The Inter-American System for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has reached a critical point. For over a year, various Members of the Organization of American States (OAS) have sought to weaken the Inter-American System, in particular the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), through a process of reforms which finalized on Friday March 22, 2013 in an Extraordinary General Assembly meeting of the OAS. This space has been created to share the latest information and to facilitate greater participation and transparency in debates. See here the Resolution that was approved on March 22, 2013 at the Special General Assembly in Washington DC.
44th Extraordinary Period of Sessions of the OAS General Assembly
We are here as members of the International Coalition of human rights organizations in the Americas, to show our presence at the Extraordinary General Assembly, because we believe that this is a critical moment for the future of the Inter-American System, and for the protection of the rights of our fellow citizens of the continent.
Read the statement here.
June 4 - 6, 2013
OAS General Assembly's Forty-third Regular Session
The forty-third regular session of the OAS General Assembly will be held in Antigua, Guatemala, from June 4 to 6, 2013.
Report on the financial situation of the SIA
The SIA, composed of the IACHR and the Inter-American Court, is the most influential mechanism for the promotion and protection of human rights in the entire continent. Nonetheless, the SIA has a meager budget that could undermine the effective protection of human rights, making it almost impossible to comply with the mandates allocated to the bodies by the OAS Member States.
Debates at the IACHR - IACHR's Reform of its Rules of Procedure, Policies and Practices
Debates at the OAS - Resolution approved at the Special General Assembly in Washington DC.
Other debates - Conference of States Parties to the American Human Rights Convention - Guayaquil (In Spanish)
- Agreement of the Meeting of High Authorities of Human Rights and MERCOSUR (In Spanish)
The campaign "Defend the IAS Now" needs everyone’s support. If you want to participate and be part of the debate:
Attend the IACHR hearings on strengthening the IAS and the OAS meetings
Watch and share the videos to Support the IAS
Why is this important?
César Gaviria, Andrés Pastrana, Alejandro Toledo, Silvia Pimentel, Sylvia Steiner, Gioconda Belli, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Juan Gelman, Javier Sicilia, and other individuals committed to the defense of human rights signed the Declaration to support the IAS, to demand greater transparency in the debate on the future of the Inter-American System. The Declaration was launched at an event in Bogota in September 2012, and gave rise to a regional campaign. Add your signature by signing our petition here.
Tirza Flores Lanza was dismissed from her post as a Court of Appeals Judge in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, for declaring herself against the coup d’état in June of 2009. In this video Tirza highlights the quick response of the IACHR after the coup.
In 1988 Carlos Santiago and Pedro Andrés Restrepo Arismendy, 17 and 14 years old respectively, were disappeared by members of the Ecuadoran police. In this testimony, Pedro Restrepo, the father of both boys, gives his support to the IACHR, which supported him when he was denied justice in Ecuador.
Macarena Gelman was born in captivity during the Uruguayan military dictatorship. Her mother was kidnapped in Argentina, brought to Montevideo, and disappeared during Plan Condor. In this video Macarena underlines the importance of the Inter-American Court’s judgment in her case as a tool to shine light on the crimes of the dictatorship.
En January of 1989, near the rural village of La Rochela, a paramilitary group assassinated 12 to15 judicial employees who were investigating various massacred committed in Magdalena Medio, Colombia. In this video family members of the massacre victims defend the SIA’s autonomy.
