To belong to the SOS-Torture Network, an organisation must meet the following strict conditions:
Be a non-governmental organisation or network or coalition of associations;
Have as their main or subsidiary objective the fight against torture as defined in art. 2 of the OMCT statutes, and/or other statutory purposes such as the fight against extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions or the support for human rights defenders;
Subscribe to the aims and values of the OMCT and its Network, such as the universality of human rights and non-discrimination;
Be independent from governments, information services or political parties;
Use exclusively peaceful means for achieving its objectives and not resort to violence;
In 2018, Latin America accounted for more than half of the land and environmental defenders killed around the world.
While there’s been some progress in recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples, they still face serious human rights violations on a daily basis worldwide. These include attacks, killings, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, criminalization, abuse of counterterrorism laws, militarization and emergency frameworks, and of course forced evictions and land dispossession.
Indigenous human rights defenders in Latin America are the first targets of persecution and violence that amounts to torture and other ill-treatment. This happens with alarming frequency when they oppose large-scale projects in mining, hydropower, agroindustry and forestry. Business interests are not the only factor at play. On the subcontinent, where the distribution of income and land is among the most unequal in the world, the discrimination against indigenous peoples has been roo
Torture is the intentional destruction of a human being by another. The methods by which severe pain and suffering are inflicted vary, but they all have…