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IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Announces First Forum on Strengthening of the Inter-American Human Rights System
August 14, 2012
Washington D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announces the First Forum on the Strengthening of the Inter-American System of Human Rights, which will take place August 22, 2012, at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, in Bogota, Colombia. This forum is co-organized by the IACHR and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and the National Agency for Juridical Defense (Agencia Nacional de Defensa Jurídica) of the State of Colombia.
The Forum of Bogota will be installed by the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, and with the participation of the IACHR Chair, José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez.
The IACHR Commissioner and former President of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, Rodrigo Escobar Gil, will also participate, as well as the Vice-Chair of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACourt), Manuel Ventura-Robles, and a former IACourt Chair, Pedro Nikken. Other participants are the director of the organization Comisión Colombiana de Juristas, Gustavo Gallon, the judge of the European Court of Human Rights Luis López Guerra, and the director of graduate studies at the School of Juridical Sciences of the Javeriana University, Luis Fernando Alvarez Londoño. The panelists will discuss the topic “The Future of the Inter-American System of Human Rights,” in two separate modules, which will be moderated by the Director of the National Agency for the Juridical Defense of the State, Fernando Carrillo Flórez, and by the judge of the Constitutional Court of Colombia and elected judge of the IACourt, Humberto Sierra Porto. The event will be closed by the Minister of Foreign Relations of Colombia, Maria Angela Holguin, and the Minister of Justice and Law, Ruth Stella Correa.
The Forum of Bogota will be the first in a series of subregional events on the strengthening of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which will take place between August and September of this year. These events are part of a profound study that the IACHR diligently conducts with the purpose of reviewing and improving its norms, policies and practices for a better protection of human rights of all persons in the region.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in a personal capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 104/12