Justice and Resistance: Human Rights Violations Against Indigenous Peoples in Latin America – The Case of Berta Cáceres

This presentation explores systemic human rights violations against indigenous peoples in Latin America, using the 2016 murder of Berta Cáceres, a prominent human rights defender, as a focal point. The talk situates Cáceres' case within the broader framework of state and corporate accountability for violence against indigenous communities defending their culture, livelihoods, land, and environment. Drawing on findings from an independent investigation, the discussion examines the legal, political, and social strategies employed to combat impunity and shed light on the structures of exploitation and violence.

Roxanna Altholz is an international human rights lawyer and scholar with extensive experience in international and national legal systems. She has secured landmark judgments from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, testified before UN human rights bodies, and pursued legal actions on behalf of victims in U.S. federal courts. Altholz has led initiatives addressing human rights violations at the U.S.-Mexico border, unsolved murders in Oakland, and corporate accountability for violence. A former legal advisor to the UN Mission in Kosovo and staff attorney at CEJIL, she is widely published and a recipient of multiple awards. 

*This event will not be livestreamed nor recorded