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Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hold its 173th Period of Sessions from September 23rd to October 2nd, 2019, in its headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States of America.
Starting today, the IACHR will receive requests for hearings and working meetings. All requests must be submitted via the system available on the IACHR website. The system will be open until July 11, 2019 at 11:59 pm, local time in Washington, D.C. The IACHR will receive requests related to any member country of the Organization of American States (OAS). This system is the only means to submit these requests, and it is available in the four official languages of the OAS: Spanish, English, Portuguese and French.
Up to one month before the hearings, the IACHR will send the decisions regarding the requests. The calendar of hearings will be posted on the IACHR Webpage approximately two weeks before the start of the session.
The Inter-American Commission holds several sessions a year, an opportunity that brings together hundreds of human rights defenders from the region, as well as State delegations constituted by high-level human rights officials, academics, among others.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 154/19