Perspectivas / Perspectives

The Joint Statement was signed by Alianza de Organizaciones por los Derechos Humanos del Ecuador, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) (Regional), Amnistía Internacional (Global), Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan (México), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) (Argentina), Centro de investigación de mujeres juristas por los derechos humanos (CEMUDEJU) (República Dominicana), Contracorriente Honduras, Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos (Perú), Defending Rights & Dissent (Estados Unidos de América), Foro del Agua (El Salvador), and many others.

Defending Rights & Dissent joined representatives of civil society organizations from 21 North, South, and Central American countries in Bogota, Colombia, in November at the Intercontinental Summit on the Closing of Civic Space in the Americas, sponsored by Amnesty International. Defending Rights & Dissent Executive Director Sue Udry was one of three U.S. delegates invited to attend.

The summit brought together human rights defenders from across the Americas to discuss strategies, learnings, and good practices in this work and explore ways we can collaborate to fight back against the growing authoritarianism across the region. 

  “The meeting made it possible to compare realities, recognize common patterns, and better understand shared challenges,” Udry said. “Even after reading books and articles on the road to authoritarianism, it was eye-opening – and disturbing – to meet with delegates from countries that are further down the road than the U.S. is, and hear about their experiences and how they are organizing to protect human rights against tremendous repression. For example, in the U.S., we’re fighting anti-NGO laws and policies, and I was able to talk with delegates from El Salvador, where severe anti-NGO laws have been enacted, about the impact these laws are having on their work, and how they are fighting back, or to talk about collusion between right-wing groups and the government with the delegate from Brazil. Or talk about surveillance and the use of the threat of terrorism with the delegate from Argentina.”

Delegates shared strategies and best practices for political advocacy, communications, and safety, security, and well-being. While recognizing inherent challenges, a consensus formed to try to work together as a network to develop a shared narrative and drive a regional campaign of human rights advocacy in 2026.

The following Joint Statement was issued ...

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