FACTS AND FIGURES: HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AMERICAS IN 2022-23

Tuesday, March 28, 2023


  • An estimated 201 million people were living in poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2022, equivalent to 32.1% of the region’s population. This represents a 25-year setback, with an additional 15 million people living in poverty since the Covid-19 pandemic began, and an additional 12 million living in extreme poverty since 2019.
  • The United States had more than 102 million confirmed cases and 1,111,000 deaths from Covid as of 14 March 2023, more than any other country on earth. Brazil had the world’s second highest death toll, with more than 699,000 fatalities.
  • Mexico suffered its deadliest ever year for journalists, with CPJ recording at least 13 killings. Only Ukraine recorded more killings of journalists (15) in 2022, while Haiti was the next deadliest country with seven killings.
  • The number of people officially missing in Mexico surpassed 100,000 last year. As of 13 March 2023, the total stood at over 112,000.
  • The US Supreme Court overturned a long-standing constitutional guarantee of abortion access last June, threatening critical rights, including the right to life, security and non-discrimination for millions of women, girls, and others. By the end of 2022, several US states had passed laws to ban or curtail access to abortion.
  • US federal courts upheld the Migrant Protection Protocols and Title 42 of the US Code in 2022, resulting in irreparable harm to tens of thousands of asylum seekers who were expelled to danger in Mexico.
  • Between September 2021 and May 2022, the USA expelled more than 25,000 Haitians without due process, in violation of national and international law.
  • Mexican authorities detained at least 281,149 people in overcrowded immigration detention centers last year, and deported at least 98,299 people, mostly from Central America, including thousands of unaccompanied children.
  • More than 7.17 million Venezuelans have left the country, mostly since 2015. Of these, over 6 million are living in other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

•     The number of migrant children crossing the dangerous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama on foot hit an all-time high, with UNICEF counting 32,488 children from January to October.


Tags: Human rights, Americas, 2022-23, international law, violation.

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