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CEJIL participated in the 43rd OAS General Assembly, held June 4-6, 2013 in Antigua, Guatemala. The Assembly approved a total of 50 Resolutions, among them the Declaration of Antigua: “For a Comprehensive Policy against the World Drug Problem in the Americas.”
In parallel, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Myrna Mack Foundation, and the Convergence for Human Rights in Guatemala held a Public Event on “Contributions for an Integral Security Policy,” as well as an event with the International Coalition of Human Rights Organizations in the Americas on “The Responsibility of the States to Assure the Adequate Functioning and Validity of the Inter-American System of Human Rights.”
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During the 43rd OAS General Assembly, elections were held for Commissioners of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. José de Jesús Orozco (Mexico) was re-elected. James Cavallaro (United States) and Paulo de Tarso Vannuchi (Brazil) were also elected, and their posts will last from January 2014 until December 2017. Dinah Shelton (United States) and Rodrigo Escobar Gil (Colombia) will depart at the end of this year.
In a unanimous vote, the Inter-American Tribunal recognizes that her health, life, and personal integrity, both physical and mental, are in a situation of extreme seriousness and urgency of suffering irreparable damage.
In a historic decision, today the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Court), the highest tribunal regarding human rights on the American continent, required the Salvadoran State to take all the medical measures necessary to ensure, in an urgent manner, the due protection of the right to life and personal integrity of Beatriz, which means interrupting her pregnancy in accordance with the recommendations of her doctors.
Beatriz, a 22-year-old Salvadoran woman, who suffers from Systemic Lupus Erythematosus aggravated with lupus nephritis and rheumatoid arthritis, is the mother of a 14-month-old boy and is currently 26 weeks pregnant with an anencephalic fetus—a fetus without a brain—which is a major anomaly incompatible with life outside the womb.
- CEJIL calls for a decision in accordance with the American Convention on Human Rights to guarantee the independence and impartiality of the IACHR
Last Wednesday the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) sent a letter to the Foreign Secretaries of the Americas asking them to abide by the standards established in the American Convention when electing the candidates for the three vacant seats at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for 2014-2017.
The election of the new members of the IACHR, one of the most important bodies of human rights protection in the hemisphere, will take place during the Organization of American States (OAS) 43rd General Assembly, to be held in Antigua, Guatemala from June 4 to June 6.
Nobel Prize winners firmly support the IAS
In celebrating International Women’s Day, Mairead Maguire (1976), Rigoberta Menchú (1992), Jody Williams (1997), Shírin Ebadi (2003), Leymah Gbowee (2011), and Tawakkol Karman (2011), women who have received the Nobel Peace Prize, showed their recognition and firm support of the Inter-American System of Human Rights (IAS) and via a public letter, assured that the IAS has been a key piece in “the protection of the rights of women and women human rights defenders.”
Read the complete letter here.
Highlights
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On June 5, 2013 during the OAS General Assembly, the following Conventions were ratified: The “Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance” and the “Inter-American Convention against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance” |
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On June 11, 2013 various human rights organization from the region sent a letter to the OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, related to the “Informal Conversation between the Secretary General, the Adjunct Secretary General, and representatives from civil society organizations,” which was held on June 3, 2013 during the XLIII OAS General Assembly. Read the letter in Spanish here. |
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Two discussion panels were held last Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at the Open Society Foundations Headquarters in Washington D.C. The event was organized by CEJIL, Berkeley School of Law International Human Rights Clinic, the Myrna Mack Foundation, Open society Justice Initiative and WOLA. Experts discussed State responsability for Human Rights violations and the role of the Inter-American Court. |
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The OAS General Assembly will be held in Antigua, Guatemala from June 4 to June 6, 2013. Registration for civil society organizations has closed. |
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On May 1, 2013 at 10:00 am the Permanent Council of the OAS held a forum with the candidates for the Inter-American Commission elections: -José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez (Mexico) -Rodrigo Escobar Gil (Colombia) -James L. Cavallaro (United States) -Erick Roberts Garcés (Ecuador) -Javier de Belaúnde López de Romaña (Peru) -Paulo de Tarso Vannuchi (Brazil) |
