IACHR: American states must confirm commitment to Human Rights

It’s time for states across the Americas to confirm their commitment to human rights, Amnesty International said today one day ahead of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) on 22 March.

In particular the assembly should support the work of the Inter-American System of Human Rights, as represented by Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

“International independent monitoring of human rights country-by-country is essential for the region,” declared Renzo Pomi, Amnesty International Representative at the United Nations and the OAS. “The work done so far both by the Court and the Commision is a proof of that need”.

“The IACHR has decisively contributed to the consolidation of democracy in the continent and to the rights and guarantees that the majority of the people of the Americas are now able to enjoy,” said Pomi.

“States that are truly committed to human rights should show their support to the whole inter-American system of human rights by adopting a resolution reaffirming the independence and autonomy of the Commission.”

The human rights organization calls on the American states to give proper financial support to the IACHR in order that it can properly implement the internal reforms to its rules, policies and practices that the Commission has recently adopted.

“It’s time to finish this difficult process of reform and to let the Commission accomplish his role of defending the human rights of all Americans,” said Pomi. “States should truly commit themselves to respect and fully implement the Commission’s decisions and the Court’s sentences.”

For Amnesty International, this general assembly is a critical moment – people will see who stands firm for human rights and the systems that protect them and who not.

“Those that fail to show their solidarity with the Inter-American System of Human Rights will have to explain their decision to their voters – and why it was they failed to protect a system that for decades has been the sole option for women and men in the continent to achieve justice when it was denied to them in their own countries.”