III Inter-American System
| Author | Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934411002800106 |
| Published date | 01 March 2010 |
| Date | 01 March 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 28/1 (2010) 91
III INTERAMERICAN SYSTEM
D R-P*
In this report , I will refer to rece nt developments in the structure and regu lations
of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinae r ‘Commission’ or
‘Inter-American Commission’) of the Organization of America n States (OAS), as well
as summarisi ng several cases decided in 2009.
In 2010, three new commissioners wil l join the Inter-American Commission. e
new members a re Rodrigo Escobar Gil (Colombia), José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez
(Mexico) and Dinah Shelton (USA). ey will replace outgoing commissioners Victor
Abramovich (Argentina), Paolo Carozza (USA), and Sir Claire K. Roberts (Antigua
and Barbuda). Additionally, commissioner Florentín Meléndez resigned as a member
of t he Commission due to his recent designation as a Supreme Court justice in El
Salvador. Maria Silvia Guillén, who was elected on 3 December 2009 by the Permanent
Council of the OAS, wil l take his position eective as of 1 Januar y 2010.
On 9 Dec ember 2009, the Commission published its new Rules of Procedure,
based on reforms approved dur ing the 137th Period of Sessions that took place i n fall
2009. e new Ru les of Procedure entered into force on 31 December 2009. e new
Rules better articulate the role of the Inter-American Commission in contentious
proceedings before the Inter-American C ourt of Human Rights.
Four cases are reported below. e rst two cases illustrate some of the per vasive
human rights violations still existing in Brazil. ese endemic violations involve issues
such as ocial violence, racial proli ng, and violence by illegal armed groups, among
other unlawful practices. e th ird case refers to the rights of HIV/AIDS pat ients
under the American C onvention. is is the rst t ime that the Commission has dealt
with issues related to the rights of HIV positive persons. e last case deals with
pension rights under several provisions of the American Convention by exploring the
scope of t he rights to propert y (Article 21) and economic, soci al, and cultur al rights
(Article 26).
e full text of the new Rules of Procedure and the full decisions of the Commission
are available at: ww w.cidh.org/casos.eng.htm.
* Professorial Lecturer in Resid ence of American Univer sity Washington Coll ege of Law (WCL) and
Co-Director of the Academy on Human Right s and Humanita rian Law at WCL. He is als o ad hoc
Judge of the I nter-American Cour t of Human R ights. He wants to thank Ch ristie Edwards for her
research suppor t.
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