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Washington, December 18, 2007 — The President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Florentín Meléndez, reiterated his appeal to the Hemisphere’s States, through their respective Foreign Ministers, to extend a “standing invitation” to the IACHR to visit the countries of the region. Such an invitation represents a goodwill gesture by the States to cooperate with the Commission so that it can carry out its work of promoting the observance and defense of human rights in the region, a task entrusted to it by the States themselves through the OAS Charter.
The IACHR President initially made this call in presenting the Commission’s 2006 Annual Report to the OAS General Assembly, which took place from June 3 to 5, 2007, in Panama. In response, four States extended a standing invitation to the Commission: Honduras, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. The IACHR President welcomes and appreciates the political will and decision demonstrated by these four OAS Member States.
The IACHR President also recognized that five additional States—Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico—have openly allowed any visits the IACHR has requested in recent years, and urged them to formalize this practice in writing.
Finally, the IACHR President asked the rest of the States in the region to respond to the appeal by extending invitations for the Commission to visit the countries at any time and under any circumstance.
Helpful links: 2006 IACHR Annual Report:
http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/2006eng/TOC.htm Speech by the IACHR President before the OAS General Assembly, June 5, 2007: http://www.cidh.org/Discursos/6.5.07GA.F.Melendez.ENG.htm
Press contact: Tel. (202) 458-3867 E-mail: cidh-prensa@oas.org. Commission’s Website: www.iachr.org |
