HUMAN RIGHTS

The Plan of Action adopted by the Summit of the Americas recognized that while important progress has been made in the hemisphere in the development of human rights concepts and norms, serious gaps in implementation persist. It stated that "A democracy is judged by the rights enjoyed by its least influential members."

The OAS has a solid record of defending human rights, thanks to the work of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. At the Summit the governments agreed to strengthen those two institutions and also called upon the OAS and the IDB to establish or to reinforce, as appropriate, programs to support national projects for the promotion and observance of human rights in the hemisphere.

To carry out the decisions in this area, the Commission and the Court will require additional human and financial resources.

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