Latin America

The Woman Behind Brazil’s Law Against Domestic Violence

• April 8, 2015

FORTALEZA, Brazil — Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes was fast asleep when her husband shot her and left her a paraplegic. Four months later, he made another attempt on her life by trying to electrocute her. Maria survived yet again. In thousands of homes across Brazil, women like her are subjected to extreme abuse …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Latin America, Women

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Middle-Income Countries May Hold the Key to Ending Global Hunger

Barbara Crossette

• March 25, 2015

To the ever-expanding archive accumulating over recent years on how to make global development policies more effective, a venerable research organization has added a novel proposal. In a report published in March, the International Food Policy Research Institute suggests that looking at food-exporting rich countries as the key to ending hunger and malnutrition worldwide, …

Asia, Latin America, Poverty

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Where Ecuador Stands on Assange and on a ‘Good Life’

Steven Edwards

• October 5, 2014

Ecuador’s foreign minister says his country will indefinitely host the WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, at its embassy in London if that is what it takes to spare him from an eventual extradition to the United States. In a wide-ranging interview with PassBlue during the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in late …

Development, Latin America, Poverty, US Foreign Relations, Women

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New Investment Law in Peru Undermines Rights of Indigenous Women

Jacob S. Glass

• August 19, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new law in Peru encouraging investment in the country’s extractive industries has reignited the debate on the lack of power indigenous women have in the mostly rural societies where they often live. The International Indigenous Women’s Forum, which drew more than 60 native women from across the world to Peru last month, …

Climate and Environment, Human Rights, Latin America, Women

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UN Decolonizers Strive Again for Puerto Rican Independence

Barbara Crossette

• February 18, 2014

DORADO, Puerto Rico — Year after year, decade after decade, the United Nations General Assembly’s special committee on decolonization has taken up the issue of Puerto Rico’s status as a dependent commonwealth of the United States. Puerto Rico is self-governing but without the full representation in Washington enjoyed by the 50 American states or …

Caribbean, General Assembly, Latin America, US-UN Relations

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Mexico Rising: Advances in Women’s Health and Rights

Barbara Crossette

• February 6, 2014

When the latest list of 20 top donors to UN Women appeared last year, there was only one country outside the richer nations of the world among them: Mexico. The Mexican commitment to the women’s agency reflects the strides that the country has made in promoting women’s rights in recent years, powered by …

Human Rights, Latin America, Women

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Unraveling Sexual Violence in Costa Rica and Throughout Latin America

Ryan Villarreal

• January 8, 2014

For the past three decades, Costa Rica has carried out progressive steps to reduce violence against women, a major inhibitor of human and economic development in the country and throughout Latin America. While the issue has garnered more attention among the general public in recent years, it remains intertwined in the fabric of Latin …

Gender Violence, Latin America, UN Agencies, Women

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For Many Latin American Women, Abuse Never Lets Up

Barbara Crossette

• August 19, 2013

Latin American and Caribbean nations have pulled ahead of most other developing regions on numerous measures of economic growth and human progress in recent years. The region has one of the world’s lowest poverty levels; hunger has been reduced to under 5 percent of the regional population; primary school enrollment rivals that of rich …