The Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) will hold its 77th regular session at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 2-13, 2010.

The General Assembly in Lima in June 2010 requested the CJI to undertake a legal study of the mechanisms of participatory democracy and citizen participation contained in the legislation of some countries of the region, and to conduct a comparative analysis of the principal legal instruments of the inter-American system related to peace, security, and cooperation.

In addition, the General Assembly requested the Committee to report on the progress achieved on its work on international humanitarian law, the International Criminal Court, refugees, freedom of thought and expression, and cultural diversity.

The Committee is composed of11 jurists who are citizens of the member states: Guilllermo Fernández de Soto (Chair), João Clemente Baena Soares (Vice Chair), Freddy Castillo Castellanos, Mauricio Herdocia Sacasa, Jean-Paul Hubert, Hyacinth Evadne Lindsay, Fabián Novak Talavera, Jorge Palacios Treviño, Miguel Pichardo Olivier, David P. Stewart, and Ana Elizabeth Villalta Vizcarra.

The Department of International Law serves as the technical secretariat for the Committee.