Central America and Mexico: Human rights defenders on the front line

Index Number: AMR 02/001/1996
Date Published: 10 December 1996
Categories: Americas

This report provides further information on Amnesty International's campaign to protect human right defenders in Central America and Mexico. It also describes how human rights defenders struggle to realize the ideals proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although the end of open conflict in Central America has seen the human rights movement develop and gain in strength and confidence, the risks are still high. In countries undergoing transition from armed conflict, the same patterns of human rights violations persist, even if on a reduced scale, often despite peace agreements which bound all sides to promote and protect human rights.