IACHR

Preparatory Seminar on the Strengthening of the Inter-American Human Rights System

This event is open to the public.

There will be simultaneous interpretation.

Justification: to offer a plural, technical and inclusive space for the fir exercise of analysis and deliberation regarding the recent recommendations of the Special Working Group the Special Working Group to Reflect on the Workings of the IACHR with a view to strengthening the Inter American Human Rights System. Said Special Group was created in the Permanent Council of the OAS with the participation of representatives of member states and human rights organizations, as well as relevant scholars and human rights specialists

Date: Wednesday May 30, 2012

Place: Room Rubén Darío, 1889 F Street N. W., Washington, D. C. 20006

Methodology: there will be in inaugural session and five working tables. In each table, each panelist will have a first intervention of 10 minutes. Then, one member of the IACHR will provide a technical report on the issue for 5 minutes. Afterwards, the participants may intervene for 3 minutes to pose a question or a comment, which would last 20 minutes. Finally, the panelists will have the opportunity of having a second and last intervention for 5 minutes to answer or formulate a final position regarding the mentioned subject. Each table with have as a moderator a commissioner or lawyer of the IACHR.

Issues: 1. Petition and Case System (including friendly settlements); 2. Precautionary Measures; 3. Criteria and methodology for the elaboration of Chapter IV of the annual report; 4. Promotion of human rights (including the work of the rapporteurships); 5. Implementation of the decisions of the organs of the Inter American System. Since the challenges that the IACHR face and the issue of the financial aspect of the Commission have a transversal character with respect to the issues that will be discussed, they are not identified as a specific issue, although they will come up in each and every working table.

Agenda

9:00 a 9:30: Inaugural Session

José Miguel Insulza (General Secretary of the OAS)

Ambassador Joel Hernández (President for the Special Working Group for Reflection of the Permanent Council)

José Miguel Vivanco (Human Rights Watch, in representation of civil society)

Diego Valadés (President of the Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Constitucional, in representation of the sponsoring institutions)

Claudia Martin (AU, in representation of academic institutions)

Commissioner José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez (President of the IACHR)

9:30 a 9:45 Recess

9:45 a 11:15 - Petition and Case System (including Friendly Settlements)

Ambassador Walter Albán (Peru)

Pedro Nikken (Former Judge of the IA Court)

Alejandra Vicente (CEJIL)

Elizabeth Abi-Mershed (Assistant Executive Secretary IACHR)

Moderator: Commissioner Rodrigo Escobar

11:15 a 11:30 Recess

11:30 a 12:45 - Precautionary Measures

Ambassador Edgar Ugalde (Costa Rica) To be confirmed

Víctor Abramovich (Former Commissioner IACHR)

Douglass Cassel (Due Process of Law Foundation)

Moderator: Commissioner Vice President Felipe González

12:45 a 13:30 Recess

13:30 a 14:45 - The role of the IACHR in the Promotion of Human Rights

Ambassador Carmen Lomellin (US)

José Miguel Vivanco (HRW)

Roberto Cuéllar (Executive Director Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos)

Moderator: Commissioner Rosa María Ortiz

14:45 a 15:00 Recess

15:00 a 16:15 Criteria and Methodology of Chapter IV of the Commission’s Annual Report

Ambassador Andrés González (Colombia)

Juan Méndez (Former Commissioner IACHR)

Julissa Mantilla (UN Women, Colombia)

Moderator: Elizabeth Abi Mershed (Assistant Executive Secretary)

16:15 a 16:30 Recess

16:30 a 17:45 Implementation of the decisions of the organs of the Inter American System Amb. Joel Hernández (Mexico)

Judge Margarette Macaulay (IA Court)

Miguel Carbonell (Researcher Instituto de Investigación Jurídica/ Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Gastón Chillier (Director of Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales)

Moderator: Commissioner President José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez

Useful Links

Process of Strenthening the Inter-American System