Background
The system of rights guarantees in Uruguay continued to weaken. The Executive and Legislative branches publicly questioned the Attorney General’s Office, which led the Association of Prosecutor Magistrates to complain to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Freedom of expression
A report by the local organization Centre for Archives and Access to Public Information stated that there were 59 cases of threats and restrictions on the freedom of expression of journalists in Uruguay between April 2023 and March 2024.
Amendments to the Media Law threatened diversity, media plurality and government transparency because they favoured media market concentration.
Inhumane detention conditions
Overcrowding persisted in the penitentiary system during 2024. According to information provided by the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Penitentiary System, the prison population had increased steadily, reaching about 16,266 inmates by November, of whom 14,923 were male and 1,343 were female. Furthermore, 70 children under four years old were in custody with their mothers.
In 2024, 54 inmates died in custody: 33 due to violent murders, 18 due to natural causes and three were under investigation. Civil society organizations raised concerns about deteriorating and insanitary detention conditions such as overcrowding and the negative impact on the right to health of people deprived of their liberty.
Impunity
In 2024, there were five convictions, five indictments and five confirmations of convictions of current or retired members of the military and police on charges of torture, kidnapping and killing, amounting to crimes against humanity, under the civil-military regime in the 1970s and 1980s. However, no substantive progress was made in clarifying the fate of those forcibly disappeared under the regime.
The remains of Amelia Sanjurjo and Luis Eduardo Arigón, political activists who were abducted and disappeared during the military regime, were identified in May and September, respectively.
Gender-based violence
According to the Ministry of the Interior, between January and October, there were 19 femicides and 35,293 complaints about violence against women. The worrying level of gender-based violence could be due to the failure to fully implement the law on gender-based violence against women (Law 19,580) or to allocate sufficient resources for the creation of multi-purpose courts capable of dealing with all matters relating to gender-based violence.
Right to information
Access to public information remained inadequate 15 years after the approval of the Law of Access to Public Information (Law 18,381). Public institutions, which are subject to this law, had failed to implement policies of transparency and access to public information.
According to the Centre of Archives and Access to Public Information, the number of cases of restricted access to public information remained high with 18 instances recorded.
Right to health
Access to mental health services remained insufficient and there was no official data on the suicide rate. According to the Pan American Health Organization, every week in Uruguay around 16 people die by suicide, one of the highest suicide rates in Latin America.
Right to social care
Nine years after its creation by Law 19,353, the National Integrated Care System was not functioning effectively and its target population (children under three years old, people with disabilities and older adults in a situation of dependency) were still unable to access care, as stipulated by the law. This was a violation of their right to access care and had a disproportionate impact on women who are often overrepresented in unpaid care work due to entrenched gender discrimination.
The Pro Care Network in Uruguay highlighted the need to reinstate the National Secretariat for Care to coordinate the National Integrated Care System and ensure it fulfils its mandate. The network also emphasized the need for stable and sufficient resources and a solidarity-based model for the co-financing system.
Sexual and reproductive rights
Despite progress within the sexual and reproductive rights agenda, obstacles remained in the prevention of adolescent pregnancies and government policy in this area remained inadequate. According to information provided by the Pregnancy Notification System of the State Health Services Administration, 190 girls and adolescents under 15 years of age were pregnant in the period May 2021 – April 2024, of whom 22 terminated their pregnancies. In 39% of these cases, the pregnancies were the result of sexual abuse and in 22% of the cases sexual abuse could not be ruled out.
Violations of the rights of children and adolescents institutionalized in the state child protection system were identified, when an adolescent died after being sexually exploited while under state care.
Right to a healthy environment
The installation of a multinational company’s data centre in Uruguay was confirmed, generating concern about its impact on human rights and the environment, as well as the possible tax exemptions that the company will receive. The Ministry for the Environment raised concerns over the data centre’s potential environmental damage in terms of air pollution and water usage. Amnesty International requested access to information from the Ministry for the Environment on the tax benefits that the company will receive, but no information had been forthcoming by the end of the year.
