Organized Crime, Gangs and Human Rights in Latin America
Hearing Notice
Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on organized crime, gangs and human rights in Latin America.
Organized crime, including gang activity, has proven to be an enduring cause of insecurity and a challenge to rule of law around the world. Throughout Latin America, high rates of violence and homicide are linked to the problem of organized crime. Under international law states have an obligation to protect people from the threats posed by organized crime. But the strategies used to combat criminal organizations often raise serious human rights concerns themselves, such as excessive reliance on pretrial detention and disregard for judicial guarantees for the accused. Allegations of state complicity with criminal organizations, often involving corruption or implicating elite interests, together with typically high levels of impunity for the heads of criminal enterprises, undermine public confidence in the political will and capacity of authorities to dismantle them.
Witnesses will discuss the elements of a human rights-based approach to combatting organized crime and guaranteeing the rights of its victims with a focus on the experiences of Mexico, El Salvador and Colombia.
The hearing will be hybrid. Members of Congress will participate in person. Witnesses may participate in person or remotely via Cisco WebEx. The public and the media may attend in person or view the hearing by live webcast on the Commission website. The hearing will also be available for viewing on channel 55 of the House Digital Channel service. For any questions, please contact Kimberly Stanton (for Co-Chair McGovern) or Mark Milosch (for Co-Chair Smith).
Hosted by:
| James P. McGovern Member of Congress Co-Chair, TLHRC |
Christopher H. Smith
Member of Congress Co-Chair, TLHRC |
Opening Remarks
- Rep. James P. McGovern, Co-Chair, TLHRC
Written remarks
Witnesses
Panel I
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Tamara Taraciuk Broner, Director, Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program, Inter-American Dialogue
Written remarks - Sergio de la Peña, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs
Submitted for the Record
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Stephanie Brewer, Response to Questions for the Record Submitted by Co-Chair James P. McGovern
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Adam Isacson, Response to Questions for the Record Submitted by Co-Chair James P. McGovern
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Michael Reed Hurtado, “A Phantom Line: Reflections on the Dark Side of the State-Crime Dynamic,” excerpts, March 14, 2023
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United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and International Human Rights Law, April 2022
Video
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