Americas 2025

Governments in the Americas region increased efforts to stifle dissent. Protests were repressed and protesters criminalized. There were attacks against journalists and measures were taken to censor the media.

Human rights defenders continued to face harassment, attacks and criminalization. The authorities obstructed the functioning of their organizations, including through arbitrary controls over funding.

Unlawful use of force by the authorities resulted in human rights violations

Arbitrary detention and unfair trials continued, demonstrating that states’ use of punitive power was not subject to adequate controls and often served political interests.

People deprived of their liberty endured inhumane detention conditions. There were reports of torture and other ill-treatment, particularly in the context of political repression.

Enforced disappearances persisted throughout the region, with governments failing to take preventive measures and thus allowing impunity to prevail.

Impunity for human rights violations and crimes under international law also continued, although some positive results were achieved in cases dating back many years.

The lack of state guarantees regarding economic and social rights particularly affected marginalized groups. People faced difficulties accessing essential public services such as education, healthcare and clean water.

The 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil yielded limited results and failed to renew the commitment to phase out fossil fuels. States did not adopt sufficient measures to address the climate crisis.

Gender-based violence persisted, including femicide / feminicide and sexual violence; impunity prevailed. Access to abortion was hindered by law and in practice, and reproductive health services were not adequately guaranteed.

States also failed to guarantee Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their territories, lands and resources and did not put in place truly free, prior and informed consultation and consent processes in issues affecting them.

LGBTI people continued to suffer violence and discrimination without receiving protection from governments. Transgender people were particularly vulnerable and several countries passed laws and policies undermining their rights.

Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers were exposed to alarming levels of violence and discrimination in a context of growing racist and xenophobic rhetoric across the region. Many faced barriers to accessing their rights.

Freedom of expression, association and assembly

Civic space deteriorated across the region as a result of the violation of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

During the year, there were undue restrictions on protests in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, the USA and Venezuela. On several occasions, the authorities used unlawful force to disperse peaceful demonstrations or to repress those participating in them. Impunity for similar events in previous years continued in 2025. During and after the protests, participants were subjected to arbitrary detention and criminal investigations, highlighting state use of punitive power to curb freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

In several countries in the region, the trend of reforming or creating laws to unduly limit the right to freedom of association continued. Legislation adopted in Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela generated concern due to the resulting negative effects on the existence and functioning of civil society organizations, including media outlets. For example, the Law on the Creation of the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation was amended to establish arbitrary and disproportionate controls on organizations.

Cases of harassment, censorship and attacks against media professionals were recorded in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, the USA and Venezuela. The attacks endangered the lives and personal integrity of journalists, with murders of journalists being documented in Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico and Peru. At the same time, criminalization and judicial harassment of journalists continued. In Argentina, President Javier Milei sued at least eight journalists for defamation and insults; in Guatemala, a judge ordered that journalist Jose Rubén Zamora be returned to prison, although the proceedings against him were riddled with irregularities.

Unlawful digital surveillance and other forms of interference in communications and private life intensified. In Argentina, the Ministry of National Security empowered the federal police to monitor individuals on social media without a warrant. Mexico approved a legal reform that established the creation of an identity document including biometric data, which posed a risk to privacy.

States must repeal laws and practices that obstruct the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and allow civil society participation in public affairs.

Human rights defenders

Human rights defenders faced criminalization, harassment, attacks and killings in almost all countries in the region.

Environmental and land defenders were at particular risk of criminalization and violence. In Bolivia, 12 people protecting the Tariquía National Flora and Fauna Reserve were charged; in Canada, three Indigenous persons were sentenced to community service for defending Wet’suwet’en territory; in Chile, human rights defender María Ignacia González disappeared; and in Peru, environmental defenders Hipólito Quispe Huamán Conde and Isai Shuk Shawit were killed. In Colombia, violence against human rights defenders in 2025 was expected to exceed the two preceding years.

Some countries saw continued attempts to undermine the ability of human rights organizations to function properly. For example, in El Salvador, the Foreign Agents Law imposed a 30% tax on international funding received by organizations and granted powers to the executive to apply fines or cancel legal entity status. In Nicaragua, the Ministry of the Interior issued regulations in March that, in practice, facilitated the arbitrary cancellation of organizations’ legal status and increased the risk that they would have to cease their activities.

Human rights defenders and organizations experienced harassment. For example, in the Dominican Republic, those working on issues related to racial justice, gender and migration reported acts of digital harassment and disclosure of personal data. Furthermore, in Paraguay, a parliamentary commission took legal action against five organizations to access sensitive information on their activities and the use of funding received.

States must ensure that human rights defenders can carry out their work without obstacles or fear of reprisal.

Unlawful use of force

Authorities in the region used excessive and unnecessary force, resulting in human rights violations in operations that particularly affected protesters and people suffering multiple discrimination.

In Brazil, a police operation in Rio de Janeiro, which contravened international standards applicable to police, mobilized thousands of civil and military agents and killed more than 120 people.

Police in the USA shot and killed 1,143 people in 2025, disproportionately affecting the Black population. In June, local law enforcement unlawfully used less lethal weapons to suppress peaceful protests near a federal building where immigrants were being held in the city of Los Angeles, injuring six people. During drug trafficking control operations in the Caribbean and the Pacific, the USA killed at least 123 people in what appeared to be extrajudicial executions.

In Honduras, civil society organizations reported human rights violations perpetrated by security forces during the state of emergency, in particular arbitrary detention, excessive use of force and torture and other ill-treatment.

In Peru, the police used unnecessary and disproportionate force during protests, killing protester Eduardo Mauricio Ruiz Sanz, who died from a gunshot wound, and injuring dozens of people.

States must ensure that the use of force complies with international human rights law and standards, in particular with regard to the principle of non-discrimination.

Arbitrary detention and unfair trials

Several countries in the region carried out arbitrary detentions for political reasons, mainly of individuals deemed to be in opposition to the government, who were generally subjected to trial without due process guarantees.

In Cuba, arbitrary detention was used to repress those considered dissidents. In January, at least 211 political prisoners were released, but the authorities imposed arbitrary restrictions on their rights and some had their parole revoked in retaliation for continuing their political activism and defence of human rights.

In El Salvador, arbitrary detentions continued; by the end of the year, more than 90,000 people were being held without sufficient evidence. The Legislative Assembly disproportionately extended the duration of pretrial detention and opened the possibility of mass trials without individual determination of criminal responsibility.

Politically motivated arbitrary detention continued in Nicaragua, with local organizations documenting at least 60 cases during the year.

In Venezuela, new politically motivated arbitrary detentions were recorded and, at year’s end, at least 806 people remained in detention for political reasons, according to social organizations. Those charged were assigned public defenders who did not represent them effectively, were denied knowledge of the charges against them, and were tried in courts that lacked independence.

In Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, the USA and Venezuela, undermining of judicial independence intensified.

Authorities must stop using the judiciary to target dissenting voices and take all necessary measures to prevent arbitrary detention and guarantee the right to a fair trial.

Detainees’ rights

People deprived of their liberty endured inhumane conditions of detention and overcrowding was a structural and recurring problem.

In Bolivia, the Ombudsperson’s Office warned of extreme prison overcrowding, with more than 33,000 people imprisoned in a system with capacity for approximately 16,000. In Ecuador and El Salvador, those deprived of their liberty continued to suffer overcrowding and a lack of adequate food and healthcare, as well as violent deaths. In Haiti, the juvenile detention system was overcrowded and children were housed with adults in at least one detention centre. In Uruguay, deteriorating and unsanitary detention conditions persisted, including overcrowding.

People deprived of their liberty and those defending their rights reported acts of torture in detention in several countries, including Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, the USA and Venezuela.

In El Salvador, torture and other ill-treatment in prisons continued in the form of beatings, sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation and collective punishment, among other practices. In addition, the number of deaths in state custody since the start of the state of emergency reached 470.

In Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, people perceived to be opponents of the government were at particular risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Nicaragua repealed Article 36 of its Constitution, which expressly prohibited torture.

States must guarantee the rights and dignity of people deprived of their liberty.

Enforced disappearances

Enforced disappearances continued throughout the region and remained unpunished. These were clearly linked to the repression of dissent in some countries, while in others they were the result of the implementation of security policies.

In Cuba, enforced disappearances were a repressive strategy used against defenders, activists, artists and journalists. In Nicaragua, several people detained for political reasons were in a situation of enforced disappearance due to the concealment of their whereabouts and denial of visits. In Venezuela, the practice of enforced disappearance continued, often beginning with arbitrary detention by state agents, followed by a lack of information, a refusal to acknowledge the detention and, crucially, the deliberate concealment of the fate and whereabouts of the detained person.

In Ecuador, the Attorney General’s Office opened investigations into the possible enforced disappearance of 43 people following security operations carried out by the armed forces in 2024. In El Salvador, a group of immigrants and asylum seekers illegally expelled from the USA and transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) in March were subjected to enforced disappearance.

In Colombia, the International Committee of the Red Cross documented 136 new disappearances in relation to armed conflict between January and May, including 26 children or adolescents.

In light of the crisis of disappearances in Mexico, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances activated Article 34 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance for the first time, to determine whether disappearances in the country were systematic or widespread.

States must completely abolish the practice of enforced disappearance and take all necessary measures to prevent disappearances committed by non-state actors.

Right to truth, justice and reparation

Rulings were issued in cases of serious human rights violations. In Chile, three members of the Carabineros (police force) were convicted for the attack on Moisés Ordenes while he was peacefully demonstrating in 2019. In Colombia, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace issued its first sentences for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In Mexico, a civilian court sentenced four military officers for the extrajudicial execution of five young people in 2023. In Uruguay, 15 convictions were handed down against members of the military and the police for acts constituting crimes against humanity committed during the civil-military regime of the 1970s and 1980s.

In Argentina, the trial in their absences of 10 people accused of the 1994 attack against the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association centre was authorized. In Guatemala, a suspect who had been on the run for years was arrested and put on trial for his possible role in the murder of Archbishop Juan José Gerardi in 1998. In Honduras, a court decided that three men accused of the murder of environmentalist Juan López in 2024 should stand trial.

There were also setbacks and reversals in other cases. In Bolivia, the proceedings against police and military officers in the context of several massacres that occurred in 2019 were declared null and void. In Chile, the Public Prosecutor’s Office decided not to proceed with 1,509 cases related to human rights violations committed during the social uprising of 2019. In Colombia, jurisdictional disputes between the ordinary and military criminal justice systems continued in investigations related to possible human rights violations or crimes under international law committed by military and police officers. In Guatemala, a court decision contravened international human rights standards by granting house arrest to a military officer convicted of serious human rights violations in the Molina Theissen case. In Peru, a law granted amnesty to all members of the armed forces, the national police and self-defence committees investigated, prosecuted, tried and convicted in relation to acts constituting serious human rights violations, including crimes against humanity, committed between 1980 and 2000.

The Venezuela investigation before the International Criminal Court (ICC) made little progress and the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC decided to close its offices in Caracas in December.

States must guarantee truth, justice and reparation for human rights violations and crimes under international law and bring those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice, with all due process guarantees.

Economic and social rights

States in the region did not guarantee economic and social rights, with marginalized groups particularly affected.

The right to health was not guaranteed for all people. Sudden cuts to US foreign aid at the beginning of the year had a negative impact on access to health services in Guatemala and Haiti. Cuban authorities acknowledged in July that only 30% of required essential medicines were available. In Paraguay, the health system crisis continued due to lack of public investment, which was under the minimum 6% of GDP recommended by WHO. In Uruguay, access to mental health services was inadequate and suicide rates were concerning.

The right to education was affected by budget cuts and violence. In El Salvador, student enrolments in public education decreased by 25,000 in the first months of the year. In Haiti, violence hindered access to education.

In Argentina, the minimum pension failed to cover basic needs and more than 3 million older people were living in poverty.

Obstacles to accessing essential public services persisted. In Cuba, the electricity supply was in a state of constant crisis during the year, with frequent massive blackouts affecting millions of people. In Guatemala, access to clean water and decent sanitation was profoundly unequal. In Haiti, the humanitarian crisis continued, affecting access to food, healthcare and drinking water, among other rights. Water and electricity outages persisted in Venezuela, as did protests related to basic services.

States must ensure that everyone has equal access to economic and social rights, without discrimination.

Right to a healthy environment

COP30, held in November in Brazil, was limited in scope and did not reaffirm a commitment to transition away from fossil fuels. Similarly, no firm commitment was reached for high-income countries to increase the subsidy-based financing that low-income countries needed for adaptation.

Even before COP30, states in the region had failed to take sufficient action to address the climate crisis, which continued to have an impact on human rights throughout the year. The authorities of some countries, such as Argentina and the USA, persisted in their denial of the climate crisis.

Argentina’s climate objectives and policies remained insufficient. Canada provided subsidies, funding, and tax breaks for petrochemical and fossil-fuel projects. Ecuador continued to allow gas flaring in the Amazon, despite a 2021 ruling ordering the removal of flares. In the USA, an executive order declared “energy dominance” as a national emergency and aimed to reactivate the coal mining industry, despite its environmental impacts. Honduras lagged behind in the development and adoption of measures for climate change adaptation.

In Bolivia, climate change exacerbated deforestation, wildfires and disruptions to rainfall patterns, intensifying water scarcity and affecting the right to water and food security. In Brazil, water and rainfall scarcity, landslides, storms, floods, heatwaves and droughts disproportionately affected vulnerable populations, in particular Black, Indigenous and low-income communities. Paraguay faced increasing risks due to climate change, including droughts, floods and rising temperatures.

Authorities must address, prevent and mitigate the human rights impacts of the climate crisis by taking action at local and regional levels.

Sexual and reproductive rights

In Chile, a new regulation on abortion was approved to ensure timely care. In Mexico, four states adopted legislation decriminalizing abortion. Despite these concrete advances, barriers to abortion access persisted in law and in practice in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Peru, Puerto Rico, the USA and Venezuela.

In the USA, the federal government reversed policies that helped expand and protect access to reproductive care, and reduced funding for specialized facilities and programmes. In Puerto Rico, a law was passed requiring written consent from a parent or legal guardian for girls under the age of 16 to access abortion services. In the Dominican Republic, a new Penal Code was approved establishing a total ban on abortion. Abortion continued to be criminalized in all circumstances in El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Pregnancies among girls and adolescents continued without the governments adopting measures to address the issue. In Argentina, an official plan that had successfully reduced adolescent pregnancy rates by 49% over the four preceding years was dismantled. In Peru, 992 girls were forced to carry their pregnancies to term.

Authorities must guarantee access to safe abortion and other sexual and reproductive rights.

Women’s and girls’ rights

Women and girls continued to face alarming levels of violence, including femicide and feminicide, with cases recorded in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico and Uruguay. In several countries, statistics on this type of crime were inadequate and unreliable.

In Cuba, feminicide was still not considered a distinct crime. In Puerto Rico, the Court of Appeals ruled that an article of the Penal Code on feminicide was unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated due process and the presumption of innocence.

Cases of other forms of violence against girls and women, including sexual violence, were recorded in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, the USA and Uruguay, among other countries. In the Dominican Republic, the new Penal Code contained a regressive classification of the crime of intimate partner sexual violence that did not meet international standards.

During the year there were some advances, such as the entry into force in Bolivia of Law 1639, which prohibited early and child marriage under the age of 18, or the enactment in Colombia, in January, of a law that established the possibility of divorce based on the will of either spouse.

States must take effective measures to end gender-based violence and ensure that women and girls enjoy their rights without discrimination.

Indigenous Peoples’ rights

Indigenous Peoples continued to suffer discrimination and violence, as well as the effects of the climate crisis, with states failing to respect their rights. In Bolivia, Canada and Ecuador, among other countries, the expansion of extractive projects in Indigenous lands continued without proper consultation procedures that complied with international standards on free, prior and informed consent.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled against Ecuador for violating the right to collective property of Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon by authorizing mining projects in their territory.

In Canada, several bills threatened Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination, including by expediting approvals for major infrastructure projects.

In Brazil, leaders and members of Indigenous communities were killed in cases relating to land reclamation and conflicts. The Avá Guaraní Paranaense People were still awaiting restitution, both in Brazil and in Paraguay, of their ancestral territory, from which they had been displaced for the construction of the Itaipú Binacional hydroelectric plant.

In Colombia, Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendant communities continued to suffer disproportionately from multiple and massive forced displacements, confinement and restrictions on human mobility.

In Venezuela, Yekuana Indigenous communities reported conflict situations arising in their territory in Amazonas State due to illegal extractive activities.

States must respect and protect Indigenous Peoples’ tenure, ownership and control over their lands and resources.

LGBTI people’s rights

LGBTI people were subjected to crimes throughout the region and stigmatizing rhetoric against them intensified, in particular against the transgender population. According to local organizations, at least 29 LGBTI persons had been murdered in Guatemala and 35 in Honduras by the end of the year, while in Mexico at least 17 trans-feminicides were recorded. In most countries, governments did not provide reliable data on such crimes. Canada, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico and the USA implemented laws or policies that restricted transgender people’s rights.

Violence and discrimination disproportionately affected those suffering multiple forms of discrimination. In Brazil cases of racist violence against Black LGBTI people were recorded. In the USA, laws restricting health services for young transgender persons were passed. In Paraguay, two transgender migrants were denied the issuance of documents consistent with their gender identity.

The authorities failed to take adequate measures to address these forms of violence. In some states, services providing care to victims were weakened or dismantled. For example, the US federal government shut down an option for LGBTI youth on the national suicide prevention hotline.

States must recognize the rights of LGBTI people, in particular transgender people, and adopt measures to protect them from all forms of discrimination and violence.

Refugees’ and migrants’ rights

Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers suffered alarming levels of violence and discrimination in the region. Their situation was made more complex by the policies and rhetoric of various countries, particularly the USA, affecting migration flows in the continent. Authorities in Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama noted that the northward irregular migration flow had decreased significantly, while the southward flow had increased.

Authorities in several countries spread stigmatizing, hostile and discriminatory rhetoric. In Chile and the USA, racist and xenophobic narratives intensified in the context of electoral processes.

Also in the USA, a racist and anti-immigrant agenda was promoted. Masked agents detained people regardless of their immigration status and armoured vehicles patrolled the streets and targeted areas near schools, religious centres, hospitals and other areas that had previously been protected from immigration enforcement actions.

In the Dominican Republic, racial profiling, arbitrary detention, excessive use of force and cruel and inhuman treatment persisted during migration control operations and in immigration detention centres, as did collective expulsions contrary to international law. In addition, the implementation of a healthcare protocol in hospitals meant that those lacking the required documentation were subject to expulsion and deportation after receiving treatment, which mainly affected Haitian nationals and people of Haitian descent.

States failed to guarantee migrants and refugees adequate and non-discriminatory enjoyment of their rights and, in many cases, sought to restrict them further. In Canada, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program continued to tie migrants to their employer, despite widespread abuse and an inherent risk of labour exploitation and discrimination, in addition to other restrictions that made the situation of migrants even more precarious. In Chile, Congress continued discussion of several bills that proposed criminalization of refugees and migrants. Colombia and Mexico continued to lack an efficient asylum system.

States must combat racism and xenophobia, protect refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, and guarantee all their rights.