OEA/Ser.L/V/II.54
Doc. 9 rev. 1
16 October 1981
Original: Spanish

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
 1980-1981

 

CHAPTER I

 

ORIGIN AND LEGAL BASES OF THE

INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

 

 

          The Fifth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Santiago, Chile, 1959), established in its resolution on human rights and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights charged with “furthering respect for such rights.”

 

          The Council approved the Statute of the Commission on May 26, 1960, and elected its seven members on June 29 of that year.

 

          Subsequently, on February 27, 1967, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Protocol of Amendment to the OAS Charter was signed, which established in Article 112 an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with the primary function of promoting the observance and protection of human rights and serving as an OAS consultative organ in that field. In addition, it raised the Commission's rank to that of a principal organ of the OAS (Art. 51), and provided that an Inter-American Convention on Human Rights was to determine the structure, competence and procedures of the Commission (Art. 112, last part). It also provided that during the period between the entry into force of the protocol and the entry into force of the convention, the IACHR established by the Fifth Meeting of Consultation “shall keep vigilance over the observance of human rights” (Art. 150).

 

          On November 22, 1969, the American Convention on Human Rights was signed in San José, Costa Rica, and entered into force almost nine years later on July 18, 1979, when the eleventh instrument of ratification was deposited by member state Grenada. At the time of the adoption of this report, the Convention was signed by 16 states parties: Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

 

          At its Ninth Regular Session (La Paz, Bolivia, October 1979), the General Assembly approved the new Statute for the Commission. In consonance with Article 112 of the OAS Charter, which established it, Article 1 defines it as “an organ… created to promote the observance and defense of human rights and to serve as consultative organ of the Organization in this matter.”

 

          At its 49th session (April 1980), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also adopted new Regulations, consisting of four titles, divided into chapters and articles.

 

          The Commission wishes to point out that a more detailed explanation of its origin and legal bases, and the text of the instruments governing it, can be found in the document “Handbook of Existing Rules Pertaining to Human Rights” (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.50, doc.6, July 1, 1980).

 

RELATIONS WITH OTHER AGENCIES OF THE SYSTEM AND WITH

REGIONAL AND WORLD AGENCIES OF THE SAME TYPE

 

          In 1980/81, the Commission continued to maintain cooperative relations with the Inter-American Commission of Women, the Inter-American Children's Institute and the Inter-American Indian Institute. Each of these OAS specialized organs have competence in the human rights field according to its purposes and objectives. Through an exchange of documents and information, the Commission's relations with these agencies and with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the European Commission on Human Rights were intensified.

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