Photo: “We will not accept that defending rights comes at the cost of exile, persecution, or death. We will continue to stand with the communities that resist and defend life, their territories, and human dignity.”
Espacio OSC has posted on social media: “Organizations, networks and human rights defenders gathered at the Protection Dialogues: Body, Territory and Sovereignty, within the framework of the #LatinAmericanMeeting, express our concern for the serious context facing Latin America for the defense of human rights.”
The statement that emerged from this meeting that took place in Latin America was signed by multiple organizations including the Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL) in Colombia, the Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Guatemala (UDEFEGUA), the Alternative for Community and Environmental Reclamation of Honduras (ARCAH), and the Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC) in Mexico.
It was also endorsed by Peace Brigades International, Global Witness, Front Line Defenders, Protection International Mesoamerica, Civil Rights Defenders, and the Swedish Movement for Reconciliation (SweFOR).
That statement highlights: “Defending human rights and the rights of nature in Latin America remains a high-risk activity. The region continues to be the most lethal in the world for those who exercise this role. In 2025 alone, 275 defenders were murdered, mainly in Colombia, followed by Mexico and Brazil, according to the international organization Front Line Defenders.”
The statement also makes several calls, including asking “States to ensure, in accordance with their international obligations, a safe and enabling environment for the exercise of the right to defend human rights; respecting, protecting and guaranteeing the work of defenders; refrain from any action that hinders or criminalizes it; and repeal regulatory frameworks that restrict civic space and limit the exercise of this right.”
The full statement can be read here.
