Battling against the odds: Human rights in hard times

Optimism was the prevailing mood among human rights advocates in the Americas at the end of the 1990s. We were thrilled by what we had been able to accomplish since the end of the Cold War. And we were confident about where we were headed. Human rights advocacy had played a critical role in democratic transformations throughout the region, as guerrilla forces moved their battlefields to the ballot boxes and political violence faded into the past. Local human rights advocates, who had previously risked life and limb just going to their offices each morning, suddenly found themselves named to positions of power in new governments throughout Latin America.

Related Subject(s): Human Rights and Refugees