Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR[1] or, in the three other official languages – Spanish, French, and Portuguese – CIDH, Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos, Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme, Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos) is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Abbreviation
IACHR
1959
Human rights monitoring in the Americas
- Washington, D.C., U.S.
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela
The separate Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together the Court and the Commission make up the human rights protection system of the OAS.
The IACHR is a permanent body, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States,[2] and it meets in regular and special sessions several times a year to examine allegations of human rights violations in the hemisphere.[3]
Its human rights duties stem from three documents:
History of the Inter-American human rights system[edit]
The inter-American system for the protection of human rights emerged with the adoption of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man by the OAS in April 1948 – the first international human rights instrument of a general nature, predating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by more than six months.[6][7]
The IACHR was created in 1959. It held its first meeting in 1960, and it conducted its first on-site visit to inspect the human rights situation in the Dominican Republic in 1961.[7]
A major step in the development of the system was taken in 1965 when the commission was expressly authorized to examine specific cases of human rights violations. Since that date the IACHR has received thousands of petitions and has processed in excess of 12,000 individual cases.[7]
In 1969, the guiding principles behind the American Declaration were taken, reshaped, and restated in the American Convention on Human Rights. The Convention defines the human rights that the states parties are required to respect and guarantee, and it also ordered the establishment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It is currently binding on 24 of the OAS's 35 member states.[6]
The commission's performance has not been always welcomed. Among others, Venezuela has accused the Commission of politicization. Others criticize the commission's stress on certain issues over others. These criticisms have given rise to what was called the "Strengthening Process of the Commission". This process began in 2011, led by the States belonging to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.[8][9]
The IACHR has created several thematic rapporteurships and two special rapporteurships to monitor OAS states' compliance with inter-American human rights treaties in the following areas:[12]
The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and the Special Rapporteur for Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights are full-time dedicated positions.[12] The former was created in 1997, while the latter was established in 2017, with Soledad García Muñoz of Argentina as the first holder of the office.[20][21]
The other rapporteurships are in the hands of the commissioners, who have other functions at the IACHR and also their own jobs in their home countries, since their work as commissioners is unpaid.
Rapporteurships are initially established by the commission as thematic units prior to being upgraded to rapporteurships.
The IACHR also has a Press and Outreach Office.[22]
The Commission processes petitions lodged with it pursuant to its Rules of Procedure.
Petitions may be filed by NGOs or individuals. Unlike most court filings, petitions are confidential documents and are not made public. Petitions must meet three requirements; domestic remedies must have already been tried and failed (exhaustion), petitions must be filed within six months of the last action taken in a domestic system (timeliness), petitions can not be before another court (duplication of procedure).
Once a petition has been filed, it follows the following procedure:[10]