PRESS RELEASE

 

N° 63/09

 

IACHR TAKES CASES INVOLVING PARAGUAY, mExico, AND haitI

TO THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT

 

Washington, DC, September 9, 2009 – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) filed three applications with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in July and August, related to Paraguay, Mexico, and Haiti.

 

On July 3, 2009, the IACHR filed an application in Case 12.420, Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community of the Enxet-Lengua people and its members, Paraguay. The case has to do with the right to ancestral property of the Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community of the Enxet-Lengua people and its members, for which a petition for territorial revindication has existed since 1990. It also addresses the impact that the lack of a satisfactory resolution of this petition has on access to ownership and possession of the Community’s territory, as well as on the Community’s vulnerability in terms of food, medicine, and sanitation, which poses a continuous threat to the survival of the Community as an entity and of its members.

 

On August 2, 2009, the IACHR filed an application in Case 12.579, Valentina Rosendo Cantú et al., Mexico. The case has to do with the rape and torture on February 16, 2002, of Valentina Rosendo Cantú, a Me’phaa indigenous woman, by agents of the Mexican Army, in the state of Guerrero; the use of the military jurisdiction for the investigation and trial of human rights violations; the lack of due diligence in the investigation and the lack of punishment of those responsible; the lack of adequate reparations to the victim and her relatives; and the difficulties faced by indigenous persons, especially women, in terms of access to justice and to health services.

 

On August 5, 2009, the IACHR filed an application in Case 12.459, Lysias Fleury, Haiti. The case has to do with the illegal detention of Lysias Fleury on June 24, 2002, in Port of Prince; his subsequent subjection to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by state agents,  and the lack of due diligence in the investigation and the lack of punishment of those responsible.

 

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has the mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who act in a personal capacity, without representing a particular country, and who are elected by the OAS General Assembly.

 

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Press contact: María Isabel Rivero
Tel. (202) 458-3867
Cell: (202) 215-4142
E-mail:
mrivero@oas.org

 

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