve the social reconciliation and peace in these countries. This paper also studies some topics of the current a genda of human rights in Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. In Bolivia, the article presents the abusive use of pretrial detention. According to official statistics, more than 80% of detainees are in pretrial detention. This problem is due to the slowness of the justice system and causes a prison overcrowding crisis, resulting in significant damages to human rights as well as to the guarantees of due process. In the case of Ecuador, this paper shows how the new laws passed by the Ecuadorian government represent a risk for the right to freedom of expression in this country. The Ecuadorian government is announcing "the democratization of the access to media" through measures that limit the rights to freedom of the press and expression. Finally, regarding Peru, this paper addresses the social conflicts related to the exploitation of natural resources, specifically gold. There exist strong tensions between projects for the exploitation of natural resources and the communities who live where these resources are located, causing social conflicts. These problems arise in cases of mining on a large scale as well as in cases of informal mining. Last year, the Peruvian government created the crime of "illegal mining", which has led to protests by informal miners in several provinces. In this context, native people and their right to self-determination and social protest are in tension with the duty of the state to provide security and ensure public order and freedom of transit.