OAS General Assembly Elects Three New IACHR Commissioners

The current composition of the seven Commissioners on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Credit: CIDH

Joel Hernández García (Mexico), Antonia Urrejola Noguera (Chile), and Flávia Cristina Piovesan (Brazil) were elected to join the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) at the 47th Regular Session of the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly held in Cancun, Mexico between June 19 and June 21, 2017. See OAS, 47th Regular Session. They will join four other IACHR Commissioners next calendar year to complete the seven-member IACHR, and replace outgoing IACHR Commissioners James Cavallaro (United States), Paulo Vannuchi (Brazil), and Jose de Jesus Orozco Henriquez (Mexico). The three new Commissioners were among a group of six candidates competing for the three vacant positions. Following criticism over lack of transparency and civil society involvement in the selection and election of new Commissioners to the IACHR, this election involved an independent panel organized by civil society to assess the qualifications of each of the candidates. [Open Society Foundations Press Release] The panel was convened by the Center for Justice and Law (CEJIL), the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), and the Open Society Justice Initiative with the support of other civil society organizations, universities, and bar associations. [CEJIL: SIAHRS]

OAS General Assembly Selection

On June 21, 2017, the last day of the 47th Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly, the Assembly announced Joel Hernández Garcia, Antonia Urrejola Noguera, and Flávia Cristina Piovesan as the new IACHR commissioners. They will serve a three-year term beginning in 2018. The other three nominees not elected were Carlos Horacio de Casas (Argentina), Douglass Cassel (United States), and Gianella Bardazano Gradin (Uruguay).

Joel Hernández García is a Mexican national. García has been a member of the Mexican Foreign Service since 1992 and currently serves on the board of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). He is also an international advisor to the American Law Institute and is about to conclude a four-year term (2015-2018) on the OAS Inter-American Juridical Committee. He holds a law degree from National Autonomous University of Mexico and a LLM from New York University. Throughout the election process, civil society groups expressed concern over García’s long tenure in the Mexican Foreign Service and over his work with the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, noting that it would be unlikely that he could serve on the IACHR as an impartial arbiter in cases concerning the Mexican State. [Turtle Bay and Beyond]

Antonia Urrejola Noguera is from Chile. She is a human rights lawyer and has held various human rights-related positions in the Chilean government, including serving as Human Rights Advisor to Chile’s Minister of the Interior. Currently she serves as Advisor on Human Rights to the Minister Secretary General of the Presidency. Noguera has also served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary General of the OAS. She holds a law degree from the University of Chile. She has been vocal about sexual and reproductive rights, as well as gender identity issues. [The Dialogue: Noguera; Turtle Bay and Beyond]

Flávia Cristina Piovesan is a Brazilian national. Piovesan is a constitutional law and human rights professor at the Catholic University of São Paulo. Prior to that, she worked as a São Paulo State Attorney and coordinated the State’s Working Group on Human Rights. In 2016, she was appointed as Brazil’s Special Secretary for Human Rights. She holds a masters and a Ph.D. in constitutional law from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. She is best known for her activism regarding sexual and reproductive rights and advocacy for the decriminalization of abortion. [The Dialogue: Piovesan; Turtle Bay and Beyond]

Election Process

The American Convention on Human Rights delineates the composition of the IACHR and the process for election of new members that are commonly referred to as Commissioners. Article 34 of the Convention requires that the IACHR is composed of seven members who are “persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights.” See American Convention on Human Rights, art. 34. Each Commissioner is elected for a four-year term with the possibility of being re-elected once. See id. at art. 37. When a Commissioner’s term comes to an end, the OAS General Assembly is tasked with electing new Commissioners from a list of candidates proposed by OAS Member States, with each State proposing up to three candidates from their State or any other OAS Member State. See OAS, Composition. If a vacancy occurs at a time other than the natural end of a Commissioner’s term, as was the case earlier this year when former Commissioner Enrique Gil Botero chose to resign, each OAS Member State may present a single candidate, and the OAS Permanent Council will then fill the vacancy. [IJRC: Vargas Silva]

Election Process Criticisms and Civil Society Participation

In the past, civil society organizations and individuals have criticized the outcomes and process of IACHR elections. [IJRC: Controversy] This year, in an effort by civil society to promote transparency in the election process, a group of civil society organizations, universities, and bar associations convened the independent panel to assess the six national nominees. [Open Society Foundations Press Release]

The panel was composed of Nienke Grossman (USA), Miguel Gutiérrez (Costa Rica), Cecilia Medina (Chile), Elizabeth Salmón (Peru), and Miguel Sarre (Mexico). See Open Society Foundations, Fact Sheet. On June 5, 2017, the panel presented its final report assessing the nominees and making recommendations on how to improve the transparency of the elections process. [CEJIL: SIAHRS] In addition to the panel’s report, CEJIL, DPLF, the Open Society Justice Initiative, and the Inter-American Dialogue held an open forum with the six nominees on May 5, 2017 to engage with them in an open discussion about human rights challenges in the Americas, civil society participation, and the future of the Inter-American human rights system. [CEJIL: Dialogue]

The panel’s appointment follows an OAS resolution passed in 2016 calling for a public presentation to the OAS Permanent Council by candidates to describe their vision and proposals if elected. See OAS, Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, AG/RES. 2887 (XLVI-O/16), 14 June 2016, at 157. However, the OAS has not yet appointed an independent advisory committee to support this effort. [Open Society Foundations]

Background on the OAS and IACHR

The OAS was established pursuant to the OAS Charter, which was signed in 1948 and entered into force in 1951. Its objective is to achieve peace, justice, solidarity, and independence among its 35 Member States by engaging in political dialogues, facilitating cooperation among States, and implementing follow-up mechanisms to encourage accountability, among other approaches. See OAS, What We Do; OAS, Who We Are.

The IACHR is a principal, autonomous body of the OAS and derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. 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, the IACHR, along with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, is tasked with addressing human rights conditions and human rights violations in OAS Member States. See IJRC, Inter-American Human Rights System. The IACHR addresses human rights conditions and violations by issuing decisions on individual petitions (reports on admissibility, merits, friendly settlements and decisions to archive), on requests for precautionary measures, and on applications to the Inter-American Court; holding hearings; and publishing annual reports, thematic reports, and country reports.

The IACHR’s Statute and Rules of Procedure outline its structure, objectives, and procedures, although some aspects of the day-to-day processing of cases are determined by the legal staff of the Executive Secretariat. See IJRC, Inter-American Human Rights System.