The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme'', ''Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos'') is an

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

organ of the Organization of American States (OAS). 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 Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

protection system of the OAS. The IACHR is a permanent body, with headquarters in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, United States, and it meets in regular and special sessions several times a year to examine allegations of human rights violations in the hemisphere. Its human rights duties stem from three documents: * the

OAS Charter The Charter of the Organization of the American States (otherwise known the Charter of the OAS) is a Pan-American treaty that sets out the creation of the Organization of American States. It was signed at the Ninth International Conference of Am ...

* the

American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, also known as the Bogota Declaration, was the world's first international human rights instrument of a general nature, predating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by less than a y ...

* the

American Convention on Human Rights The American Convention on Human Rights, also known as the Pact of San José, is an international human rights instrument. It was adopted by many countries in the Western Hemisphere in San José, Costa Rica, on 22 November 1969. It came into for ...

History of the Inter-American human rights system

The inter-American system for the protection of human rights emerged with the adoption of the

by the OAS in April 1948 the first international human rights instrument of a general nature, predating the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

by more than six months.Goldman, Robert K. "History and Action: the Inter-American Human Rights System and the Role of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights." Human Rights Quarterly 31 (2009): 856-887. 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 The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

in 1961. 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. In 1969, the guiding principles behind the American Declaration were taken, reshaped, and restated in the

. 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.

Functions

The main task of the IACHR is to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. In pursuit of this mandate it: * Receives, analyzes, and investigates individual petitions alleging violations of specific human rights protected by the American Convention on Human Rights. * Works to resolve petitions in a collaborative way that is amiable to both parties. * Monitors the general human rights situation in the OAS's member states and, when necessary, prepares and publishes country-specific human rights reports. * Conducts on-site visits to examine members' general human rights situation or to investigate specific cases. * Encourages public awareness about human rights and related issues throughout the

hemisphere Hemisphere refers to: * A half of a sphere As half of the Earth * A hemisphere of Earth ** Northern Hemisphere ** Southern Hemisphere ** Eastern Hemisphere ** Western Hemisphere ** Land and water hemispheres * A half of the (geocentric) celes ...

. * Holds conferences, seminars, and meetings with governments, NGOs, academic institutions, etc. to inform and raise awareness about issues relating to the inter-American human rights system. * Issues member states with recommendations that, if adopted, would further the cause of human rights protection. * Requests that states adopt precautionary measures to prevent serious and irreparable harm to human rights in urgent cases. * Refers cases to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and litigates those same cases before the Court. * Asks the Inter-American Court to provide advisory opinions on matters relating to the interpretation of the convention or other related instruments.

Rapporteurships and units

The IACHR has created several rapporteurships, a special rapporteurship and a unit to monitor OAS states' compliance with inter-American human rights treaties in the following areas: * Rapporteurship on Migrant Workers and their Families * Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women (the first rapporteurship created by the IACHR in 1994) * Rapporteurship on the Rights of the Child * Rapporteurship on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesRapporteurship on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
/ref> * Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty * Rapporteurship on the Rights of Afro-Descendants and against Racial Discrimination * Rapporteurship on Human Rights Defenders The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights are the two special rapporteurships of the IACHR, having a rapporteur dedicated full-time to the job. 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. Th
Unit on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Bisexual, and Intersex Persons
was created in 2011. The IACHR also has a Press and Outreach Office.

Petitions

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: * Petition is forwarded to the Secretariat and reviewed for completeness; if complete, it is registered and is given a case number. This is where the state is notified of the petition. * Petition reviewed for admissibility. * The Commission tries to find a friendly settlement. * If no settlement is found, then briefs are filed by each side on the merits of the case. * The Commission then files a report on the merits, known as an Article 50 report from relevant article of the convention. This is a basically a ruling by the commission with recommendations on how to solve the conflict. The Article 50 report is sent to the state. This is a confidential report; the petitioner does not get a full copy of this report. * The state is given two months to comply with the recommendations of the report. * The petitioner then has one month to file a petition asking for the issue to be sent to the Inter-American Court (only applicable if the State in question has recognized the competence of the Inter-American Court). * The commission has three months, from the date the Article 50 report is given to the state, to either publish the Article 50 report or send the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Alternatively, the commission can also choose to monitor the situation. The American Convention establishes that if the report is not submitted to the Court within three months it may not be submitted in the future, but if the State asks for more time in order to comply with the recommendations of the Article 50 report, the Commission might grant it on the condition that the State signs a waiver on this requirement.

Criticisms

Politicization and position in debatable matters

The commission's performance has not been always welcomed. Among others,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

has criticized its 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 ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kin ...

Location of its headquarters

Officers of Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, supported the motion for moving the commission's headquarters, which are currently in Washington, D.C. These countries suggested moving the IACHR's headquarters to a Member State to the American Convention of Human Rights. Among the suggested countries were Argentina, Costa Rica and Peru.

Composition

The IACHR's ranking officers are its seven commissioners. The commissioners are elected by the

OAS General Assembly The General Assembly is the supreme decision-making body of the Organization of American States (OAS). The General Assembly came into being as a part of the restructuring of the OAS that took place following adoption of the Protocol of Buenos Ai ...

, for four-year terms, with the possibility of re-election on one occasion, for a maximum period in office of eight years. They serve in a personal capacity and are not considered to represent their countries of origin but rather "all the member countries of the Organization" (Art. 35 of the convention). The convention (Art. 34) says that they must "be persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights". No two nationals of the same member state may be commissioners simultaneously (Art. 37), and commissioners are required to refrain from participating in the discussion of cases involving their home countries.

Current commissioners

Past commissioners

Executive Secretaries

The staff of the IACHR comprise its Secretariat, which is led by an Executive Secretary, who serves for what have recently been four-year, renewable contracts. In August 2020, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro announced that he would not renew Paulo Abrão's contract as Executive Secretary of the IACHR, citing 61 personnel complaints by staff of the organization. The Commissioners of the IACHR had unanimously approved the contract extension in January 2020, and expressed their "profound rejection" of Almagro's action "whose refusal to renew this contract breaks with a 20-year practice of respecting the IACHR's decision to appoint its own Executive Secretary and thus makes it difficult to obtain truth, justice, and reparation for those whose labor rights have been affected." UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, and the Mexican government have also objected to Abrao's removal.

Human rights violations investigated by the Inter-American Commission

Massacre of Trujillo The Massacre of Trujillo ( es, Masacre de Trujillo) was a series of murders perpetrated between 1988 and 1994 in the town of Trujillo, Valle del Cauca Department in southwestern Colombia by paramilitaries and the Cali Cartel with the complicity ...

( Colombia) *

Barrios Altos massacre The Barrios Altos massacre took place on 3 November 1991, in the Barrios Altos neighborhood of Lima, Peru. Fifteen people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed, and four more injured, by assailants who were later determined to be member ...

(

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

) *

Lori Berenson Lori Helene Berenson (born November 13, 1969) is an American who served a 20-year prison sentence for collaboration with a guerrilla organization in Peru in 1996. Berenson was convicted of collaborating with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movemen ...

(Peru) * La Cantuta massacre (Peru) * '' El Caracazo'' (

) *

Japanese embassy hostage crisis The Japanese embassy hostage crisis ( es, Toma de la residencia del embajador de Japón en Lima, ja, 在ペルー日本大使公邸占拠事件, translit=Zai Perū Nihon taishi kōtei senkyo jiken) began on 17 December 1996 in Lima, Peru, when ...

(Peru) * Deaths in Ciudad Juárez (

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

) *

Antoine Izméry Antoine Izméry (died 11 September 1993) was a Haitian businessman and pro-democracy activist. Career Izméry, who was of Palestinian descent, was among the wealthiest people in Haiti. He was one of the most prominent backers of former President ...

( Haiti) *

Plan de Sánchez massacre The Plan de Sánchez massacre took place in the Guatemalan village of Plan de Sánchez, Baja Verapaz department, on 18 July 1982. Over 250 people (mostly women and children, and almost exclusively ethnic Achi Maya) were abused and murdered by ...

( Guatemala) *

Censorship in Venezuela Censorship in Venezuela refers to all actions which can be considered as suppression in speech in the country. Reporters Without Borders ranked Venezuela 137th out of 180 countries in its ''World Press Freedom Index 2015'' and classified Venezu ...

(Venezuela) *

District of Columbia voting rights Voting rights of citizens in the District of Columbia differ from the rights of citizens in each of the 50 U.S. states. The Constitution grants each state voting representation in both houses of the United States Congress. As the federal cap ...

(United States of America) * Domestic violence protection in the case of Jessica Gonzales *

Extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

in Guantanamo of

Djamel Ameziane Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane (born 14 February 1967) is an Algerian citizen, and former resident of Canada, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.

2014 Iguala mass kidnapping On September 26, 2014, forty-three male students disappeared from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College after being forcibly abducted in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. They were allegedly taken into custody by local police officers from Iguala an ...

(Mexico) * Internment of Japanese Latin Americans (United States)

References

External links

*
IACHR case law

OAS Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Intergovernmental human rights organizations Organization of American States Quasi-judicial bodies Human rights in Latin America Organizations established in 1959 1959 establishments in Washington, D.C.