Re(gion)alizing Women's Human Rights in Latin America

Abstract

Between 1993 and 2000, nearly every democracy in Latin America passed a law prohibiting domestic violence. Between 2001 and 2006, five countries strengthened their legislation, and Brazil passed its first law. What explains these advances with respect to women's rights? While other work has focused on domestic or international factors, this article brings to light the role of the region. It reveals that the two inter-American women's rights organizations have been active in both establishing regional norms and promoting their national adoption and implementation. While this suggests that regional governance can promote women's social rights, there is no automatic institutionalization of these norms. Case studies on Chile and Brazil illustrate the impact of national context.

Subverting Justice: Socio-Legal Determinants of Impunity for Violence against Women in Guatemala

“…Transnational feminist networks mobilized for the creation of new laws to protect women from violence throughout Latin America [32], but similar mobilization has not emerged to pressure for or to provide consultation for modifying adjacent legal codes that are obstacles to implementing these new laws. Such legal advocacy has been, and could be, effective in a context that is discriminatory, but still vulnerable to international pressure [37].…”

“…At the regional level, international organizations worked in cooperation with grassroots advocates to provide technical assistance and pressure the government to formulate specialized laws [32]. These laws were considered necessary to confront alarming levels of violence against women and widespread discrimination and impunity.…”

Transnational Governance, Local Politics, and Gender Violence Law in Nicaragua

“…Legal strategies have been utilized by feminist organizations worldwide to address the problem of gender-based violence (Friedman 2009). Research has shown that such advocacy is crucial to expanding women's rights (Htun and Weldon 2012).…”

“…The global consensus on the importance of eliminating violence against women has been insufficient to bridge the gap between lofty legal texts and everyday practices within the criminal justice system in many Latin American countries (Friedman 2009;Neumann 2017). Yet legal reforms remain one of the primary strategies employed by local and transnational feminist groups, as well as international development organizations, for reducing violence against women.…”

Stopping rape

“…In particular, the Inter-American Belem do Para Convention, characterised by a feminist understanding of violence, a legally binding status and the establishment of monitoring procedures, has been influential in national legislation on violence against women in the whole Latin American region, including Mexico (Friedman, 2009;Roggeband, 2014). The process of making the law included the creation of a team of 60 researchers, experts in violence against women, who, under the guide of Marcela Lagarde, feminist academic and Member of the Congress, elaborated a diagnosis of feminicide violence in Mexico (Lagarde, 2008).…”