IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Announces 176th Period of Sessions in Online Format and Is Receiving Applications for Working Meetings
May 1, 2020
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hold its 176th Period of Sessions online between July 6 and 10, 2020. The IACHR has decided to hold the event in this format to fulfill its mandate while attending to the seriousness of the situation currently affecting the region and the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the internal sessions the IACHR will hold at the 176th Period of Sessions, it will analyze issues relating to the processing of petitions, cases, and precautionary measures, as well as issues relating to the monitoring of the human rights situation in the region, with a particular focus on how rights are being impacted by the pandemic. It will also hold working meetings on precautionary measures, friendly settlements, and the monitoring of recommendations, meetings with states and civil society, and bilateral meetings to ensure that every effort is made enable the IACHR to continue exercising its functions fully.
The IACHR began receiving requests for working meetings through the system on the IACHR website on May 1, 2020. The system closes on May 12, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. local time at the IACHR headquarters in Washington, DC. Applications will be received from all member states of the Organization of American States (OAS). The system is the only way to submit requests and is available in the four official OAS languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French.
Requests for working meetings submitted using the system in response to the announcement that the IACHR made on February 25, 2020, through Press Release 49/20 remain valid and will be analyzed for inclusion in the Online 176th Period of Sessions.
Online meetings with the IACHR will be held using a secure, easy-to-access platform that will be announced in due course. The IACHR will notify the parties of joining details and security guidelines for the meetings.
The IACHR will publish the schedule of meetings for the 176th Period of Sessions on the IACHR website two weeks before the event begins.
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. 098/20