The Inter-American Court and Inter-American Commission Reform their Rules of Procedure

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), published on December 10 their new regulations, which come into force starting January 1, 2010.

Under the new Court Rules, from now on hearings before that body of protection will only permit the representatives of the victims and of the State sued to present and question witnesses and experts, and issue final arguments, powers that until now the IACHR also had.

The IACHR will start the process before the court by sending the background report of a case and not by filling a lawsuit. The background report is a document in which the IACHR, having heard the parties, concludes whether a violation of human right enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights exists. The IACHR will present at the hearing why it took the case to the court and may submit final comments to the court.

The Rules of the Court creates the figure of the Inter-American defender, to serve as the representation of victims without legal counsel, a role that thus far had been fulfilled by the IACHR and incorporated the Legal Aid Fund to provide financial support to victims who could not afford a process in the Inter-American system.

Furthermore, it restricts the figure of the judge ad hoc processes between states, which changes a usual practice, until now, according to which a Stated sued by a victim could appoint a judge of its nationality to serve on the Court in the specific case.

According to the explanatory memorandum of the Court, the reform seeks to give greater prominence to the dispute between representatives of the victims and the defendant and thus allow not only for the IACHR to play an influential role in the Inter-American system but also to reinforce the balance among the parties.

On the other hand, the new regulation of the IACHR contains significant changes to the granting of precautionary measures, the processing of requests for cases, hearings, filing of cases and referral to the Court.

The precautionary measures are a protection mechanism in serious and urgent cases to avoid irreparable damages to people involved; this has been recognized as one of the most effective mechanisms of the regional protection system. To grant, from now on the IACHR requires additional criteria, for instance for the victims to have denounce the risk to local authorities (or to justify why it was not denounced), a prior request for information to the involved State, the individual identification of beneficiaries and their explicit agreement to the request.

The new regulation allows the commissioners to receive testimonials when visiting a country in investigation, extends two to three months the deadline for the parties to submit additional observations on the merits of the case and authorizes the IACHR to keep open the handling of a case even if the petitioner has withdrawn.

The reforms materialized after a period of over two years in which different actors and users of the Inter-American system made important contributions. this time, CEJIL pushed through various documents to strengthen the independence and autonomy of the Court and the IACHR, simplifying and accelerating the processing of petitions with the Commission, recognizing the central role of victims in dealing with cases before the Court, and ensuring greater access to inter-American justice, by creating the Legal Aid Fund and the removal of the concept of ad hoc judge, among other reforms, some of which have been included in the new regulations.

• Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
• Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights