INTRODUCTION

          The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has the honor to submit its report to the General Assembly, in compliance with the provisions of Article 52 f of the Charter of the Organization of American States.

            This report contains six chapters and was drafted in accordance with the terms of Resolutions 331 (VIII-0/78) of the General Assembly and Article 59 of the new Regulations of the Commission.

          Chapter I is a brief summary of the Commission’s origin and juridical bases. It also discusses the Commission’s new Statute and Regulations. It closes with an accounting of the Commission’s relations with other organs of the inter-American system and with regional and world agencies of a similar nature.

          Chapter II concerns the principal activities of the IACHR during 1979 and 1980.

          Chapter III is entitled “Observations the Commission considers to be appropriate on the communications it has received.” That chapter contains twelve resolutions the Commission adopted in connection with a number of cases presented to it.

          Chapter IV is entitled “Information provided by certain governments of the member states of the OAS on the progress made in achieving the objectives set forth in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and in the American Convention on Human Rights.” This chapter contains a summary of the pertinent legislation enacted in ten member states during the period covered in this Report. They are: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Uruguay.

          It should be noted here that in order to undertake preparation of this Report, at the appropriate time the Commission addressed the governments of the member states of the Organization to request that they provide it with information on the progressive measures adopted and the texts of the legislation enacted and of the jurisprudence and administrative acts decreed during the years 1978 and 1979 in connection with the promotion and defense of the human rights indicated in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.

          In Chapter V, the Commission has included special reports on developments in the situation of human rights in Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and El Salvador, in compliance with resolutions AG/RES. 443 and AG/RES. 446 of the 1979 General Assembly. To be as current as possible with respect to the situation in those countries, the reports make reference to events that took place during 1979 and those months in 1980 prior to approval of the report that follows.

          In the last chapter, the Commission has prepared a study on the areas in which the member states must take measures to make the human rights embodied in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention on Human Rights more effective.

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