The Second Edition of the Training Course in Human Rights for Journalists in Latin America and the Caribbean has concluded

San José, Costa Rica, July 1, 2021

On Tuesday, June 29, 2021, the Second Edition of the Training Course on Human Rights for Journalists, which was organized by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, alongside UNESCO’s regional communications and information office, the Rule of Law Program for Latin America of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, has concluded. The program was also supported by the European Commission.

More than 70 journalists from different parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe, and selected from among more than 3,000 applicants, participated in the Training Course. From April through June, the participants had the opportunity to go into greater depth on the work of the Inter-American Court, the functioning of the Inter-American Human Rights System, and the case law of different issues before the Inter-American Court.

Through a variety of workshops, the participants interacted with the President of the Inter-American Court, Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito, as well as with Judge and Vice President Patricio Pazmiño Freire, Judge Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor, and Judge Ricardo Pérez Manrique. Additionally, the journalist participants had the opportunity to interact directly with lawyers of the Inter-American Court; with the executive director of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, José Thompson J; and with the director of the Rule of Law Program for Latin America of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Marie Christine-Fuchs, among other specialists.

 Among the various issues addressed during the Training Course were the following:

• The ABCs of the Inter-American System: How to read Inter-American Court Judgments and the current docket of cases?

• The impact of the Inter-American Court’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Challenges to protecting human rights for journalists and freedom of expression on the continent.

• Grave human rights violations in the region: A look at the past and the present.

• Violence against women: A perspective from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

• An overview of the human rights of migrants and indigenous communities: Current and future challenges.

• Structural discrimination and hate speech on the American continent: Challenges for the region.

• Poverty, the environment, and human rights: Current and future challenges for economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights.

• Democracy and human rights:  Current challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• The health of democracy at present from a human rights perspective in Latin America.

• Rule of law, journalism, and human rights.

The journalists who participated are members of RED DIALOGA, which is comprised of more than 4,000 journalists in Latin America and the Caribbean interested in issues related to the work of the Inter-American Court.

Given the large number of requests and a waiting list of applicants who could not participate in the first two editions, a third edition has been announced for August-November 2021.

Learn more about RED DIALOGA activities here.