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PRESS RELEASE
Nº 1/05
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) welcomes new Executive Order, Nº 05/03, issued by the Acting Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) on January 25, 2005, which recognizes and strengthens the Commission’s independence and autonomy.
Experience has shown that the only way the Commission can perform its sensitive and momentous task is to do so without interference from states or from the Organization’s political officials, whose functions are extremely important but completely different in nature from the Commission’s.
In this connection, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Santiago A. Canton, stated: “The new Executive Order strengthens the Commission’s autonomy and independence, unlike the one it replaced, issued by Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, which seriously limited it in that regard. The Commission has been strengthened, and this constitutes a guarantee for the protection of the human rights of all people in the Hemisphere.”
The Commission acknowledges the role played by the Acting Secretary General, Ambassador Luigi Einaudi in this process and is grateful for the strong support received from the member states and civil society organizations.
Washington D. C., February 2, 2005
PRESS RELEASE
THE IACHR ELECTS ITS OFFICERS AND BEGINS ITS REGULAR SESSION
N° 02/05
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) began its 122d regular session. Pursuant to its Rules of Procedure, this being its first session in 2005, the IACHR elected its officers, as follows: Clare K. Roberts, President; Susana Villarán, First Vice President; and Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Second Vice President. The following are also commissioners of the IACHR: José Zalaquett, Evelio Fernández Arévalos, Freddy Gutiérrez, and Florentín Meléndez. The Executive Secretary of the IACHR is Dr.Santiago A. Canton.
President Clare K. Roberts, a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, has been a Member of the IACHR since 2002 and was elected to its board of officers that year. The intense activities carried out by Commissioner Roberts includes participation in several on site visits to Haiti and other countries of the region. Before joining the IACHR, his juridical career has included appointment to several important posts in his country, such as Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs between 1994 and 1997. He has been an international legal consultant for several public and private organizations, and he is also a Member of the International Bar Association and the Inter-American Bar Association, as well as an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
First Vice-President Susana Villarán, from Peru, is a specialist in education and journalism, who joined the Inter-American Commission in 2002. That year she was appointed Special Rapporteur for the Rights of the Child, duty she performed until 2004, when she was appointed Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Women. Commissioner Villarán was previously the Minister for Women and Human Development in Peru’s transitional government (2000-2001). Among the many positions of responsibility held by Dr. Villarán in the course of her career, she has been Executive Secretary of the Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos del Perú, Member of the Commission for the Reorganization and Modernization of Peru’s Police, and that country’s first Police Ombudsman. She is also a member of Women for Democracy and various other civil society organizations concerned with women’s and children’s affairs.
Second Vice-President Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro is from Brazil, and a member of the IACHR since 2004. Among his duties in the Inter-American Commission, he is the Special Rapporteur for the Rights of the Child, duty assigned to him when he joined this organ. Commissioner Pinheiro is also the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Myanmar; was appointed Independent Expert by the U.N. Secretary general to prepare a study on the matter of violence against children; and was also a member of the U.N. Subcommittee for the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as several missions and investigations carried out in previous years for that Organization. Previously, he was Brazil’s Secretary of State for Human Rights, and his academic activity includes teaching in several universities of his own country, of the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
The IACHR is the principal organ under the Charter of the OAS, with responsibility for ensuring respect for human rights in all states of the American continent. It is comprised of seven independent human rights experts, who are elected in their individual capacities by the member states of the Organization. During its period of sessions, the Commission will consider draft reports on human rights violations in the procedural stages of admissibility, merits, friendly settlement, and complaints filed with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The IACHR will also review human rights situations in various member states of the OAS and will hold 44 hearings with individual petitioners and state representatives.
Washington, D. C., February 23, 2005
PRESS RELEASE
IACHR CREATES SPECIAL RAPPORTEURSHIP
ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS OF AFRICAN DESCENT, AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
N° 3/05
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is very pleased to announce the creation of a Special Rapporteurship on the rights of persons of African descent and on racial discrimination. The functions of Special Rapporteur were assigned to Commissioner Clare K. Roberts, recently elected President of the IACHR.
The Special Rapporteurship on the Rights of People of Afro-Descendants and Against Racial Discrimination will dedicate itself to activities of stimulating, systematizing, reinforcing and consolidating the action of the Inter-American Commission on the rights of people of African-descendent and racial discrimination.
In this perspective, the core objectives of the Special Rapporteurship will include work with OAS Member States for the following purposes: to generate awareness of the states’ duty to respect the human rights of afro-descendants and on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination; to analyze the current challenges that confront countries of the region in this area, formulate recommendations designed to overcome the obstacles and identifying and sharing best practices in the region with respect to this matter; to monitor, and provide any technical assistance requested by member States in the implementation of the recommendations in national law and practice.
Within the Commission, the Rapporteurship will work to stimulate, systematize, reinforce and consolidate the action of the Inter-American Commission on the rights of people of African-descendent and racial discrimination; to comply with the mandates of the OAS General Assembly to the Commission related to Afro-descendants, racism and racial discrimination; to support the work of the Commission related to Afro-descendants and racial discrimination such as:
- Prepare reports and special studies on the rights of afro-descendants and, more broadly, studies on issues pertaining to elimination of racial discrimination;
- Analyze complaints of racism and racial discrimination received by the Commission and convey to the Commission its opinion and recommendations with regard to those complaints;
- Make recommendations to the Commission regarding hearings to be granted during regular sessions and participates with the Commission in hearings having to do with alleged violations. The Special Rapporteurship will also work with the parties to achieve friendly settlements;
- Undertake consultations and prepare recommendations to member States regarding the modification of existing laws and articles related to the rights of afro-descendants and on racial discrimination;
- Accompany the Commission in its in loco visits to the countries of the region. During the visits, the Office will gather information and investigate the most relevant problems related to African-descendent and racial discrimination;
- Draft admissibility and merit’s reports as well as thematic, country and annual reports.
The Special Rapporteur will work with the other Special Rapporteurships of the Commission in the matters that intersect with afro-descendants and racial discrimination and their respective mandates. With civil society, the work will be focused on amplifying awareness in the region of the guarantees and mechanisms the inter-American human rights system offers for the protection of the rights of afro-descendants and against racial discrimination. Also, the Rapporteurship shall maintain a data base on the most current information received through its informal hemispheric network related to the rights of people of African-descendent and racial discrimination in member States or progress in this matter; promote the System through its participation in education and training activities as well as seminars, conferences and fora, among others. Finally, the new Special Rapporteurship will work in collaboration with the pertinent UN Bodies, including CERD, the Working Group of Afro-descendants, the Special Rapporteur on Racial Discrimination.
Washington, D.C., February 25, 2005
PRESS RELEASE
IACHR EXPRESSES SATISFACTION AT THE ARGENTINE STATE’S ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF LIABILITY IN THE AMIA CASE
Nº 5/05
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expresses its satisfaction at the acknowledgment by the Government of the Argentine Republic, in an audience held today, March 4, 2005, of liability in the case of the attack carried out on the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association building (AMIA).
The Commission is currently processing petition No. 12.204 filed on June 16, 1999, concerning the attack that occurred in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994. Over 80 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in that attack. The survivors and their relatives, represented in the instant case by Memoria Activa, the Legal and Social Studies Center (CELS), and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), have sought justice in this case, first under domestic law and then in the inter-American human rights system.
In today’s audience, the representative of President Néstor Kirchner’s government acknowledged the State’s liability for violations of the rights to life, humane treatment, a fair trial, and judicial protection enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights, which Argentina ratified in 1984. The State admitted that it had not complied with its obligation to observe and guarantee the rights upheld in the aforementioned Convention and specifically acknowledged “noncompliance with its duty to prevent [such an attack], in that it had failed to take appropriate and effective steps to try and avoid the attack, bearing in mind that two years earlier terrorists had attacked the embassy of Israel in Argentina.” Furthermore, the State “admits liability because the facts were concealed and there was a grave and deliberate failure to comply with the duty to investigate the unlawful act…, which resulted in justice clearly being denied.”
The representatives of the Government asked Memoria Activa and the relatives of the victims for forgiveness. On that basis, the Government offered, and the petitioners accepted, to enter into a dialogue in the framework of a friendly settlement before the IACHR, that would include “elements and actions geared to the quest for truth, justice, and reparation.” The Government stressed the need for this attack to be the subject of a “full, clear, and transparent” investigation.”
The IACHR welcomes today’s acknowledgment by the Argentina State and reaffirms its readiness to assist the parties in talks aimed at a friendly settlement of the AMIA petition.
Washington, D.C., March 4, 2005
PRESS RELEASE
Nº 6/05
THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS DEPRIVED OF FREEDOM OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS EXPRESSES ITS PROFOUND CONCERN AT THE VIOLENT EVENTS AT THE HIGUEY PRISON IN
THE DOMINCAN REPUBLIC
The Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Freedom of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expresses its profound concern at the violent events at the prison in Higuey, in the Dominican Republic, on March 6 and 7, 2005.
According to reports, there was a violent clash among the inmates of the Higuey prison, as a result of which over 100 people were killed and several dozen wounded.
The IACHR considers these events extremely serious and urges the Dominican state to take the necessary measures to guarantee the life and safety of the inmates at the Higuey prison and in all other detention centers in the country. These measures should focus on preventing the recurrence of such clashes, violence, and loss of human life.
Washington, D.C., March 7, 2005
PRESS RELEASE
THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN THE AMERICAS
Nº 7/05
To commemorate International Women’s Day, the Special Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights salutes all women. This year, International Women’s Day is particularly relevant. 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Platform of Action and the entry into force of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women (the “Convention of Belém do Pará”), instruments that reaffirmed gender equality and the human right of all women to live free from violence. In the Americas, this March 8th offers us the opportunity to celebrate and remember these achievements, as well as to reflect on the state of progress concerning the respect for women’s rights and the challenges that persist.
During these 10 years, there have been important advances in the defense of women’s rights. Most Member States of the Organization of American States have ratified the Convention of Belém do Pará, as well as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and have adopted a legal framework to confront problems such as domestic and intra-family violence.
Despite these achievements, we are still confronting great challenges in the protection of women’s rights, such as the prevalence of different forms of violence and discrimination, as well as limited access to justice. The Women’s Rapporteurship has received information indicating that between 20 to 50% of women in the hemisphere have been victims of violence by their partners. Additionally, 33% of women between the ages of 16 and 49 have been victims of sexual harassment, and approximately 45% have been threatened with acts of violence.
On the other hand, women’s access to justice is still limited by factors such as insufficient access to legal representation that is free and adequate, the limited knowledge of those charged with administering justice, and the discrimination faced by women from ethnic and racial groups in the judicial system.
It is crucial that legal and policy achievements translate into concrete results for women in the Americas. To achieve this goal, we need collaboration and commitment from a variety of actors and entities. Among these, we highlight the importance and efforts of the States, civil society organizations and networks, regional and international agencies, the academic sector and the media.