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Latin America
Latin America's move from authoritarian to democratic rule over the past two decades clearly has improved the outlook for human rights in the region. Whether personal freedoms become an enduring part of the Latin American landscape, however, remains very much in doubt. In some countries, political violence continues. In others, elected governments have displayed troubling authoritarian tendencies. In still others, undeniable human rights gains on the ground have yet to engender much-needed legislative and judicial reforms.
To assist individuals and groups working on these critical issues, The John Merck Fund concentrates its International Human Rights Program on the defense and promotion of human rights in Latin America. Approximately 70 percent of the program's budget goes to human rights organizations based in six countries in the region: Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. The remaining 30 percent of program resources supports activities of key US human rights organizations. The Fund also makes selective emergency grants to ensure the safety of threatened foreign activists working with U.S.-based human rights organizations.
The Fund has established three broad categories for its human rights grant-making in Latin America:
- Countries that still are experiencing political violence and armed conflict, but are making efforts to seek peace with justice. The Fund is focusing on Colombia and Mexico in this category. Grants support denunciation of human rights abuses; credible fact-finding and research; and negotiation to end conflicts, including those of a rural or ethnic nature.
- Countries whose democratic governments have shown authoritarian tendencies or are overcoming a recent authoritarian past. In Peru and Venezuela, the nations designated as priorities in this category, The Fund supports human rights education; coordination and networking of human rights groups; defense of human rights advocates; and efforts by government and civil society to redress past abuses through truth, justice and reconciliation.
- Countries in which democracy has taken hold but civil society and institutions of accountability need strengthening. In Chile and Argentina, the countries selected in this category, The Fund supports precedent-setting litigation; promotion of the rule of law; creative solutions to citizens' security and police reform; and policy work on economic, social and cultural rights.
In each of the six countries, The Fund assists one or two leading organizations with relatively large grants. It also supports selected projects of US-based groups that focus on Latin America.
United States
The United States government’s counter-terrorism policies and practices following the attacks of September 11, 2001, were marked by violations of human rights protections under US law and international treaties in the name of national security. This change from US constitutional values and global leadership in international law is a sharp departure from the historical understanding that national security is unachievable without respect for human rights. Indeed, many of the Bush Administration’s tactics adopted in the so-called “war against terror” were similar to those condemned by the US when used by some Latin American countries during their “dirty wars”: holding suspected terrorists for years without charges; using torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as methods of interrogation; detaining suspects indefinitely; and sending detainees to other countries known “and even expected” to torture.
The US component of JMF’s Human Rights Program provides support to organizations seeking to ensure that US national security policy and practice are undertaken with respect for international human rights. To this end, the program supports activities focused on the protection and promotion of respect for the rule of law, human rights and humanitarian law treaties. JMF provides grants under this program for specific US-focused strategies to redress the unduly expanded powers of the executive branch advanced during the Bush Administration that facilitated human rights violations; reverse policies that facilitate expanded executive powers and violations of international treaties to which the US is a party; and reintegrates respect for those international laws into US national security policy and practice. Key priorities are public outreach and advocacy (including reaching new constituencies, mounting campaigns to change public attitudes on specific issues, and building domestic support for US human rights), holding the federal government accountable for human rights violations, and advancing a vision of national security based on the rule of law and respect for human rights.
2007 Grants
Grants in or Related to Latin America
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$50,000 |
| To redress the human rights violations faced by Argentina's urban poor. |
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$50,000 |
| To reverse discrimination in constitutionally mandated access to public education in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Tucumán, Argentina. |
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$90,000 |
| To ensure access to justice and reparation for victims of human rights violations in Peru. |
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$100,000 |
| To promote and defend human rights in Latin America using legal mechanisms. |
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$85,000 |
| To promote human rights and the rule of law in Colombia using research, analysis, advocacy, training and dissemination. |
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$90,000 |
| To promote and protect human rights in Argentina using litigation and advocacy. |
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$40,000 |
| To enable Mexican human rights advocates to participate in a skills-building program and related internships. |
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$90,000 |
| To promote and defend human rights in Colombia using legal mechanisms. |
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$50,000 |
| To promote human rights in Peru through litigation, training, documentation and education. |
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$45,000 |
| To build capacity within small and remote human rights organizations in Chiapas, Mexico. |
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$75,000 |
| To use forensic science techniques to promote human rights in Latin America, and to train scientists to conduct forensic human rights investigations. |
Equipo Colombiano de Trabajo Forense y Asistencia Psicosocial |
$50,000 |
| To investigate human rights violations in Colombia using forensic science techniques and provide psychological services to victims' family members. |
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$40,000 |
| To provide legal expertise to human rights organizations in Colombia working to insure the Peace and Justice Law complies with international laws requiring gender equity in judicial proceedings and the right to redress for gender crimes. |
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$75,000 |
| To combat racial discrimination and promote human rights for African descendants in Latin America. |
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$40,000 |
| To educate Argentineans about the human rights violations of the last military dictatorship by producing and disseminating material in several media. |
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$50,000 |
| To protect the rights of people with mental disabilities in Argentina. |
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$25,000 |
| To assist Latin American human rights organizations in accessing documents relating to human rights violations using freedom of information mechanisms. |
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$83,500 |
| To promote human rights in Venezuela through investigation, documentation and education. |
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$50,000 |
| To defend and promote the human rights of indigenous people in Guerrero, Mexico. |
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$90,000 |
| To strengthen human rights and democracy in Latin America by providing training and practical skills to nongovernmental, governmental, and inter-governmental professionals who are in a position to influence that process. |
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$40,000 |
| To publish, disseminate and publicize the sixth annual report on human rights in Chile. |
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$75,000 |
| To promote human rights and democracy in Latin America, with a particular emphasis on improving US policy in the region. |
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Core Grantees
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$150,000 |
| To promote human rights around the world, emphasizing US civil liberties, refugee protection, international justice, anti-discrimination and protection of human rights defenders. |
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$100,000 |
| To expose and curb human rights violations in Latin America and the United States. |
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$150,000 |
| To promote health by protecting human rights around the world. |
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Protecting Threatened Activists
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$25,000 |
| To assist threatened human rights activists around the world. |
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Photo courtesy of Amnesty International
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