Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an independent court based in San José , Costa Rica that was founded in 1979 on the basis of the American Convention on Human Rights (AMRK) .
Together with the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights , it has the task of enforcing the international legal provisions for the protection of human rights in the countries of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Since the USA , Canada and many Caribbean countries have not ratified the AMRK, the Inter-American System for Human Rights, which consists of the Convention and the Court of Justice, is also known as the Latin American system.
Advisory role
The Court examines and responds to inquiries made by OAS bodies or member states regarding the interpretation of the Convention on Human Rights or any other institution concerned with human rights. He is also empowered to advise on domestic laws and draft laws, and to investigate whether they are in compliance with the American Convention on Human Rights. Inquiries of this kind are received comparatively rarely, up to and including 2016 there were 22 inquiries.
Arbitration function
Whenever a state that has accepted (signed and ratified) the United States Convention on Human Rights is charged with violating it, the court must issue a judgment.
The states that have ratified the AMRK are not automatically subject to the disputed jurisdiction of the Court of Justice, but only through separate recognition. Of the 24 AMRC members, 21 did so. Dominica, Grenada and Jamaica are missing. At the moment, only Argentina , Bolivia , Colombia , Costa Rica , Chile , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Haiti , Honduras , Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay , Peru , Suriname , Uruguay and Venezuela have agreed to submit to all of the Court's decisions. The other states have to agree to each judgment individually.
The procedure is first opened by a written submission stating the facts of the case, its victims, the evidence and witnesses. Then the case (if accepted) will be heard by five judges. The judgments cannot be appealed (although there is a 90-day deadline for a “request for interpretation”).
composition
As stated in Chapter VIII of the Convention, the Court consists of seven judges of "the highest moral authority" from the member states of the OAS. They are elected by the General Assembly of the OAS for a six-year term and can be re-elected once, whereby no state can have two citizens at the same time in the Court of Justice.
An accused state without its “own” judge can demand that one of its citizens co - negotiate its case as an ad hoc judge.
Judge
The Court of Justice currently has the following judges:
| position | Surname | Country of origin | Term of office |
|---|---|---|---|
| president | Roberto de Figueiredo Caldas |
 Brazil
|
2013-2018 |
| Vice President | Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot |
 Mexico
|
2013-2018 |
| Judge | Eduardo Vio Grossi |
 Chile
|
2016-2021 |
| Judge | Humberto Sierra Porto |
 Colombia
|
2013-2018 |
| judge | Elizabeth Odio Benito |
 Costa Rica
|
2016-2021 |
| Judge | Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni |
 Argentina
|
2016-2021 |
| Judge | Patricio Pazmiño Freire |
 Ecuador
|
2016-2021 |
Former judges
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Previous case law
The first case dealt with in the history of the Court was the Asunto de Viviana Gallardo y otras decision . So far, the Court of Justice has decided 336 disputed cases (as of August 2017). The main topics were basic judicial rights and violations of the Inter-American Convention against Torture. In 113 of the 120 first decided cases, a violation of the general duty to protect under Art. 11 AMRK (protection of honor) was found, along with other legal violations. In addition, were legal certainty , prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment, respect for life and freedom of thought and freedom of frequent controversies.
Selection of negotiated cases:
- Barrios Altos massacre (Peru) (judgment, PDF; 274 kB)
- Lori Berenson (Peru) (judgment, PDF; 777 kB)
- The last temptation of Christ (Chile) (judgment, PDF; 495 kB)
- Community of Moiwana (Surinam) (judgment, PDF; 801 kB)
- Myrna Mack Chang (Guatemala) (Judgment, PDF; 1.2 MB)
- Plan of the Sánchez massacre (Guatemala) (judgment, PDF; 566 kB)
- El Caracazo (Venezuela) (judgment, PDF; 118 kB)
- La Nación (Costa Rica) (judgment, PDF; 526 kB)
- Femicide in Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) (Judgment, PDF)
- Massacre in Dos Erres
- Leopoldo López is banned from working
Although the judgments of the Court of Justice are binding, it does not have any effective enforcement options comparable to those of the European Court of Human Rights . Once a year the Inter-American Court of Human Rights reports to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) on the extent to which its judgments have been carried out by the member states. So far, however, the OAS has exerted little pressure on its members to enforce the judgments.
literature
- Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Annual Report of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 2016 . San José de Cosa Rica 2017.
Web links
- Webpage of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Spanish)
- IACHR laws and documents (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Annual Report of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 2016 . San José de Cosa Rica 2017, p. 23.
- ↑ This can only be done by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights or a member state, but - in contrast to the European Court of Human Rights - not by citizens or civil society organizations of the member states.
- ↑ Casos Contenciosos , accessed on August 11, 2017.
- ↑ Steiner, Christian / Leyers, Simone (2010): Initiator for an effective protection of fundamental rights: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In: KAS-Auslandsinformationen 07/2010, pp. 9-10 .
- ↑ Ibid. P. 11 .