57. Basic Facts Of The Individual Complaint Procedure Of The Inter-American Human Rights System

Abstract

The legitimacy of the so-called Inter-American human rights system has grown through time, yet currently it is confronting new challenges, born from new hemispheric realities, that are once again testing the resiliency and pro-activeness of its organs. Organization of American States (OAS) Member States entrusted the supervision of State compliance with the human rights obligations to two organs: the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the Commission), which is a Charter and Convention organ, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court), which is exclusively a Convention organ. The Commissions individual complaint jurisdiction must not be confused with its authority to issue reports on the general human rights situation in a specific country or on a particular human rights issue. Finally, victims access to most stages of the individual complaint procedure before the Commission and the Court has been greatly improved. Keywords: individual complaint procedure; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Inter-American human rights system; organization of American states (OAS)