IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Announces 177th Period of Sessions in Online Format and Is Receiving Applications for public hearings
June 30, 2020
System to request Public Hearings: Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French.
IACHR Press Office
[email protected]
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hold its 177th Period of Sessions online between September 28 and October 9, 2020. The adoption of the virtual format aims to fulfill the IACHR mandates and functions in the face of the seriousness of the situation currently affecting the health of thousands of people in the region and the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IACHR will receive requests for public hearings through the system on the IACHR website starting today, June 30, 2020. The system closes on July 22, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. local time at the IACHR headquarters in Washington, DC. Applications will be received related to all member states of the Organization of American States (OAS). The system is the only way to submit requests and is available in the four official OAS languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French.
The requests for hearings that were sent through the system within the IACHR announcement of its 176th Period of Sessions made on February 25, 2020, through Press Release 49/20, remain in force and will be analyzed for the 177th Virtual Period of Sessions.
Up to one month before the hearings, the IACHR will send the decisions regarding the requests. The calendar of hearings will be posted on the IACHR Webpage approximately two weeks before the start of the sessions.
Online meetings with the IACHR will be held using a secure, easy-to-access platform that will be announced in due course. The IACHR will notify the parties of joining details and security guidelines for the meetings.
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 and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
*** Modified on July 1st, 2020. ***
No. 154/20