Putting together the puzzle of neoconservatism in Latin America. Clues to understanding the advance against sexual and reproductive rights in the OAS (2013-2023)

MA. ANGÉLICA PEÑAS DEFAGO

Praga

Conferencia; Precarious Constitutionalism - The Ambiguities of Liberal Orders and the Rise of Illiberalism in Central Europe and Latin America; 2023

Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences and the Centre for Ibero-American Studies (SIAS), Faculty of Arts, Charles University.

As many other regions, Latin America is experiencing a rise in political neoconservative mobilization. Sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) is one of the main arenas through which this conservatism is expressed. In general terms, activism that opposes SRR is crossed by worldviews and beliefs based on faith. However, neo-conservative activism cannot be reduced to the actions of a few religious leaders or hierarchies. On the contrary, several actors are part of that activism. Although the Catholic Church hierarchy, evangelical pastors, Muslim and Hindu leaders, among others represent authority figures in this field, these voices concur with different civil society actors that operate as satellites in a coordinated way with clerical authorities. In the last decades, one of the key scenarios of impact of the neoconservatism is the human rights fora. The United Nations, the Council of Europe, and, more recently, the Organization of American States (OAS) are key territories of dispute. At the OAS, most of the neoconservatives NGOs have gained their consultative status since 2012. Since 2013, at OAS’ General Assembly of the OAS the actions of the neoconservative sectors have intensified. This increase in the participation of neoconservative organizations coincides with two decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, transcendental for progress in the recognition of SRR, the Artavia Murillo vs Costa Rica case on vitro fertilization and the Karen Atala vs Chile case on discrimination for sexual orientation.Since 2017, the OAS established that civil society organizations and social actors should be organized in Coalitions of thematic groups and representatives with similar positions in order to participate in the General Assemblies and Summits of the Americas. This new regulation strengthened the alliances between neoconservative organizations and actors in the inter-American human rights system. Considering these backgrounds, the paper proposes an analysis of the main neoconservative coalitions and discourses against sexual and reproductive rights at the OAS General Assemblies from 2017 to 2023. At the methodology level, I will analysis the actors, associative profiles, and alliances in this segment of activism at the OAS.