Last month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) formally announced the availability of a new online database of its decisions and other documents. [IACHR Press Release: Repository] The database, hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), is the first such tool created with the IACHR’s involvement. The new site adds to a list of recent efforts by the IACHR
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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has published a new practical guide on access to education in the context of COVID-19, the latest in a string of recent thematic publications and its second practical guide on the pandemic. [IACHR Press Release] The IACHR Rapid and Integrated Response Coordination Unit (SACROI) produced the guide in collaboration with the IACHR special
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In a new judgment, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) condemned the use of racial profiling in the 1996 arrest of José Delfín Acosta Martínez, a Black man who then died after being badly injured in police custody. [IACtHR Press Release (Spanish)] The Court called attention to the general context of racial discrimination, police violence, and racial profiling in
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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General are engaged in an unprecedented struggle that implicates the independence and autonomy of the Americas’ principal human rights body, and also exposes concerns over working conditions for its staff. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro is refusing to approve the IACHR’s choice of Executive Secretary,
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Earlier this month, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) published its first judgment to identify States’ obligations to prevent and redress sexual violence in schools. See I/A Court H.R., Guzmán Albarracín and Others v. Ecuador. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of 24 June 2020. Series C No. 405 (Spanish). The case concerned Paola del Rosario Guzmán Albarracín, who was
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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has requested that Brazil protect the Yanomami and Ye’kwana peoples from the ongoing, heightened risk posed by COVID-19. [IACHR Press Release: Measures (Spanish)] In particular, the IACHR asked Brazil to protect the Indigenous communities’ rights to health, life, and personal integrity by taking steps to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 – including
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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has launched an online database of recommendations it has issued to States in friendly settlement agreements, published merits reports, annual reports, country reports, and resolutions. [IACHR Press Release] The IACHR plans to soon add recommendations from thematic reports and precautionary measures, as well. The goals of the new system, known as the Inter-American
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In its first decision concerning the “war on terror,” the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has found the United States responsible for violating the human rights of Djamel Ameziane, a former detainee at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. See IACHR, Merits Report No. 29/20, Case 12.865, Djamel Ameziane (United States), 22 April 2020. Ameziane is an Algerian national who
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The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has published new rules that partially clarify and formalize the work of the individuals and groups appointed to monitor and protect specific human rights and vulnerable groups on the Commission’s behalf. See ACommHPR, Standard Operating Procedures on the Special Mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2020). The
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In its first judgment to independently analyze the human right to a healthy environment, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) has held Argentina responsible for violating Indigenous communities’ human rights through its failure to recognize and protect their lands. [IACtHR Press Release] In Indigenous Communities of the Lhaka Honhat Association (Our Land) v. Argentina, the Court considered allegations by
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