Organized crime and its impact on human rights and democracy in Latin America

Beyond the debates around violence and insecurity, international organizations are discussing the effect on the exercise of basic rights as criminal organizations advance.

The structural growth of organized crime has become a topic of discussion both for its dimension in the fight against drug trafficking and for its social impact and its effect on human rights and the quality of democracy. Latin America is no exception. Warnings from civil society organizations before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have put the focus on the infiltration of organized crime into State structures and institutions, and its manifestation in practices such as slavery, human trafficking and enforced disappearances.

In September of this year, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) met to discuss how inequality has generated an “intersection between the formal, informal and criminal economy” in the region. ECLAC Secretary Luis F. Yáñez stated that it is not only security that is at stake, but “democracy, the economy and social cohesion” themselves.

At an IACHR hearing held in the middle of this year, some twenty civil society organizations from various fields warned about the effect of organized crime on the guarantee of human rights. From Argentina, one of them was the Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (Civil Association for Equality and Justice, ACIJ). The hearing warned about how criminal structures not only generate violence, but also limit and condition the exercise of basic rights and throw democratic legitimacy into crisis. 

“Criminal governance” versus rights

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) addressed this issue this year, focusing on how criminal organizations have managed to expand in recent years into increasingly diverse dimensions. Their penetration is growing in the management of illicit economies that are no longer limited to drug trafficking but also extend to grassroots sectors such as, for example, illegal mining. Enclaves of this kind have opened the door for organized crime into entire communities, where it has managed to establish itself even in tasks that belong to the State or to institutions.

Meanwhile, this kind of diversification has entrenched forms of exploitation such as slave labor, human trafficking and the extortion of communities through terror, among others. As UNDP points out, in cases such as rural areas of Colombia, the organizations themselves administer “justice” as well as the distribution of food in communities. These processes have established what the international body defines as “criminal governance.”

In 2024, the Elcano Royal Institute released a series of statistics on insecurity in Latin America linked to the presence of organized crime. According to the survey, 50% of homicides in the region are associated with organized crime. 

The fight against drug trafficking: another human rights concern

While many organizations grapple with the advance of criminal organizations into the social fabric of Latin America, another debate focuses on the consequences of the fight against drug trafficking. This year, Amnesty International (AI) warned about how certain punitive public security policies can violate human rights. The international organization cited the example of El Salvador, whose Legislative Assembly approved a series of legal reforms in 2025 that, it charges, aggravate human rights violations.

These are the so-called Penitentiary, Juvenile Criminal and Anti-Organized Crime laws. As detailed by AI, in the name of the fight against criminal organizations, the amendments introduced affect prison detention conditions, violate the integrity of minors under 18 and exercise “disproportionate” control over populations of children and adolescents.

The organization also noted that the reform of the Law Against Organized Crime entailed limiting rights within the prison system such as parole. This, according to AI, restricts the possibility of social reintegration and jeopardizes international legislation and regulatory frameworks on this matter. 

In another part of the world, another example highlighted by Amnesty International is that of Iran. In 2023, the organization denounced the execution of some 853 people as part of the so-called “war on drugs.” In its statements, AI maintained that, in the name of anti-drug-trafficking policies, Iranian prisons had become “killing grounds.” The massive use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses was one of the most striking points. This is compounded by the impact of these policies on the poorest and most marginalized communities in the country.