Inter-American System Information
Informative text over the Inter-American System, presentation of petitions, consultations to the Court and visits to the Court’s Headquarters. Original text can be found here.
1. Description of the Inter-American System
The American States, in exercise of their sovereignty and within the framework of the Organization of American States (OAS), adopted a series of international instruments that have become the grounds for a regional system for the promotion and protection of human rights, known as the Inter-American Human Rights System (Inter-American System or IAHRS). This system acknowledges and defines these rights and establishes obligations tending to their promotion and protection and creates bodies destined to supervise their observance.
The Inter-American system was formally initiated with the approval of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man in 1948, within the framework of the Charter of the Organization of American States. Additionally, the system has other instruments such as the American Convention on Human Rights (American Convention or Convention); Protocols and Conventions on specialized matters, such as the Convention to prevent and punish Torture, the Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons, and the Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women, among others; as well as the Rules of Procedure and Statutes of its bodies. All these instruments are available for consultation at the following link:Instruments
The IAHRS is made up of two bodies: the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, Commission, or Inter-American Commission), whose headquarters are located in Washington, D.C, United States of America, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Court, Inter-American Court, or Tribunal), whose headquarters are in San José, Costa Rica..
The Member States of the OAS are: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vicente and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The States that have ratified the American Convention are: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The States that have acknowledged the Court’s jurisdiction are: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.