OAS Approves Rules of Procedure of Legal Aid Fund

Washington D. C., November 11, 2009

The victims of Human Rights violations in the Americas can now count, starting November 11, with a fund to defray the costs of legal proceedings before the Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a project initiated by CEJIL for years.

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted the regulation on the operation of the Legal Assistance Fund of the Inter-American Human Rights System.

The fund aims to facilitate access to the Inter-American System for victims of Human Rights violations who currently do not have the economic resources to submit and process their cases.

The adoption of the regulation was a basic condition for the operation of the Fund, whose creation was approved on June 3, 2008 by the OAS General Assembly.

"The decision taken today by the OAS Permanent Council is an essential step to address the problem of access to justice in the continent and overcome serious contradictions between a stronger role for victims in the proceedings before the Commission and the Court, and the lack of means available to cover the cost of a process, "said Viviana Krsticevic, executive director of CEJIL.

The creation and operation of the Legal Assistance Fund has been a priority for CEJIL since 2006 when it published a document in which indicated the need and urgency to establish it. At that time, CEJIL estimated the cost of litigating a relatively simple case before the Inter-American System amounted up to $ 113,900.

In recent years, CEJIL continued to drive the development and regulation of the Fund, together with human rights organizations on the continent, the States, the Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). CEJIL highlights the role played by the Colombian State, which promoted both the General Assembly resolution 2008 as well as the rules of operation adopted today.

The chairman of the OAS Permanent Council, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, informed that one Nordic State has already offered a contribution to the fund of $ 3 million dollars, which had not been possible due to the lack of regulation of the Fund.

The regulation establishes that the Fund will be endowed with volunteer capital contributions from OAS member states, permanent observers and other States, as well as donors who wish to collaborate.

The unanimous vote in favor of the regulation occurred at the end of a special session of the OAS Permanent Council to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the IACHR, the 40th anniversary of the American Convention on Human Rights and the 30th anniversary of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

However, in a message to the Permanent Council, the Deputy Executive Director CEJIL, Ariela Peralta, lamented that the OAS cancelled, at the last minute, the invitations given to two victims, Lucrecia Molina and Gisela Ortiz, in order for them be present at the approval of the Fund Regulation and commemorative activities.

"If we had been able to listen to these two victims, we would have renewed the commitment to achieve better protection of the victims," emphasized Ariela Peralta.

• Rules for the Operation of the  Victim's Legal Assistance Fund of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, approved on February 4, 2010. These Rules shall enter into force on June 1, 2010.

Press Contact in Washington D.C.

Mauricio Herrera Ulloa
mherrera@cejil.org
Tel: (202) 319-3000
(202) 445-4676

www.cejil.org

The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) is an advocacy of human rights in the Americas. CEJIL's main objective is to ensure full implementation of international human rights standards in the Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS), through the effective use of the Inter-american human rights system and other international protection mechanisms. CEJIL is a nongovernmental nonprofit with consultative status at the OAS, the Organization of the United Nations (UN) and observer status with the African Commission on Human Rights.