The Inter-American Human Rights System as It Pertains to Children

Abstract

The rights of the child and adolescents within the Inter-American human rights system are covered by the 1948 American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man and the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights. It is within this context that the principle of “the relatives of the victims of certain human rights violations can, in their own right, be victims of human rights themselves” needs to be seen and which was as noted reaffirmed by the Court in the Mapiripan Massacre case in order to ensure the best protection of children in a situation of armed conflict. Importantly here as well as in other cases, the Court recognized that victims are parties in the proceedings who have the right to make qautonomous representations on the facts and the applicable lawq in the case pertaining to them apart from the Commission. Keywords:armed Conflict; children; convention; human rights; Inter-American Human Rights System