Legal protection of civil activists and guarantees of judicial protection for the results of public oversight in Latin American countries

The aim of the research is to conduct a comprehensive comparative-legal analysis of the mechanisms of legal protection for civil activists and judicial guarantees for the implementation of public oversight results in Latin American countries, to identify models for the implementation of these institutions, and to develop recommendations for improving legal regulation. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that it presents the first systematic comparative-legal analysis of constitutional principles of public oversight across all 20 Latin American countries, viewed through the lens of guarantees for judicial protection of their results and the personal safety of civil activists. Models of legal regulation have been identified and classified, and the main legal barriers reducing the effectiveness of judicial protection have been defined. The main hypothesis of the research is that a specific model of public oversight has developed in Latin American countries, characterized by institutional inversion (society's control over the state); however, there is a significant gap between constitutional declarations about guarantees for judicial protection of public oversight results and the actual law enforcement practice, which is conditioned by procedural barriers and restrictions in civil space. The methodological basis of the research includes a set of general scientific and special legal methods: comparative-legal; formal-legal; institutional; systemic-structural; historical-legal; legal modeling; and case study. The study reveals the absence of a legal definition of public oversight in most constitutions; the confusion between the concepts of "public oversight," "civil control," and "social control"; the lack of mechanisms for judicial enforcement of oversight results; and restrictive legislation on "foreign agents" in Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. It is established that the principle of guaranteed judicial protection of public oversight results is enshrined in the constitutions of the region's countries, but its implementation is hindered by the absence of procedures for considering acts of public oversight, procedural deadlines, and high standards of evidence. The results of the research consist of a developed and substantiated system of practical recommendations for harmonizing national legislations, including the adoption of framework laws, establishing the mandatory nature of recommendations from oversight bodies, creating specialized judicial mechanisms, and ensuring effective protection for civil activists against the unlawful application of criminal prosecution.