UGST 111 Global Engagement ARC: South America, Fall 2022, Dr. Fischer

Although Ecuador is a beautiful country with a rich culture, there are also many problems when it comes to human rights. Currently in Ecuador many of the prisons are over populated, which has led to a lot of gang activity within the prisons, and numerous dangerous conditions, since some prisons have close to eight thousand more people than the maximum allowed within the prison. Unfortunately, this has recently led to many prison massacres, with more than sixty people killed at the most recent massacre due to the illegal import of guns and explosives by the prison gangs, and the reluctance of the prison guards to act.

In addition, Ecuador also has large rates of the sexual assault of minors on school campuses. In between 2014 and 2020, 4,221 children suffered sexual assault at their schools by teachers, staff, janitors, bus drivers, and other children. There have also been cases of teachers without the proper credentials that teach and assault numerous children due to the school’s reluctance to report it to the district and the police in spite of the parents and children reporting it to the school. These problems are still continuing in Ecuador, with reports of sexual assault within schools rising and more children being assaulted.

Humanitarian law failed in respect to the Rwandan genocide. There were early warnings of a genocide and nations chose not to act for fear of retaliation within the country or further escalation. Inaction by the United States and the United Nations most likely made the genocide worse. If they had acted, there may have been a way to prevent the genocide and save thousands of lives. In Argentina, their constitution has one of the strongest human rights protections in the world. Ensuring equal rights, gender equality, and multiculturalism are both domestic initiatives and international initiatives that are a part of their foreign policy. While this is all written in policy, in practice their human rights record could use some work. From endemic violence against women, police brutality, and judicial processes that are inconsistent, Argentina’s penal system needs much improvement. On the regional stage though, Argentina has helped broker peace and expand democracy in the South American region. They have partnered with the United States to address corruption and grave human rights concerns in the region as well. So while their human rights record may not be squeaky clean, there have been concerted efforts to improve upon it. Also, because of a history of dictatorships and human rights atrocities, Argentina has started on the path to heal from its past and become an example for other neighboring nations on how to improve human rights conditions and expand democracy.

The most pressing concern in Argentina right now is the threat of Climate Change. With climate regions spanning subtropical to antarctic, this country is one of the most climate-zone diverse countries in the world. With that comes varying impacts across the country that are sometimes contradictory. For example, massive flooding in the north of the country and droughts in much other regions that have been getting longer and longer and also with intensifying severity. The imp-acts of Climate Change are destroying many of the natural beauties of the country: Patagonia. In addition, these Climate Change caused events are killing off much of the flora and fauna of the country. This is also threatening the livelihood and economy of the country because much of the country is farmland. This is also having a down-stream impact on the international food chain because Argentina is one of the largest exporters of soybeans, wheat, and meat. Further climate degradation in this country could result in massive food shortages both domestically for Argentina and also internationally. In addition, hotter temperatures in the north of the country and extreme cold in the south is making many parts of the country uninhabitable. Rising sea levels due to Climate Change is a major threat to coastal cities but also the islands off of the southern tip of the country. Without swift action by the international community, this countries natural beauty and resources will become evermore scarce.

 

 

 

There are many pressing issues currently preoccupying the nation of Chile. Its biodiversity is being harmed by large-scale mining, the rights of indigenous and disabled peoples are considered lacking in some areas, etc. But according to a survey conducted in October of 2022, the Chilean people consider crime to be the biggest issue affecting the South American country. And it’s not hard to see why. Although Chile is considered one of the safest places to travel to in the world, common dangers to tourists in the country are muggings, drink spikings, and pickpocketing. And that’s just what happens to visitors. Between 2016 and 2021, homicides rose by 40%, according to Chile’s Department of Crime Prevention. Meanwhile, the National Prosecutor’s office found that murders rose by 66% from 2016-2020. At the same time, drug crime has been picking up speed in Chile. Chile has one of the highest prevalence rates of cocaine consumption in South America, and in addition to being a destination and transit country, it is also a major supplier of the controlled substances used in production. Drug traffickers have also begun exploiting historic tensions between the state and indigenous communities in the south, and have begun recruiting poor and working-class people into their ranks. Organized crime is the last big criminal issue occurring in Chile. Though not as prevalent as the former two issues, loose criminal networks continue to operate in the country, organizing in contraband and trafficking. Though the Chilean government has said they are taking the necessary steps to combat these issues, it remains to be seen whether or not they will be effective in doing so.

-Joey Henriques.

Humanitarian law failed because there was no action taken by the United States and the United Nations to attempt to stop the genocide because of fear of the retaliation within the United States if the people sent to lower the tensions in Rwanda were killed. Humanitarian Law, in general, is defined as a set of rules that seek to limit armed conflict, which can be interpreted in several ways, and unfortunately there are no laws within Ecuador or South America that clarify it, and nor has Ecuador had genocides that have forced the government to further define humanitarian law.

In addition, Ecuador does specifically define human rights within their country in their constitution, which states that women and men are equal, everyone has the right to access to water and food, have a healthy environment, communicate and use technology, uphold their cultural identity and practices, to have an education, access housing, and not be discriminated against for any reason as well as many others, which are very similar to the UN Declaration of Rights. Since Ecuador adheres to the UN Declaration of Rights in theory, it is interpreting human rights the same way that many other countries are interpreting human rights, but, due to what was seen in the previous post about Ecuador, not all human rights within the constitution are currently being respected.

By Josie Clever

 

 

 

 

When one thinks of the concept of genocide, the most likely things to come to mind are events like the Holocaust or the killings of the Khmer Rouge regime. Chile is probably the last country people think of when it comes to genocide being committed there. But as unfortunate as it is to say, mass killings of people have happened in Chile before. The most famous of which is probably when the Spanish Empire first arrived in what is now Latin America. When Spanish colonizers settled in the area, they forced the Indigenous peoples into a harsh and discriminatory labor system known as the “encomienda.” An example of a genocide more closely associated with Chile would be the genocide of the Selk’nam people. Beginning in the 1880s, the Selk’nam were originally chased off their lands by settlers laying claims to their territory. However, this eventually morphed into an extermination campaign, with settlers hunting the Selk’nam themselves and poisoning their food. Though the government eventually moved them onto reservations on their home island of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego in southern Chile, the Selk’nam continued to be killed off by diseases brought from Europe. The last full-blooded Selk’nam person died in 1974 and the last speakers of the language died in the 1980s. More recently, Chile’s Indigenous populations suffer from discrimination over land rights, are vulnerable to targeted attacks from drug traffickers, mining companies, and the police, and the Chilean Constitution does not recognize them. However, there are signs of change coming to Chile, as in 2007, a bill was proposed to recognize the extermination of Indigenous people and to construct monuments to recognize their history.

-Joey Henriques.

Ecuador faces serious human rights crisis, including, but by no means limited, poor prison conditions, women’s reproductive care restrictions, and limited children and refugee rights. In addition, there have also been attacks on the right to privacy including the satellite tracking of people suspected to have Covid-19 during the height of the pandemic. The current president, Guillermo Lasso, and his policies have been a cause of protest, especially regrading indigenous communities, and the government response to theses protests have resulted in human rights concerns over the excessive use of force when handling protestors. In short, the forces controlled by the government are causing more potential human rights violations than less.

Due to cultural differences, there is no universal standard for human rights, as was stated in “Beyond Eurocentrism”. However, the majority of the problems in Ecuador while seeming quite dire, are only catastrophic when looked at through a eurocentric and ethnocentric perspective, otherwise saying if one removes the lenses that glorify their culture as well as the lenses that glorify “Western Civilization”, more can be understood. If one were to look further, and compare Ecuador to the United States for example, they would see that both Ecuador and the United States face many of the same problems regarding human rights. The problems with excessive force can be seen in the case of George Floyd, and women’s lack of reproductive care seen in the disappearance of Roe v. Wade, as well as many more. The evidence of eurocentrism and ethnocentrism within Ecuador lies within the mistreatment of the indigenous peoples, something gleaned from the colonizers and systematically written into government. It portrays ethnocentrism through the idea of an Ecuadorian whole that does not include the original inhabitants of Ecuador and considers them to be outsiders within their own country, not even worthy of getting a warning before their government-allocated land is robbed of its natural resources.

By Josie Clever

 

 

 

 

The status of human rights is a very contentious issue in the nation of Chile, as the country’s human rights are considered very poor by international standards. The largest failing in human rights standards in the country stems from the nation’s police forces. In response to mostly peaceful protests that erupted throughout Chile in October 2019 due to economic inequality and lackluster public services, Chile’s national police issued a brutal crackdown on the protestors, arresting thousands of people and even going after bystanders that had nothing to do with the protests at all. Detainees were also subjected to poor treatment in prisons, with beatings and sexual abuse being widespread. Most of Chile’s other deficiencies in its human rights record are societal in origin. Abortion was banned in Chile until 2017, and streetside sexual harassment was not outlawed until 2019. There have been long-standing confrontations between the Chilean government and the Mapuche, who represent 87% of Chile’s indigenous population. In June 2021, Chilean courts refused a petition by a lesbian couple who married in Spain to have their marriage recognized. Immigrant laws have not been upgraded since the 1970s. There have been many complaints lodged against the nation’s  National Service for Minors (SENAME), and the country has no comprehensive legislative framework on disability rights. Despite these shortcomings, Chile is making strides to improve its human rights record. Amongst the measures taken, the Chilean government has begun investigating abuses by police forces, started discussions with indigenous peoples over their territorial, collective, and social developments, legalized same-sex marriage, initiated overhauls of its immigration and child rights systems and created a national disability service to coordinate policies regarding people with disabilities.

-Joey Henriques.

Similar to the United States, much of Argentina’s population are descended from immigrants. This has created a closer affiliation of this country to Europe than their neighbors in Latin America. Because of this, there is a common sentiment among Argentinians that they are more cultured and refined than others in South America. This has led to discrimination and racism towards Latinx people within the country. Roughly 97% of Argentina’s population consider themselves to be Caucasian or of European descent. This is significantly higher than other Latin American countries and has bred a superiority complex within Argentina. Because of the high percentage of people of European descent in Argentina, there has been a push for the country to more closely align itself with the Europe than with its neighbors in Latin America. This has led to rampant ethnocentrism within the region and sometimes outright racism.

 

In terms of human rights violations, Argentina has yet to confront many of its past abuses and continues to shy away from many reforms that would make improvements to the conditions of people in Argentina. During the phase of dictatorship in the country, there was a shadow war that was waged that saw many people stolen from families and police brutality was rampant. Some of this continues to this day in the form of poor treatment of prisoners, police abuse, and endemic harm to women. Argentina has had many allegations of torture in their federal prisons and has a slow and sometimes convoluted judicial process, with some prisoners awaiting trial for extended periods of time.

 

–Jackson W.

Similar to Chile, Argentina spans quite a few latitudes and thus have a range of climate zone and geography. This country has 18 eco-regions spanning subtropical in the north, and antarctic in the south. With this country situated in the rain shadow of the Andes, much of the country is drier. Because it is much drier, the ground is much harder so the plants and shrubs are much lower to ground and optimized to drier and hotter weather. Because of the climate crisis, Argentina is seeing more frequent and extreme droughts that are killing plants and thus destroying the habitats of many native species. In the same years Argentina has also experienced massive floods that have decimated areas in the country. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, roughly 25% of the species in Argentina are under threat of extinction. Two of the places most under threat are Gran Chaco and Patagonia. Both of these locations are important not only to Argentina, but also globally as landmarks in Latin America. Another threat to the biodiversity of Argentina is the rapidly expanding agricultural sector in the country. With land-usage shifting towards agriculture, it is having increasing effects on the countries’ ecosystems and is threatening the habitats of many species. Strategies that conservation agencies and the government are using to preserve the natural environment include preserving clean water, making sure agricultural practices protect the environment, and decreasing carbon emissions.