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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

they were subjected”. However, it ruled that 

the case largely could not proceed, thus 

continuing a pattern of judicial remedies 

being blocked in cases involving human 

rights violations in the counter-terrorism 

context since the 2001 attacks.

EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE

The authorities continued to fail to track the 

exact number of people killed by law 

enforcement officials across the USA. Data 

collected by The Washington Post newspaper 

put the total at 987 individuals killed during 

the year by law enforcement agents using 

firearms. According to the data, African 

Americans – who comprised 13% of the 

population – represented nearly 23% of the 

victims in 2017. Of those killed, 24% were 

known to have mental health problems. A 

proposal by the Department of Justice to 

create a system to track these deaths under 

the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act was not 

compulsory for law enforcement agencies 

and therefore risked leading to under-

reporting. No information was released on 

whether the reporting process had been 

initiated during the year.

At least 40 people across 25 states died 

after police used projectile electro-shock 

weapons on them, bringing the total number 

of such deaths since 2001 to at least 802. 

Most of the victims were not armed and did 

not appear to pose a threat of death or 

serious injury when the electro-shock weapon 

was deployed.

In September, the acquittal of a former 

police officer for shooting dead Anthony 

Lamar Smith in 2011 sparked weeks of 

protests across the city of St Louis, Missouri, 

and hundreds of arrests. There were 

allegations by local civil rights organizations 

that police unlawfully detained people and 

that their use of chemical irritants against 

protesters amounted to excessive use of 

force. St Louis police used heavy-duty riot 

gear and military-grade weapons and 

equipment to police the demonstrations. In 

August, President Trump annulled 

restrictions put in place by the previous 

government that limited the transfer of some 

military-grade equipment to law enforcement 

agencies.

GUN VIOLENCE

In October a gunman used “bump stocks” – 

accessories that modify firearms to allow 

rapid firing similar to that of fully automatic 

firearms – against a crowd of concert-goers in 

Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 58 people. In 

response to the massacre, Congress 

considered legislation and regulations 

banning such devices, but the measures 

were not enacted. In November, Congress 

introduced but failed to pass a separate piece 

of legislation aimed at preventing gun 

violence.

Two pieces of federal legislation were 

pending at the end of the year that would 

make it easier for people to obtain firearm 

silencers and carry concealed weapons. 

Legislation in place since 1996 continued to 

deny funding to the Center for Disease 

Control and Prevention to conduct or sponsor 

research into the causes of gun violence and 

ways to prevent it.

President Trump’s administration 

considered relaxing restrictions on the export 

of small arms, including assault rifles and 

ammunition, by shifting the responsibility for 

processing international non-military firearms 

sales from the Department of State to the 

Department of Commerce. The move would 

severely weaken oversight of arms sales and 

risked increasing the flow of firearms to 

countries suffering high levels of armed 

violence.

DEATH PENALTY

Twenty-three men were executed in eight 

states, bringing to 1,465 the total number of 

executions since the US Supreme Court 

approved new capital laws in 1976. 

Approximately 39 new death sentences were 

passed. Around 2,800 people remained on 

death row at the end of the year.

Arkansas conducted its first executions 

since 2005. Ohio resumed executions after a 

hiatus of more than three years. Florida 

conducted its first executions since January 

2016, when the US Supreme Court ruled its 

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capital sentencing statute unconstitutional. 

The Florida Supreme Court’s decision that 

the ruling applied only retroactively to about 

half of those on death row allowed the state 

to begin executing those deemed not to 

benefit. During the year, the first death 

sentences were handed down under a new 

sentencing statute.

During the year, four inmates were 

exonerated of the crimes for which they were 

originally sentenced to death in the states of 

Delaware, Florida, Arkansas and Louisiana, 

bringing to 160 the number of such cases 

since 1973.

URUGUAY

Eastern Republic of Uruguay

Head of state and government: Tabaré Vázquez

Pre-trial detention continued to be imposed 

widely. Impunity persisted for past crimes; 

human rights defenders investigating such 

crimes received death threats. Sexual and 

reproductive health services were difficult 

to access in rural areas and objectors to 

providing abortion continued to obstruct 

access to legal abortions.

BACKGROUND

The Monitoring System for 

Recommendations (SIMORE), which since 

December 2016 has collected information on 

Uruguay’s implementation of 

recommendations by international bodies, 

still had no effective mechanism for civil 

society participation. There had yet to be full 

implementation of the Inter-institutional 

Network for the Elaboration of Reports and 

Monitoring of the Implementation of 

Recommendations and Observations in the 

Field of Human Rights, also established in 

2016.

DETENTION

The National Human Rights Institute, through 

the National Mechanism for the Prevention of 

Torture, continued to document and report 

human rights violations in prisons, including 

overcrowding and access to health services 

and education.

Pre-trial detention continued to be imposed 

in the majority of cases and conditional 

releases pending trial were often denied.

A proposed amendment to the Code on 

Children and Adolescents threatened to 

increase the proportion of cases subject to 

mandatory pre-trial detention and eliminate 

time limits for such detentions, endangering 

the rights of young people in the juvenile 

penal system.

People with psychosocial disabilities 

continued to be held against their will and in 

isolation in psychiatric institutions.

ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL 

RIGHTS

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and 

Cultural Rights made several 

recommendations to Uruguay including 

increasing the direct applicability of these 

rights in the judicial system; strengthening 

legislation against discrimination; adopting a 

law on mental health in line with international 

standards; approving the comprehensive bill 

against gender-based violence; and ensuring 

the right to work for persons with disabilities.

IMPUNITY

In February, human rights defenders 

investigating human rights violations that 

occurred during the military regime 

(1973-1985) reported receiving death 

threats; the sources of these threats were not 

investigated. In May, human rights defenders 

denounced these threats at a hearing before 

the Inter-American Commission on Human 

Rights, which the Uruguayan authorities did 

not attend.

The national Working Group on Truth and 

Justice, implemented in 2015, had not 

achieved concrete results regarding 

reparations for victims of past crimes under 

international law.

In October, the Supreme Court ruled that 

statutory limitations apply to crimes against 

humanity, hindering victims’ access to 

justice, and preventing the prosecution of 

those suspected of criminal responsibility.

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