An Examination of Human Rights Violations in Latin America: 2002-2006
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to describe the types of human rights violations occurring within the last five years among Latin American countries as documented in the U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. This paper utilizes descriptive categories modeled on a framework developed by Jack Donnelly and Rhoda Howard. Those categories are then used to analyze the content of 100 Country Reports from 2002-2006. These categories are: (1) Violations of Survival Rights, (2) Violations of Membership Rights, (3) Violations of Protection Rights, and (4) Violations of Empowerment Rights. Content analysis revealed that violations of protection rights and membership rights were the most prevalent during this time period.
