{"id":3763,"date":"2012-04-30T16:46:01","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T16:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cejil.z.actotal.net\/2012\/04\/30\/700-organizations-in-the-americas-denounce-the-oas-attempt-to-weaken-human-rights-defense-system\/"},"modified":"2021-02-15T12:35:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T12:35:07","slug":"700-organizations-in-the-americas-denounce-the-oas-attempt-to-weaken-human-rights-defense-system","status":"publish","type":"comunicado-de-prensa","link":"https:\/\/cejil.org\/en\/press-releases\/700-organizations-in-the-americas-denounce-the-oas-attempt-to-weaken-human-rights-defense-system\/","title":{"rendered":"700 organizations in the Americas denounce the OAS\u2019 attempt to weaken  human rights defense system"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Washington D.C, March 28, 2012 \u2013<\/strong>This afternoon, at a public hearing before the seven Commissioners of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the International Coalition of Human Rights Organizations in the Americas, representing over 700 organizations, denounced the\u00a0attempts by\u00a0several Member States of\u00a0the Organization of American States (OAS)\u00a0to undermine\u00a0the work of\u00a0the IACHR\u00a0and urged it to\u00a0take actions to\u00a0strengthen itself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the hearing, the region\u2019s organizations showed particular concern regarding the intention of some governments to complicate the procedures surrounding precautionary measures. These protection measures provided to\u00a0victims\u00a0in emergency situations must be managed\u00a0through\u00a0simple and effective\u00a0procedures. The importance of maintaining\u00a0the integrity of the\u00a0annual report of the Special Rapporteurship for Freedom\u00a0of Expression was also emphasized. This issue has been similarly\u00a0questioned by\u00a0some members\u00a0of the OAS.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Additionally, members\u00a0of\u00a0civil\u00a0society\u00a0stressed the\u00a0importance of\u00a0transparency in relation to the Commission\u2019s electoral process. Transparency is particularly significant with regards to the forthcoming elections for the Commission\u2019s Executive Secretary, which will be held\u00a0in July this\u00a0year. Furthermore, the organizations present\u00a0expressed that the signing of friendly settlements should be done in good faith and with the intention of upholding them, and\u00a0not simply to prevent\u00a0a case from being\u00a0sent to\u00a0the Inter-American Court. The petitioners also stressed the\u00a0importance of maintaining the <em>fourth chapter<\/em> of\u00a0the Commission\u2019s annual report, which includes the reports of the Commission\u2019s various rapporteurships.\u00a0\u00a0For many countries this is a sensitive issue, as the chapter highlights the countries that\u00a0face greater\u00a0challenges in terms of\u00a0human\u00a0rights violations. It has been particularly questioned by Venezuela and Colombia.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the spirit of\u00a0collaboration, organizations also\u00a0proposed mechanisms to\u00a0foster improved compliance with the decisions of the\u00a0IACHR, and measures to improve efficiency\u00a0in the processing of\u00a0cases. Finally, the Coalition\u00a0emphasized the\u00a0need for greater financial support on the part of the\u00a0OAS for the organs of\u00a0human rights protection\u00a0in the region (Inter-American\u00a0Commission and Court), to ensure effective\u00a0operation\u00a0and respect for\u00a0human rights in\u00a0the Americas.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A document containing many of the observations raised by civil society at this hearing was signed by over 90 organizations and delivered at the OAS\u2019s Permanent Council in January 2012. The document was written as a reaction to a report submitted to the Permanent Council of the OAS by the <em>Special Working Group\u00a0on the Strengthening\u00a0of the Inter-American System,<\/em> a group whose composition includes, among others, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru. The special group\u2019s report contains some\u00a0recommendations clearly aimed\u00a0to hinder the\u00a0work of the\u00a0Inter-American Commission. These recommendations can be seen as a response to\u00a0specific actions\u00a0of the IACHR, \u00a0such as the recent admission\u00a0of cases\u00a0denouncing\u00a0human\u00a0rights violations\u00a0in aforementioned countries.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Press Contact <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">MilliLegrain<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Comunications coordinator<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">CEJIL<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">202 319 3000<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">mlegrain@twi.btq.mybluehost.me<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-3763","comunicado-de-prensa","type-comunicado-de-prensa","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cejil.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comunicado-de-prensa\/3763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cejil.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comunicado-de-prensa"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cejil.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/comunicado-de-prensa"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cejil.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cejil.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}