Human rights in stitutions are facing unprecedented pressures ranging from threats of non-c ompliance\, denunciation\, and backlash that has gone as far as the imposition of sanctions ag ainst the ICC. In Latin America\, the threat may come from the dramatic ris e of far-right governments\, many of which have adopted adversarial stances toward the Inter-American Human Rights System as part of their platforms. Although social movements from conservative ideological camps are often ali gned with these frequently autocratic-leaning governments\, a surprising tr end is emerging. Rather than simply avoiding or pushing states to withdraw from regional human rights institutions\, these groups are increasingly cho osing to engage with them from the inside.
Join us for a conversation with Jorge Contesse\, who will explore the rise of moral conservative engagement with the Inter-American Human Rights Syst em and its profound implications for the future of human rights advocacy. H e will argue that\, instead of an end times of human rights\, where they wo uld be dismantled by successive waves of attacks from authoritarian\, left- and right-wing populist\, and conservative actors\, current developments w ithin the regional system can be best understood as a reconfiguration of th e constituencies that engage with the region’s human rights law and institu tions. He will discuss how strategic conservative engagement with the human rights system may impose a significant cost on the progressive development of human rights in the region while also\, ironically\, helping the region al system survive Latin America’s recent “revolution to the right.”
Jorge Contesse is a Professor of Law & Director at the Center for Transnational Law at Rutgers University. He has been a member of the Unite d Nations Committee against Torture since 2023. His work focuses on the jud icialization of international law and on the interaction between domestic c onstitutional actors and international human rights regimes\, particularly in Latin America.
Gerald Neuman (m oderator) is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Pro gram\, and the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International\, Foreign\, and Comparative Law at HLS. Neuman teaches courses in international human rights law\, immigration and nationality law\, and U.S. constitutional law. From 2011 to 2014\, he served as a Member of the UN Human Rights Committee . Neuman holds a JD from HLS and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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