The Historical and Present-Day Role of Non-Governmental Organisations before the Inter-American Human Rights System in Documenting Serious Human Rights Violations and Protecting Human Rights and the Rule of Law Through Ensuring Accountability

Clara Burbano Herrera,Yves Haeck

doi:10.36633/ulr.672

Abstract

From a Latin-American perspective, even in a context where the rule of law has been under attack or has been very weak, the role of human rights NGOs has been and is very relevant in terms of documenting human rights violations, and seeking and bringing justice for the victims of those violations, as well as acting as a guardian angel to the Inter-American human rights system. The role of NGOs within the Inter-American human rights system has to be understood taking into account the specific political and the legal-normative context on the continent. Indeed, the role played by human rights NGOs in the Americas has responded/responds to the political reality of repressive regimes and present-day fragile democracies struggling to uphold human rights and rule of law standards. Furthermore, the legal-normative context, i.e. the American Convention on Human Rights and the interpretation given by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to its provisions, has also given and gives NGOs ample space to interact through different methods and strategies in a less active to a very active manner with the human rights monitoring bodies from 1959 on.

Highlights

The rule of law is a universal principle and a precondition for ensuring equal treatment before the law and for the defense of human rights[1] and has become ‘a global ideal and aspiration.’[2]
The legal-normative context, i.e. the American Convention on Human Rights and the interpretation given by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to its provisions, has given and gives non-governmental organisations (NGOs) ample space to interact through different methods and strategies in a less active to a very active manner with the human rights monitoring bodies from 1959 on
NGOs have played a fundamental role in seeking justice for the victims of human rights violations, and in the promotion and the implementation of human rights. This contribution aims to analyse the role of human rights NGOs (HR NGOs) before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, Inter-American Commission or Commission) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR, Inter-American Court or Court), in particular when the rule of law has been violated in the region

Summary

Introduction

The rule of law is a universal principle and a precondition for ensuring equal treatment before the law and for the defense of human rights[1] and has become ‘a global ideal and aspiration.’[2]. The manner how the domestic legal context has evolved, especially through the transition towards democracies at the end of the 1980s, together with the adoption of new constitutions which gave a special and privileged treatment to fundamental rights and freedoms and international human rights treaties, has had an important impact in the way how NGOs have worked at the international as well as the domestic level.[7] As will be shown, NGOs have been very active and creative They have taken advantage of this specific context in order to document human rights violations, bring justice to the victims of such violations, to promote human rights and to help embed the human rights standards developed by the Commission and the Court into the national legal system of Latin-American states, and act on occasions as a strong supporter and guardian angel of the inter-American human rights system. La Contribucion de las Organizaciones no Gubernamentales (IIDH 1991) 13 et seq; Diego Garcia-Sayan, ‘Non-governmental Organizations and the Human Rights Movement in Latin America’ [1992] 4 Transnational Associations 207; Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighborhood: The Report of the Commission on Global Governance (OUP 1995) 32; Henry Steiner, Philip Alston and Ryan Goodman (eds), International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals (Clarendon Press 2008) 669–689

In essence

39 On national and international human rights NGOs

58 Comision Interamericana de Derechos Humanos

Normative Context and the Role of NGOs

Other domestic and regional activities

Findings

Some final remarks