An enforced disappearance is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law.
Elizabeth Odio Benito is a lawyer and politician from Costa Rica. She served as President in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights from 2018 to 2020. She was a Vice-President of the International Criminal Court. She previously served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and in her home country of Costa Rica was twice appointed Justice Minister, later becoming Vice-President of the Republic. Her background is as an academic lawyer, specialising in the administration of justice and human rights, in particular the rights of women.
The Patriotic Union or UP is a leftist, Colombian political party, founded by the FARC and the Colombian Communist Party in 1985, as part of the peace negotiations that the guerrillas held with the Conservative Belisario Betancur administration. The party was subject to political violence from drug lords, paramilitaries and security forces agents during the mid-1980s, leading to its eventual decline, virtual disappearance, and extermination. The Colombian justice system counts 5,733 murdered militants of the Patriotic Union.
Carlos Alberto "Piscis" Restrepo Isaza is a football coach.
Colombia is a sovereign state situated in South America. It has been a member of the United Nations since 5 November 1945, and is party to a variety of international agreements concerning human rights. It also has a series of domestic laws concerning the protection of human rights. However, Colombia's human rights record often contradicts directly with the laws and agreements to which it is bound; Colombia was referred to as the country with the "worst human rights record in the western hemisphere," by HRW in 2007. The same was said of Guatemala in 1998, as well as Cuba in 2012 and Venezuela today. In the UK Foreign Office annual human rights report for 2010, Colombia features as one of 20 "Countries of Concern".
Territorial disputes of Nicaragua include the territorial dispute with Colombia over the Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank. Nicaragua also has a maritime boundary dispute with Honduras in the Caribbean Sea and a boundary dispute over the Rio San Juan with Costa Rica.
Prostitution in Costa Rica is legal. Costa Rica's legal system is based on Roman law rather than common law, and so for prostitution to be illegal it would have to be explicitly stated as such in a penal code, and it is not. Nevertheless, many of the activities surrounding it are illegal, as the law forbids promoting or facilitating the prostitution of another, and therefore pimping, brothels, or prostitution rings are illegal. Prostitution is common and is practiced openly throughout the country, particularly in popular tourism destinations.
Jairo Pérez Suárez is a male professional track and road cyclist from Colombia. He won a silver medal for his native country at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil alongside Carlos Alzate, Arles Castro and Juan Pablo Forero in the Men's Track Team Pursuit. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, PR China.
Abortion in Costa Rica is severely restricted by criminal law. Currently, abortions are allowed in Costa Rica only in order to preserve the life or physical health of the woman. Abortions are illegal in almost all cases, including when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest and when the fetus suffers from medical problems or birth defects. Both social and economic factors have led to this legal status. It remains unclear whether abortions are legal to preserve the mental health of the woman, though the 2013 United Nations abortion report says Costa Rica does allow abortions concerning the mental health of a woman.
Basque National Liberation Movement prisoners are all those people who have been imprisoned, placed on remand, or otherwise kept in custody due to their illegal activity in support of the Basque National Liberation Movement.
Ángela Acuña Braun, also known as Ángela Acuña de Chacón,, a Costa Rican lawyer, women's rights pioneer and ambassador, was the first woman to graduate as a lawyer in Central America. Orphaned at the age of 12, she was raised by her maternal aunt and uncle, attending elementary school and beginning high school in Costa Rica. She continued her education in France and England, gaining exposure to the ideas of women’s rights. Returning to Costa Rica in 1912, she published articles in support of women's equality. She attended the boys' lyceum or high school where she passed the bachillerato, a prerequisite for entering law school. She embarked on law studies in 1913, leading to a bachelor's degree in 1916. As women were barred from entering the profession, Acuña immediately presented a reform to the civil code allowing this, which was adopted.
Ana Paola Agudelo García is a Colombian economist and politician member of the MIRA Party. She was elected to the Congress of Colombia as Representative of the Colombian expatriates for the 2014–2018 term with 4663 votes. In 2018 she was elected Senator with over 70,000 votes.
Helena Maleno Garzón is a Spanish-Moroccan human rights defender, journalist, researcher, documentalist and writer. She is specialist in the migration and trafficking in human beings, Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Illes Balears. She is the Founder & CEO of Caminando Fronteras / Walking Borders.
Yolanda Becerra Vega is a Colombian feminist and pacifist activist. She is the founder of the National Directorate of the Popular Women's Organization, an entity created in 1972 in the Diocese's Pastoral Ministry, which in 1988 became an autonomous organization based in Barrancabermeja to support women in peaceful resistance against violence and defend peaceful dialogue. She is currently putting her efforts into establishing entities for women such as the construction of a Museum of Memory and Human Rights for Women.
Guadalupe Urbina is a Costa Rican singer-songwriter, poet, and activist. Urbina is a folk musician whose compositions reflect the oral tradition of Guanacaste, her birthplace. She has performed in both Europe and the United States and has won various awards for her work domestically and internationally.
Alejandra Mora Mora is a Costa Rican jurist, lawyer, professor, and politician. She has been a human rights activist, especially in the area of women's rights. She served as her country's Minister of Women's Affairs from 2014 to 2018, was president of the National Institute for Woman (INAMU), and director of the women's section of the Ombudsman's Office of Costa Rica.
María Cristina Trigo Viaña was a Bolivian writer and human rights activist. She was married to the politician Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, who was assassinated in 1980.
General elections were held in Nicaragua on 7 November 2021 to elect the President, the National Assembly and members of the Central American Parliament.
Miriam Marcela Revollo Quiroga is a Bolivian academic, politician, and sociologist who served as a uninominal member of the Chamber of Deputies from La Paz, representing circumscription 10 from 2010 to 2015. Though Revollo's political career is closely linked to that of her husband, longtime La Paz Mayor Juan del Granado, her political origins are independent of marriage. A graduate of the higher universities of San Simón and San Andrés, Revollo entered political life as an activist in the student movement and was a steadfast advocate for the inclusion of women in the country's democratic process. Together with her husband, she founded the Fearless Movement, with which she was elected as a plurinominal member of the Constituent Assembly from La Paz from 2006 to 2007. As a parliamentarian, she continued to work toward the advancement of women's causes, largely supporting the social policies enacted by the ruling Movement for Socialism, even as she simultaneously criticized many of the administration's illiberal practices.
Isabel Cristina Zuleta López is a Colombian activist and politician. An outspoken advocate for environmental causes, women's rights, and human rights, she was director of the Living Rivers movement in Antioquia, and belongs to the Movement for Water and Life. She is best known for her work as a social leader in communities opposed to the Ituango Dam project.
