Speech at the Launch of the Report on the Impact of the Friendly Settlement Procedure

Words of Tracy Robinson, President of the IACHR

Launch of the Report on the Impact of the Friendly Settlement Procedure

Washington, D.C., October 29, 2014

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I highly thank all of you for your presence in this event to officially launch the Report on the Impact of the Friendly Settlements issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with the supreme objective of improving the strategies to promote a better and faster access to justice of the victims of human rights violations through the use of an alternative mechanism based on the negotiation and will of the parties.

The report contains a study of the practices implemented in 106 reports on friendly settlements approved by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, since its creation in 1985 until 2012.

The report is a summary of over three decades of progressive implementation of the friendly settlements procedure, and contains information on how the different instances of dialogue can be materialized in creative, expedite and flexible agreements that satisfy the will of the parties and finalize a dispute for a human rights violation.

Although the individual complaints system provides a procedure with the objective of establishing the international responsibility of the States for human rights violations, the American Convention on Human Rights also provides the possibility of reaching a friendly agreement at any stage of a petition or case, as long as it is based on the respect of the human rights established in the Convention, the American Declaration and other regional instruments for the protection of human rights.

In such circumstance, the figure of the friendly settlement is a procedure that allows the two parties to resolve the issue of the complaint, as well as its consequences, with observance of their needs, interests and wishes; and is an opportunity that the States have to protect its inhabitants by avoiding the additional burdens of a judicial process and providing a more expedite solution. In this sense, the friendly settlement allows the States to recover the trust of its inhabitants who have brought the situation to international instances to protect the rights that they consider that have been infringed.

The friendly settlements procedure [...] can achieve agreements establishing beneficial measures of reparation for the direct victims of the violation and for society in general.

The friendly settlements procedure creates a space for dialogue between the petitioners and the States, in which they can achieve agreements establishing beneficial measures of reparation for the direct victims of the violation and for society in general. Through the adoption of a great variety of measures of reparation, numerous victims of human rights violations have obtained the complete restitution of the right violated or its reparation through the execution of measures of satisfaction related to the public recognition of responsibility from the State, the investigation of the facts that produced the violation and the sanction of those responsible from the violations; as well as the adoption of other symbolic measures, as the celebration of amendment actions and the dissemination of public apologies to the victims from the State. In the same sense, the friendly settlement agreements have included guarantees of non-repetition which pursue the avoidance of future human rights violations.

The IACHR is currently dedicated to the implementation of reforms to its Rules of Procedure, policies and practices that were adopted within the framework of the straightening process that took place during the 147th Ordinary Period of Sessions celebrated last march. With the objective to improve the friendly settlement procedure as an alternative to the contentious stage, the Commission has implemented important initiatives, such as the creation of a Specialized Unit on Friendly Settlements; the training of the personnel of the Executive Secretariat of the IACHR in alternative resolution of conflicts; and the elaboration of internal protocols to facilitate the processing of friendly agreements.

In this sense, the report on the Impact of the Friendly Settlement Procedure is another initiative to strengthen such mechanism, taking into consideration that its effectiveness depends on the information that the parties have regarding the procedure and the different alternatives available to obtain just reparation. The Commission established as a priority the need to provide, through this instrument, sufficient information, that is now available to all the users of the Inter-American System, with the ultimate objective to demonstrate the success obtained with the friendly settlement agreements, and to provide a useful resource to the States and petitioners, that serves as a guide on basic characteristics and good practices developed during years of application of the friendly settlements procedure.

The report contains a study of the practices implemented in 106 reports on friendly settlements approved by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, since its creation in 1985 until 2012. The IACHR also collected additional information by consulting relevant aspects of the application of the friendly settlements mechanism to the states, civil society and experts in alternative dispute resolution, through a questionnaire which was published on the website of the Commission of 31 October 2011 to 9 January 2012. In the same sense, the IACHR organized an Inter-American Conference on Human Rights and Exchange of Best Practices on Friendly Settlements in the city of Antigua, Guatemala and three seminars on the same topic in Mexico, Paraguay and Bolivia. In these spaces, participants from the states and civil society shared their perspectives regarding the future of the friendly settlement mechanism, its challenges, the lessons learned and recommendations for achieving a greater level of effectiveness. In this exercise, the Commission also reviewed the existing literature on reparations for human rights violations; as well as the international legal framework, general principles, jurisprudence and numerous pronouncements of specialized agencies regarding this subject.

The report is structured in two sections that refer to the evolution of the mechanism and the impact of that the implementations of the friendly settlement agreements have had in various cases. Thus, the report promotes the mechanism among the users of the Inter-American System and shows the different measures of reparation adopted in the framework of a friendly settlement, and mirrors what can be achieved when there is good faith and will from both parts of a controversy.

This exercise of promotion of the friendly settlement mechanism is very important if we take into consideration that the range of reparation measures adopted in these agreements is quite large, many victims of human rights violations have obtained full restitution of the right violated or reparation by means of satisfaction measures, related to public recognition and acknowledgment of responsibility by the State, the investigation of the facts and punishment of those responsible for violations; and measures of symbolic reparation, such as holding public acts to apologize and the publication of apologies in public media. Also, the friendly settlement agreements have provided measures of medical and psychological rehabilitation and social assistance, monetary compensation and measures of non-repetition, which have served to change the structural conditions that created the situation recounted in a complaint before the Commission and prevents the repetition of the same human right violation in the future.

Many victims of human rights violations have obtained full restitution of the right violated...

The Commission values the efforts of the States and petitioners during almost three decades of negotiation, subscription and fulfillment of friendly settlements agreements, which have allowed hundreds of victims of human rights violations to obtain adequate reparation and the States to adopt essential measures to prevent the repetition of such violations in the future. During the development of such efforts, the users of the Inter-American System can certainly always count with the firm commitment of the Commission to promote the friendly settlements mechanism and to actively carry out its role to facilitate the dialogue between the parties and the supervision of the fulfillment of all the commitments adopted.

Download and read the report