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PRESS RELEASES
The Board of the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights was elected yesterday afternoon.
Patrick Lipton Robinson was unanimously chosen as Chairman. Mr. Robinson a
distinguished Jamaican jurist, is presently Deputy Solicitor General
in the Attorney General's Department of Jamaica and has held the
position of legal advisor on international law matters, among other
posts in the Government of his country.
He has had broad diplomatic experience and has represented his
country in numerous meetings of the United Nations, Latin American
Economic System (SELA), the OAS and CARICOM, among others. Marco Tulio Bruni Celli was elected first Vice-Chairman.
Dr. Bruni Celli, a renowned lawyer and legislator, currently
serves as Deputy in the lower house of the Venezuela Congress. Dr. Bruni Celli previously served as Minister of Interior in
his country. Oscar Luján Fappiano was elected Second Vice-Chairman.
Dr. Fappiano has had a long legal career in his country,
Argentina, in the academic and legislative fields, having participated
in the draft of several bills in the labor and criminal areas.
He has taught the Law of Criminal Procedure and is Assistant
Professor of "Human and Constitutional Rights", the latter
in the Law and Social Sciences School of the National University of
Buenos Aires. The Commission also expressed its recognition and gratitude
toward its former Chairman, Dr. Leo Valladares Lanza, who performed
his duties with the utmost dedication and efficiency.
Washington, D.C.
February 12, 1991 The 79th session of the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights came to a close on February 22, 1991.
During this session the Commission elected its new officers as
follows: Patrick Lipton Robinson as Chairman, Marco Tulio Bruni Celli
as First Vice Chairman, and Oscar Luján Fappiano as Second Vice
Chairman. Attending the
session were its other members, Gilda M.C.M. de Russomano, Oliver
Jackman, Leo Valladares Lanza, and Michael Reisman. During the course of its meetings, the Commission approved its
Annual Report, which will be presented to the General Assembly of the
Organization of American States. As for the visit made by a Special Mission to Colombia from
December 3 through 7, 1990, the Commission received the corresponding
report and decided, in light of the disturbing human rights situation
there, to conduct an on-site visit to Colombia this year,
thereby accepting the Colombian Government's invitation to that
effect. As for the human rights situation in Cuba, the Commission
devoted special consideration to the Cuban Government's harassment,
trial and conviction of human rights activists.
The Commission was concerned by the situation of the political
prisoners, particularly that of Mario Chanes de Armas, the
longest-standing political prisoner in the world, and Ernesto Días
Rodríguez. These two men
have been held 29 and 22 years, respectively.
While the Cuban Government must bear the bulk of the
responsibility for remedying the human rights problems in Cuba, the
Commission believes that it is by means of democracy, with the
participation of all Cuban citizens--without
exception--that Cuba will succeed in correcting its
problems peacefully and at the least social cost to the people. In the case of El Salvador, the Commission finds that there are
still problems that gravely affect the situation of human rights in
that country, particularly the violent death of fifteen campesinos and
the death of political activists, all recent occurrences.
The Commission is also disturbed by the situation of the
political prisoners and the conditions in which political and common
prisoners alike are held. Another concern is the slow pace of the proceedings being
conducted to ascertain the identity of and punish those responsible
for the many grave violations of human rights, in particular the death
of the six Jesuit priests, their cook and her daughter.
The Commission welcomes the fact that negotiations between the
Government and the FMLN continue under auspices of the United Nations
Secretary-General. It
hopes that those negotiations will help create the conditions for
better observance of human rights, including political rights during
the course of the election process now underway.
During this session, the Commission continued its talks with
the Government of El Salvador with a view to fixing a date for a
forthcoming on-site visit to that country by the full
Commission. In relation to the United States, the Commission noted with
satisfaction during its meeting that the death penalty of Joseph
Giarratano had been commuted to life imprisonment by the Governor of
the Commonwealth of Virginia. The
Commission had asked the Governor to commute the sentence "on
humanitarian grounds so as to avoid irreparable harm."
The Commission considered that such an act "would be in
the spirit of major human rights instruments and the universal trend
favorable to the abolition of the death penalty."
The execution of Mr. Giarratano had been scheduled for February
22 and the matter had been pending before the Commission since June,
1987. As for Guatemala, the Commission continues to follow the
situation of human rights in that country with great concern and has
decided to begin preparing a special report thereon.
The Commission is particularly disturbed by the lack of genuine
investigations to identify those responsible for the very serious
violations of human rights, in a context characterized by a lack of
control over the military, a situation that flies in the face of the
basic principles of a democratic system.
In this context, the Commission received testimony regarding
the massacre in December of 14 campesinos in Santiago Atitlan, further
testimony regarding its
case on the massacre of campesinos in El Aguacate, and testimony
regarding the killing of the distinguished Guatemalan anthropologist,
Myrna Mack, this past September. Hence, the Commission hopes that the recently elected
Government will be able to adopt the measure so urgently needed to
bring peace to Guatemala and respect for human rights. In the case of Haiti, the Commission was pleased to watch the
culmination of the election process and the peaceful transfer of power
on February 7, 1991. This
is an extraordinary step in that country's history.
The Commission hopes that the new Government will adopt all
measures necessary to guarantee social peace, absolute respect for the
human rights of all its people and to strengthen the democratic
system. The Commission
will continue to cooperate with the Government of Haiti and to follow
the situation closely in order to make whatever recommendations it
deems necessary. The Commission is deeply concerned by the recent development in
the human rights situation in Nicaragua.
The Commission appreciates the Nicaraguan Government's
willingness to improve respect for human rights in that country, as
demonstrated by its deposit of its recognition of the mandatory
jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
It must, however, point out that throughout the period covered
in the annual report, the Commission has observed a disturbing human
rights situation in the form of acts committed by members of the
security forces. The
recent death of a prominent leader of the Nicaraguan Resistance adds
another particularly serious element to the situation in Nicaragua.
It is the Commission's considered opinion that Nicaragua should
embark upon the path of peace, democracy and the rule of law once and
for all, as these are all essential elements to achieving absolute
respect for human rights.
In the case of Panama, the Inter-American Commission
studied at this session the information obtained during the period
covered by the annual report including data received during its on
site visit in June 1990. At
present the Commission must recognize that the Government is seeking
to overcome its human rights problems and that the institutions
established by the Constitution are begining to function in Panama as
reflected by the elections of January 27.
The Commission also considers it important that the Government
address and solve the situation of overcrowding of long term
prisoners. It is hoped
that the new Code of Criminal Procedure will help remedy the problem.
In addition the Commission has made a number of recommendations
pointing to the need to compensate people who suffered losses due to
the United States invasion in December 1989.
The Commission intends to continue working with the Government
of Panama to assist it in resolving its problems.
During its meeting, the Commission studied the request for
injunctive relief filed with the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights in connection with the case of the journalist, Hugo Bustios
Rojas, who died in Peru in 1988.
It also adopted a number of reports on individual cases in Peru
and heard testimony on the human rights situation there.
On the basis of all this, the Commission confirmed its decision
to conduct an on-site visit to Peru for the purpose of
investigating the grave human rights violations alleged to have
occured in that country.
The Commission has received with consternation reports about
the coup d'etat in Suriname that interrupted the democratization
process in that country. The
Commission considers of great importance the restablishment of
representative democracy in Suriname through the forthcoming elections
that must necessarily be preceeded by effective enforcement of human
rights and an end to the climate of intimidation created by the
security forces. Only
such conditions will persuit authentic elections.
Likewise, the Commission will continue to prosecute the cases
of violations of human rights committed by the security forces of
Suriname before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
February 26, 1991
Washington, D.C.
PRESS COMMUNIQUE
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is deeply
disturbed by the events that transpired in Haiti on September 29,
1991. Because of those
events, human lives were lost and the democratic process launched with
the elections held in December 16, 1990, was disrupted.
The Inter-American Commission has been monitoring the
human rights situation in Haiti with particular care and believed that
those elections were a genuine reflection of the will of the Haitian
people, in legitimate exercise of their political rights, as set forth
in the American Convention on Human Rights.
Hence, the coup d'etat that occurred in Haiti is clearly a
violation of those political rights and of other fundamental rights
and freedoms also recognized in that Convention.
The lawless situation that has been created may well lead to
violations of many other internationally guaranteed human rights.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights feels this
is an appropriate time to recall that in 1990, the General Assembly of
the Organization of American States declared that "the system of
representative democracy is fundamental for the establishment of a
political society wherein human rights can be fully realized and that
one of the fundamental components of that system is the effective
subordination of the military apparatus to civilian power."
In response to these events, the Inter-American
Commission will continue to monitor the situation of human rights in
Haiti with particular care. It
hopes that the democratic system will be quickly restored by
reinstating the constitutionally-elected authorities to their
rightful offices, in a context of absolute respect for human rights.
It also hopes that special protection will be given to those
groups engaged in the protection and defense of those rights.
Washington, D.C.
October 1, 1991
PRESS COMMUNIQUE On October 4, l991, the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights concluded its 80th Session.
Participating in this session were the Commission's Chairman,
Dr. Patrick Robinson; Dr. Marco Tulio Bruni Celli, First Vice
Chairman; Dr. Oscar Luján Fappiano, Second Vice Chairman, and the
other members of the Commission, Dr. Gilda M.C.M. Russomano,
Ambassador Oliver Jackman, Dr. Leo Valladares and Professor Michael
Reisman. During the course of this session the Commission held a number
of hearings with government representatives, private individuals and
representatives of human rights organizations, who voiced their vies
on human rights situations in general.
The Commission also held hearings as part of the proceedings
being conducted in connection with individual cases. Specific mention must be made of the Commission's meeting with
the Honorable President of the Republic of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide. Accompanying the President were the Secretary General of the
Organization of American States,
Ambassador Joao Clemente Baena Soares, and the Permanent
Representative of Haiti to the Organization, Ambassador Jean Casimir.
During that meeting, there was a constructive exchange of ideas
on how the Inter-American Commission could help to defend human
rights in Haiti in light of the events that had transpired there since
September 29, and what contribution it could make to help get the
democratic system and its lawfully elected authorities reinstated.
Views were also shared on how best to implement the request
made by the ad-hoc Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in
response to President Aristide's request that the Inter-American
Commission take immediately all measures within its competence to
protect and defend human rights in Haiti. During this session, the Commission issued a press communique,
dated October 1, to the effect that it was deeply disturbed by the
coup d'etat that had occurred in Haiti on September 29.
It deplored the events that had caused the loss of life and
disrupted the democratic process that began with the elections of
December 16, l990. The Commission went on to say that the coup d'etat was a clear
violation of the political rights and other fundamental rights
and freedoms upheld in the American Convention on Human Rights. It stated that the lawless situation that had been created
might well lead to violations of many other internationally guaranteed
human rights. It
expressed the hope that the democratic system
could be quickly restored by reinstating the
constitutionally-elected authorities to their rightful offices,
in a context of absolute respect for human rights.
In response to the events, the Inter-American Commission
resolved to continue to monitor the human rights situation in Haiti
closely. During this session, the Commission also examined a number of
requests for on-site visits to countries whose governments have
indicated their willingness to receive those visits, specifically the
Governments of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru and Nicaragua.
At the end of the session, the Commission decided that the on
site visits to Colombia and Guatemala will take place in the first
semester of next year and that the on site visit to Peru will begin
October 28 of this year. At this session, the Commission examined the information
provided by the special delegation of the IACHR that visited the
Dominican Republic from August 12 through 14, 1991.
The Commission decided to continue to monitor the situation of
the Haitian citizens and to request the Government's permission to
conduct an on-site visit in the near future. The Commission also examined the situation of the Yanomami
indigenous people of Brazil. The
Commission decided to reiterate the request--already made
three times--to the Government of Brazil to grant
permission for an on-site visit. Another matter of concern discussed at this session was the
question of the human rights of indigenous peoples, both in individual
cases in various countries and in relation to the preparation of an
inter-American legal instrument thereon.
It received information from government representatives and
from indigenous organizations. The Commission examined the general human rights situation in
the members States; considered reports concerning pending cases;
adopted pertinent decisions; and analyzed the situation of the cases
before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It devoted particular attention to the measures that should be
taken to enhance the autonomy and independence of the judiciary to
make it more effective. Finally, the Commission agreed that its 81st Session will be
held from February 3 through 14, 1992.
PRESS COMMUNIQUE Monday, October 28, 1991, is the first day of the visit that
the full membership of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
is making to Peru, at the invitation of that Government, to observe
the human rights situation in the country.
The visit will continue until Thursday, November 31.
Participating in the visit are the Commission's Chairman, Dr.
Patrick Robinson, its First Vice Chairman, Dr. Marco Tulio Bruni
Celli, and Second Vice Chairman Oscar Luján Fappiano, as well as
members Dr. Gilda M.C.M. de Russomano, Dr. Leo Valladares Lanza, and
Professor Michael Reisman. Ambassador
Oliver Jackman was unable to be present.
During its visit, the Commission will be assisted by its
Executive Secretary, Dr. Edith Márquez Rodríguez, and the following
attorneys from the Executive Secretariat:
Dr. Luis F. Jiménez, Dr. Bertha Santoscoy-Noro, and Dr. Jorge
Seall Sasiain. Marcelo
Montesinos will serve as the Commission's interpreter, and Gabriela
Hageman, Elsa Eregueta and Nora Anderson will provide administrative
support. The
Inter-American Commission will be staying at the Hotel El Pardo. During its visit in Peru, the Commission will hold talks with
government authorities, officials of State institutions,
representatives of human rights organizations, with individuals and
members of institutions representative of the various sectors of
society, and with those who feel their human rights have been violated
in some way and wish to file cases with the Inter-American Commission.
The Commission will be receiving those cases at the Hotel El
Pardo on Tuesday, October 29, and Wednesday, October 30, between 9:00
a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The Commission believes it should visit the interior of the
country. Therefore, two
subcommittees will be traveling there, one to Ayacucho and Huancayo,
on October 29 and 30, and the other to Tarapoto, on October 28 and 30. The Inter-American Commission's visit is being made in
accordance with the provisions of the American Convention on Human
Rights, an international instrument to which Peru is a State party,
and in accordance with the rules and regulations by which the
Commission is governed. In keeping with those provisions, the Government of Peru has
undertaken to accord every guarantee to the individuals, groups,
agencies and institutions that wish to speak with the Commission, and
to provide all the facilities that the Commission may require to
perform its mission of observing the human rights situation in the
country. At the end of its visit, the Commission will hold a press
conference at the Hotel El Pardo, scheduled for Thursday, October 31,
at 8:30 p.m. Lima,
October 27, 1991
PRESS COMMUNIQUE
Today, October 31, 1991, marked the end of the visit that the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights made to Peru, at the
Government's invitation, to observe the human rights situation in the
country. The visit was made by the Commission's full membership,
including Dr. Patrick Robinson, its Chairman; Dr. Marco Tulio Bruni
Celli, its First Vice Chairman; Dr. Oscar Luján Fappiano, its Second
Vice Chairman; and members Dr. Gilda M.C.M. de Russomano, Dr. Leo
Valladares Lanza and Professor Michael Reisman.
Ambassador Oliver Jackman was unable to take part in the visit.
The Commission was assisted by its Executive Secretary, Dr.
Edith Márquez Rodríguez, and by attorneys from the Commission's
Executive Secretariat--Dr. Luis F. Jiménez, Dr. Bertha Santoscoy-Noro,
and Dr. Jorge Seal Sasiain. Mr.
Marcelo Montesinos served as the Commission's interpreter, while Mrs.
Gabriela Hageman, Elsa Ergueta and Nora E. Anderson provided
administrative assistance. During the visit, the Inter-American Commission met with Ing.
Alberto Fujimori, President of the Republic; with Dr. Carlos Torres y
Torres Lara, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Council
of Ministers; with Dr. Augusto Antonioli Vásquez, Minister of
Justice; with Peruvian Army Division General Víctor Malca Villanueva,
Minister of the Interior; Peruvian Army Division General Jorge Torres
Aciego, Minister of Defense; with the Joint Command of the Armed
Forces, under Air Force General Arnaldo Velarde, and the General
Commandant of the Navy, Admiral Alfredo Arnaiz Ambrossiani, and the
Commander General of the Army, Peruvian Army General Pedro Villanueva
Valdivia; with Dr. César Fernández Arce, President of the Supreme
Court; with Dr. Pedro Méndez Jurado, Attorney General of the Nation,
and with Dr. Clodomiro Chávez, Prosecutor for Human Rights and Public
Defender. During the visit, two subcommittees journeyed to the interior,
one to Tarapoto and Tocache, and the other to the cities of Ayacucho
and Huancayo. In Tarapoto,
the subcommittee met with the Political-Military Commander of the
emergency zone, with representatives of the Moyobambo Prelate's Office
of Social Work and with members of the San Martin Peace Commission,
with relatives of disappeared detainees and with clergy from the
Pastoral Center. It also
visited Cordesan, the National Police, and the Tarapoto Prison, where
it spoke with a number of those being held in confinement.
In Tocache, the subcommittee met with military, political,
judicial and police authorities.
The subcommittee that traveled to Ayacucho and Huancayo met
with government, military and judicial authorities and with
representatives of the Catholic Church and of human rights
institutions.
The Commission also met with members of Congress and with
institutions whose purpose is to defend and promote human rights:
the National Coordinator for Human Rights; the Andean
Commission of Jurists and the Episcopal Social Work Commission. The Inter-American Commission also received individuals and
members of institutions representative of Peruvian society, the
Commission of Relatives of the Disappeared (COFADER), journalists and
officials of press agencies, and the Association of Peruvian Lawyers
for Democracy. It also
visited the Castro Castro Penal Center. This visit to Peru follows an earlier visit made by two members
back in May 1989. Individual
cases have also been processed and decisions adopted thereon.
The contacts during this visit enabled the Inter-American
Commission to get a firsthand look at the complex and sensitive human
rights situation in Peru and to compile valuable information that will
be used for the Special Report now being prepared.
The Commission saw the evidence of the violence of the conflict
afflicting Peru and received abundant testimony demonstrating how much
the people have suffered, especially those caught in the middle
between the conflict's chief protagonists.
The Commission was informed of the utterly reprehensible
tactics used by those persons, groups or institutions that would
achieve their political ends even at the cost of the individual's
inalienable rights. Subordinating
the individual's inalienable rights to political ends is the
distinctive feature of those who operate in this way.
Hence, the Commission would again assert what it said in the
press communique released at the end of its 1989 visit:
neither the struggle to conquer poverty and build a new State
nor defense of democratic institutions can, under any circumstances,
justify recourse to selective assassination, summary execution,
destruction of the means of production, torture, forced disappearance
of persons and the use of terror as a method of public control.
Those willing to work for a political settlement, at as little
cost to the public as possible, will find this difficult to accomplish
so long as such vile tactics are being used. By the same token, the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights finds that there is an overriding need to humanize the
conflict. Working within its basic legal framework, provided by the
Charter of the Organization of American States, the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, and the American
Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission will
continue to examine, with ever increasing scrutiny, the acts of
violence committed by groups of armed irregulars and the blame that
follows therefrom. In
this regard, the Commission's premise is that no individual, group or
State can, by its conduct, violate any of the rights recognized in the
American Declaration and the American Convention on Human Rights.
The Commission is calling upon all Peruvians to respect the
rights guaranteed by those instruments. The Commission paid close attention to the comments describing
how the living conditions of the Peruvian people have severely
deteriorated and the negative impact this has had on the enjoyment of
their economic, social and cultural rights.
It was deeply disturbed to hear how this situation is
exacerbating the social conditions linked to the evolution of the
present conflict. The
Inter-American Commission believes that one of the key elements in the
policies adopted to correct the economy must be satisfaction of the
economic, social and cultural rights, especially among those sectors
most severely affected. The
Commission expresses its full support for the work being conducted by
humanitarian organizations to correct the poor social conditions,
organizations that have become the target of a cruel terrorist
campaign. The Commission has received information on the measures
recently adopted by the Government to deal with the existing human
rights problems. The
Commission hopes that those measures will be applied in practice and
will be coupled with other measures to develop a positive,
comprehensive and sound policy. The
Commission believes that a fundamental part of that policy must be
recognition of the laudable and at times even dangerous work that
institutions engaged in defending and promoting human rights perform.
Accordingly, it believes that such institutions and their
members should be accorded every guarantee necessary to enable them to
perform their functions, as the Commission has repeatedly emphasized
and as the General Assembly of the Organization of American States has
recommended. It is the
duty of the Government of Peru and the obligation of its highest
ranking authorities to ensure that such organizations will be able to
perform their functions. The
Commission will continue to cooperate with all the institutions and
with the Peruvian Government so as to further the measures adopted to
protect human rights. The Inter-American Commission has found the high ranking
military authorities to be responsive to its suggestions.
It has also been informed of forms of cooperation recently
instituted between military and police forces and nongovernmental
human rights groups. The
Commission hopes that cooperation will be reinforced and that it will
serve to make respect for human rights a permanent factor in any
measures taken in connection with the conflict in the country.
The Commission is aware that for the military and police
engaged in a conflict with those who believe themselves to be above
the law, application of a serious human rights policy will be
difficult. As the
Chairman of the Commission told the then Foreign Minister of Peru back
in 1989, the Armed Forces are called upon to defend the Constitution
and the laws and that noble calling cannot be betrayed by recourse to
methods specifically prohibited by those very laws. It is the Commission's opinion, moreover, that an essential
element of the human rights policy must be to identify and punish
those responsible for human rights violations, thus making examples of
them. It is encouraging
to see that recently individuals operating in the emergency zones and
who may be implicated in human rights violations are being identified.
This would help to eliminate the disturbing problem of impunity
that, according to reports received by the Commission, has been
typical of the conduct of the security forces in Peru and is reflected
in the absence of any convictions on charges of human rights
violations. Here, the
Commission paid close attention to the arguments in favor of removing
human rights violations from the military jurisdiction, so that they
would be tried in the regular courts. The Commission was able to confirm that the state of emergency
remains in effect in a number of regions in the country; even in
places where the state of emergency has been lifted, certain problems
persist, the kind usually associated with a preponderance of military
power. The Commission
also found that an increasing number of campesino bands have
been formed, depicted as a voluntary method that enables a rural
community to defend itself. According
to information the Commission received, some of those bands were not
set up on a volunteer basis and the creation of still more bands would
lead to violations of the people's rights. As for the right to life, the Commission has been informed that
although the number of violations of this most basic of all human
rights is said to be on the decline, the number of summary executions
and forced disappearances is still very disturbing.
Indeed, according to informed sources, Peru still has the
highest number of forced disappearances in the world.
The way this phenomenon develops in the immediate future will
be a meaningful indicator of what effects the Government's measures
have had in practice. As for the rights to personal liberty and due process, which
have a close bearing upon the right to humane treatment, the
Commission has received reports to the effect that serious problems
persist, having to do with the absence of formalities at the time of
arrest, the inefficacy of the remedies of amparo and habeas
corpus, and the slow pace of proceedings.
As a result, a large percentage of those now confined to penal
institutions have never actually been convicted of a crime.
On this point, the Commission hopes that the directive that
allows prosecutors to enter the military facilities to which persons
are taken at the time of their arrest will bring about a significant
improvement in the problems that have figured so prominently in the
human rights picture in Peru. As
the Commission suggested, that measure should be coupled with others
calculated to reinforce the independence and effectiveness of the
Judiciary and with efforts to give public prosecutors and judges the
means they must have if they are to perform their functions properly,
to overcome the serious crisis that was particularly apparent in the
country's interior. The Commission was also told that there is a veritable public
outcry to have the National Police again made the guardians of the
rights of the citizenry. The
Government is already working on this. The Inter-American Commission saw the difficult circumstances
in which the prison population serves its sentence.
It was pleased that the highest ranking prison officials are
committed to improving conditions in the prisons.
The Commission was also told of the measures recently adopted
in connection with the prisons in downtown Lima, especially the
declaration of the state of emergency in those prisons, with the
result that they came under the authority of the Political-Military
Commander. Considering
Peru's recent experience, this could pose serious risks.
It also listened closely to the scenarios suggested in
connection with the eventual effects of the information recently
published by the news media reporting uprisings of conflicts that
never occurred. The
Commission has duly noted the commitment voiced by the ranking
authorities of the prison system to guarantee the basic rights of the
prison population, in the climate of order and respect that every
prison system has the duty to guarantee.
The Commission hopes that the right to self defense and the
activities performed by attorneys to that end will be fully
guaranteed. Today, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ends its
visit, which will be followed by others in the near future.
At this time, it would like to express its special thanks to
those people and institutions who gave of their time to present the
problems in the area of human rights.
It would also like to express its appreciation to the
Government of Peru for the many courtesies it provided to enable the
Commission to conduct its activities.
The Commission is convinced that its activities will help
strengthen democracy in Peru which, as has been said so many times
before, is the system that best guarantees the exercise of human
rights. Lima,
October 31, 1991
PRESS COMMUNIQUE
On November 21, 1991, the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights met at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and considered
with profound concern reports according to which the human rights
situation in Haiti has been deteriorating since the coup d'etat of
September 19, 1991, and that more than 1,500 human lives have been
lost to date. The Commission has also been informed of the repression being
meted out by the facto authorities to some segments of the Haitian
population, particularly to those in favor of legitime President Jean
Bertrand Aristide. It is
further known that every protest or expression of dissent against the
present authorities has been repressed with large casualties in dead
and wounded. The complaints lodged with this Commission relate many cases of
arbitrary detention, maltreatment, torture and harassment committed by
members of the Armed Forces and the Police against the mass media
consisting in the destruction of transmitter equipment and in death
threats and the killing of reporters.
The Commission is also profoundly distressed by the discovery
on November 12 of two burial pits in which 60 corpses of men, women
and children were found. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is firmly
resolved to travel to Haiti to investigate without restraints, on the
ground the serious situations reported, to interview persons who wish
to speak without fear of reprisals to those persons, and to travel to
the interior of the country, where according to information received
harsh violations of human rights are taken place.
The Commission will send out an exploratory mission for this
purpose as soon as the minimum necessary operating conditions are
present. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights calls on all
nongovernmental rights organizations, especially those operating in
Haiti, on the families of the victims, and on all those whose
individual rights have been violated in any way because of this
political crisis to present their complaints so that it may begin to
act on them and responsibilities may be assigned once the legitimate
Government of Haiti has been reinstated. The Commission wishes to note that no prevailing political
situation in any State Party can suspend the force and effect of the
American Convention on Human Rights.
Consequently, the Commission stresses that those who exercise
power in a State, if only de facto, are obliged to respect the
individual rights recognized by the American Convention on Human
Rights. The
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is hopeful that the efforts
of the OAS Civilian Mission to generate political negotiations that
can avert a violent confrontation may bear fruit as quickly as
possible. Finally, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights calls on
the de facto authorities in Haiti, and particularly on the Armed
Forces, to desist from repression and systematic violations of human
rights, the victims of which are the noble Haitian people, and to
restore as soon as possible to full operation the democratic
institutions provided for in the Constitution in a setting of respect
for the rights and guarantees recognized by the American Convention on
Human Rights. Washington,
D.C., November 21, 1991 PRESS COMMUNIQUE
Today, the new officers of the Commission were elected. Dr. Marco Tulio Bruni Celli was elected Chairman by a
unanimous vote. Dr. Bruni Celli is a distinguished attorney and Venezuelan
lawmaker, and has served as his country's Ambassador to a number of
specialized agencies of the United Nations in Geneva.
He has been Director General of Venezuela's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and is presently a Deputy in Venezuela's National Congress.
Dr. Bruni Celli is a university professor and has published a
number of books and articles on political and social issues.
He has been a member of the IACHR since 1986. Dr. Oscar Luján Fappiano was elected Vice Chairman. Dr. Luján Fappiano is a distinguished Argentine jurist and
university professor. He
has practiced in the Federal Capital and in the Provinces of Buenos
Aires and Formosa. Dr.
Fappiano has participated in a number of congresses and seminars on
procedural law in the Argentine Republic and has served on committees
drafting laws on such topics as minors, labor procedure and on
officers of the court and magistrates.
Dr. Fappiano has also been a consultant on various bills of
amendment. He is the
author of a number of books and articles on various issues in
Argentine law and international cooperation. Dr. Michael Reisman was elected Vice Chairman.
Dr. Reisman is an eminent United States jurist specializing in
international law. He has
participated in a number of missions, and in 1987 was a member of the
Independent Counsel on International Human Rights, Peshawar, Pakistan,
and of the OAS Observation Team that witnessed the elections in
Suriname that same year. Dr.
Reisman has extensive experience in his profession and has served as a
consultant. He has
written a number of books, analyses and studies on the question of
human rights at the international level.
Dr. Reisman has been a member of the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights since 1990. He
is presently a professor at Yale Law School. Washington,
D.C., February 3, 1992
PRESS COMMUNIQUE
The 81st session of
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights closed on February 14,
1992. At this session, the
Commission elected its new officers:
Dr. Marco Tulio Bruni Celli as Chairman; Dr. Oscar Luján
Fappiano and Dr. Michael Reisman as First and Second Vice Chairmen,
respectively. The other
members of the Commission are Ambassador Oliver Jackman, Dr. Leo
Valladares Lanza, Dr. Patrick Robinson, and Dr. Alvaro Tirado Mejía. During the course of its deliberations, the Commission discussed
and approved its Annual Report, which will be presented to the General
Assembly of the Organization of American States at its next regular
session. In response to an invitation from the Colombian Government, the
Commission decided to make an on-site visit to that country during the
first week in May. The Commission took note of the agreements reached, with United
Nations mediation, between the Government and insurgent groups in El
Salvador and decided to announce how very gratified it was that these
agreements had been concluded. The
peace agreements are an extraordinary achievement in terms of creating
the conditions needed to safeguard the human rights and freedoms of the
Salvadoran people. The
Commission hopes that this new situation will foster new and close
cooperation between the Salvadoran Government and the IACHR in
furtherance of the provisions of the American Convention on Human
Rights, to which El Salvador is a State Party. The IACHR authorized its Chairman to reiterate to the Government
of Guatemala its request for permission to conduct an on-site visit
between April 27 and May 1 of this year, to observe the human rights
situation in that country. The
Commission also decided to request the Government of Guatemala to take
precautionary measures to safeguard the security and physical safety of
12 persons, members of the Runujel Junam Ethnic Communities Council (CERJ),
their relatives, and judicial authorities, plaintiffs and investigators
in cases related to the assassination of members of human rights
organizations in Chunimá. The Commission received extensive information from the special
mission--composed of two members of the Commission and staff of the
Secretariat--that traveled to Haiti, December 4 through 7, 1991, on an
exploratory visit. It
decided to continue to monitor the situation and to make another on-site
visit as soon as possible, so as to inform the political organs of the
grave situation of human rights in Haiti. On this same subject, the Commission studied with concern the
situation of the boat people, i.e., those Haitian citizens who are being
returned to Haiti, particularly from the base at Guantanamo.
It asked its Chairman to address a letter to the Secretary of
State of the United States asking that the return of Haitian citizens to
their country be suspended on humanitarian grounds, so long as the
danger and systematic human rights violations by now known to exist in
that country persist. The Commission authorized its Chairman to send a communication to
the Government of Honduras expressing its concern and requesting prompt
and full compliance with the judgment handed down by the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights on August 17, 1990, in the Velásquez Rodríguez
and Godínez Cruz cases. In the course of the deliberations, it was decided to remit to
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the petition against the
Government of Peru in connection with the events that began in the
district of Cayara, Department of Ayacucho, on May 14, 1988. The Commission accepted the Nicaraguan Government's invitation to
conduct an on-site visit to that country in April, at which time it will
have an opportunity to apprise itself of the overall human rights
situation, especially the climate of uncertainty to which some sectors
have been subjected, and the serious irregularities committed in
violation of the right to property.
These issues pose serious obstacles for the Government, which it
will have to overcome if it is to be able to guarantee the climate of
freedom that the people of Nicaragua enjoy today. In the case of Panama, the Commission focused on the problems of
the Judiciary, especially the independence and the tenure of judges and
the difficulties in ensuring that the accused enjoy judicial guarantees
and their right to judicial protection.
It examined the case involving delays and difficulties in the
trials of the civilians and military arrested on the occasion of the
events of December 1989. It
repeated its request for special treatment, on humanitarian grounds, for
an accused man who is suffering from a serious heart condition. The Commission was pleased to note the elections held in Suriname
on May 25 last, which resolved the serious political crisis created by
the coup d'etat of December 1990. It
is, however, disturbing that so many cases denouncing individual human
rights violations have not been settled, especially the cases involving
the Maroons and the Amerindians. The
Commission is pleased with reports that a constitutional amendment
currently underway will strengthen civilian power and prevent any future
military take-over such as the one that disrupted the democratic process
in Suriname in 1990. The Commission examined the report presented to it in connection
with the mass deportations of Haitians by the Government of the
Dominican Republic. It
decided to include that report as a special chapter in its Annual Report
to the General Assembly. The urgent need for progress in the direction of democratization
and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms in Cuba means that the
Government must announce and implement a policy of political
liberalization. Once again, the Commission is ready, with the help of the
inter-American community, to help create those conditions so that the
Cuban people, too, might have a democratic system of government and full
enjoyment of human rights, without incurring the high cost of violence.
The Commission again calls upon the Cuban Government to allow a
free and open exchange of opinions and full restoration of the rule of
law. In the course of its deliberations, the Commission held hearings
where it received the legal representatives of the petitioners in a
number of Argentine cases and the representatives of the Argentine
Government. The Commission noted that those cases had been favorably
resolved with enactment of Law 24,043, of December 23, 1991, which
granted benefits to persons who had been arrested on orders from the
Executive Branch during the military regime that took over when the
constitutional government was toppled in 1976.
At that hearing, the Government turned over to the Commission all
the documents wherein payment of the damages corresponding to the
petitioners is authorized. It
is important to underscore the fact that this is the first friendly
settlement reached during the Commission's existence with both parties
consenting. Because in many countries of the hemisphere minors are at grave
risk and in consideration of the reports that the member states of the
OAS have presented in this regard, the Commission decided to recommend
to those states that they take the necessary measures on the domestic
front and through international cooperation, to guarantee the observance
of the rights of children in accordance with the principles set down in
the American Convention on Human Rights and in the Convention on the
Rights of the Child. In
related matters, the Commission also examined the economic, social and
cultural rights, especially the rights of indigenous peoples, as part of
its discussion and analysis of a draft international American instrument
on the subject. The Commission has already started an extensive inquiry with
all the governments of the member countries and with indigenous
organizations participating, based on a questionnaire that was approved
during the course of this session. The Commission expressed its concern over the most recent threats
to the democratic governments of the hemisphere and condemned the bloody
attempt coup d'etat in Venezuela. It
confirmed its position that democracy is the climate most conducive to
full enjoyment of human rights and that one of the fundamental rights,
from which all the others follow, is respect for the will of the people,
which is achieved only when the military apparatus is effectively
subordinated to civilian power. Washington,
D.C., February 14, 1991
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