Eastern Republic of Uruguay
Head of state and government: Tabaré Vázquez (replaced José Alberto Mujica Cordano in March)

Little progress was made to ensure justice for human rights violations committed during the period of civil and military rule between 1973 and 1985. Gender inequality persisted, including in access to abortion and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.

BACKGROUND

In March, Tabaré Vázquez took office promising to implement a National Plan on Social Harmony and Human Rights, and to strengthen anti-discrimination policy for LGBTI people, as well as measures to promote gender equality, among other commitments.

In March, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Uruguay to take measures to prevent, prohibit and protect children from all forms of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in detention, including by the police. The Committee also called on the government to tackle high rates of child poverty and improve access to quality health services, particularly for children living in the most disadvantaged and remote areas.

In October, Uruguay was elected member of the UN Security Council for 2016-17, after 50 years of absence from it.

In June, the government announced that it would continue its programme of resettling Syrian refugees. Five Syrian families arrived in Uruguay in 2014.

IMPUNITY

In May, a presidential decree established the Truth and Justice Working Group to investigate human rights violations that occurred between 1968 and 1985. The group was to be formed of seven members having fulfilled autonomy and independence criteria throughout their careers, as well as the President and Vice-President of Uruguay.

A 2013 Supreme Court ruling remained an obstacle to ensuring justice; the ruling had overturned key articles of Law 18.831, adopted in 2011, which established that crimes committed during the period of civil and military rule between 1973 and 1985 were crimes against humanity and that no statute of limitations could be applied.

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

In August, an administrative court upheld the right of medical professionals to refuse to perform a legal abortion on grounds of conscience. The ruling resulted from a complaint lodged by a group of medical professionals against several articles of a decree regulating the 2012 legislation that decriminalized abortion and guaranteed safe and legal access to it. The court's ruling caused uncertainty over how the government would ensure the legislation's effective implementation, depending on the number of professionals refusing to perform abortions on grounds of conscience.

Abortion is decriminalized in Uruguay in all cases during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Decriminalization is extended to the 14th week when the pregnancy is the result of rape, and to the whole pregnancy when it either poses a serious risk to the woman's health or is a case of foetal malformation, incompatible with extra-uterine life.

RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE

Investigations into the killings of five transsexual women between 2011 and 2012 showed little progress.

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