American Human Rights System §

• The Organization of American States (OAS): are states in the American continent, not just the US

American Convention on Human Rights §

• The bodies responsible for overseeing compliance with the Convention are the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, both of which are organs of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) §

• Established in 1959
• Structure:
• In accordance with the Convention, there are seven members of the Commission who are ‘persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights’
• They are appointed by the General Assembly of the OAS to serve in their personal capacity for a single, four-year, renewable term of office (Arts 36–7).
• No two members can be from the same Member State and, as with similar bodies elsewhere, the elections are staggered to take place every two years. 
• The General Secretariat of the OAS provides secretariat services for the Commission.
• Function
  • The main task of the IACHR is to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the Americas.
  • 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.
  • They also stimulate public consciousness regarding human rights in the Americas and recommend to the member States about the adoption of measures

Inter-American Court of Human rights §

• Its two main functions are thus adjudicatory and advisory.
  • Applies the Convention to cases
• Who can submit cases
  • Individuals from the OAS nationals can apply
  • NGO & states can file complaint
    • But only if the party states recognizes the legitimacy of the court
• History
  • The Inter-American Court of Human Rights was established by the American Convention on Human Rights. However, the idea of a judicial organ to protect the ‘rights of man’ was first mooted in 1948 at the Bogotá International Conference of American States (OAS/Ser.L/V/II.14).
  • Despite divided opinions, provision for a competent court was made in the Convention. The Court is ‘an autonomous judicial institution whose purpose is the application and interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights’ (Art 1, Statute of the Court).
• Composition of court
  • The Court has its permanent seat in San José, Costa Rica.
  • Court consists of 7 judges elected in their individual capacity from among ‘jurists of the highest moral authority and of recognized competence in the field of human rights, who possess the qualifications required for the exercise of the highest judicial function’ (Art 52).
  • Judges are elected by the General Assembly for a single renewable term of 6 years with a staggered system of re-election every three years (Art 54). 
  • In the interests of fairness, the State Parties involved in any case being heard by the Court have the right to appoint an ad hoc judge to serve on the panel for the duration of the case (Art 55). 
• Function: 
  • The Court has its own Statute and Rules of Procedure under which it operates. 
  • Its initial Rules of Procedure were modeled closely on those of its Strasbourg sibling though over the years the procedure was streamlined and altered. The most recent Rules of Procedure were approved in November 2009. 
  • The principal change is that once the Court is seized of a case involving a violation of the Convention, the alleged victim/s, the next of kin, and/or appointed representatives will enjoy locus standi in judicio (direct participation) at all stages of proceedings before the Court. However, in a situation akin to that of the original Council of Europe system (prior to Protocol 11), only the Commission and State Parties have locus standi to bring a case before the Court (Art 61).
  • The Inter-American Court has both advisory and adjudicatory jurisdiction. States elect whether they will accept the jurisdiction of the Court upon ratification of the Convention or at any time thereafter. 
  • When adjudicating on cases involving potential violations of the Convention, provisional measures may be ordered, even at the stage of the case being lodged with the Commission. 
  • Naturally this only occurs in situations of extreme gravity or urgency threatening ‘irreparable damage’ to persons (Art 63). This right to impose interim measures is similar to that enjoyed by the Committee against Torture or the Human Rights Committee. Provisional measures have been granted in a number of cases, including Alemán Lacayo and the Case of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian Origin in the Dominican Republic
• Admissibility: for a case to be able to be submitted to the court
  1. they must not be anonymous
  2. the subject of the petition or communication must not be pending before another international body
  3. domestic legal remedies must have been pursued and exhausted
  4. the petition or communication must be lodged within six months of the date the final judgment from the local remedy has been pronounced.