IACHR

Press Release

IACHR and UN Special Procedures adopt Roadmap to Enhance Collaboration

December 17, 2018

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Washington, D.C. / Geneva - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the system of Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council have adopted on December 14, 2018, a roadmap to enhance collaboration between the two systems. The Roadmap was signed by IACHR Commissioner Joel Hernandez and by Mr. Dainius Puras, Chair of the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures. This is the culmination of the dialogue and interactions that have taken place over the years between the two systems and that were officialized in February 2018, when a delegation of the UN Special Procedures and the IACHR met, in the context of the IACHR’s 167th sessions, and agreed to establish a formal framework for cooperation between the two systems.

The Roadmap aims at guiding and stepping up collaborative and joint initiatives between the two systems, including the regular exchange of information, joint statements, contributions to thematic reports, participation in consultations, joint visits and follow-up of recommendations. Click here to read the Roadmap.

Promoting collaboration with the UN Human Rights system is an objective of the IACHR’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, through its Program 13 “Cooperation and Coordination with the Universal Human Rights System and other international agencies”. Likewise, the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council have issued several resolutions over the past decade that stressed the importance of collaborating with regional human rights mechanisms.

“The IACHR and the UN Special Procedures have been promoting an increasing number of joint initiatives in the past years. This Roadmap will contribute to strengthening and expanding these efforts, by establishing a comprehensive framework of action,” said the Chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, Dainius Puras. On her part, the President of the IACHR, Margarette May Macaulay, said: “Working jointly with Special Procedures mandate holders can contribute to increase the effectiveness of the IACHR’s work, in light of the complementarity of both the regional and universal systems.”

Many positive results have already been achieved since the approval of the IACHR’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan. “The challenge now will be to expand the joint work to new modalities of collaboration in the framework of the Roadmap, such as the follow-up of recommendations, one of IACHR’s priorities,” said Commissioner Joel Hernandez.

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.

No. 270/18