IACHR Launches Impact Observatory

July 2, 2021

Washington, D.C. — As part of a comprehensive process to make its mechanisms more effective and systematize the impacts these are having in the Americas, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announced the launch of its Impact Observatory.

This arose as a result of Resolution 2/19 of September 20, 2019, through which the IACHR decided to create the Impact Observatory as a collaborative platform to reflect on and systematize its actions to defend and protect human rights in the Americas and make these more visible. The initiative aims to foster synergies with other similar initiatives and to promote articulated dialogues with strategic stakeholders and communities with an interest in the Inter-American System of Human Rights.

The IACHR emphasized how important this initiative is for the Inter-American System and noted that it helps consolidate and improve institutional mechanisms and develop advocacy, public policy, and legislation strategies for States in the region. These strategies, in turn, make a positive contribution to processes of justice and transformation in these States.

As part of its operations, the Impact Observatory will publish various studies, reflections, and findings that will be organized around three core areas. The Transformations Series will include academic studies that analyze situations or areas that are relevant to the regional human rights agenda, compliance with IACHR recommendations, or the impact of these.

The Voices and Experiences Series will take a psychosocial approach to highlighting the perspectives of those who experience processes that relate to the implementation and impact of IACHR recommendations on a daily basis, and the different initiatives the IACHR is implementing. Finally, the Dialogues Series will be an accessible space for outreach and publicity that will use graphic and audiovisual materials to present the main findings from different IACHR initiatives.

To mark the launch of the Impact Observatory, the IACHR has published the first study in the Dialogues Series, the Monitoring Notebook on the Effects of Full Compliance with Structural Recommendations in Cases on Which Merits Reports Have Been Published. This document analyzes the initial effects that follow total compliance by States with recommendations issued by the IACHR.

The document states that between 2001 and 2020, full compliance was reported on 10 cases, leading to the conclusion of the monitoring stage. It also reviews compliance with the structural recommendations that derived from these cases, which are important to the reformulation and consolidation of the legal and institutional systems for accessing justice in different States in the region.

"The launch of the Impact Observatory is part of a long-term strategy that the IACHR has been developing to reflect critically and consciously on the possibilities of making inter-American justice more effective. It builds on other major IACHR efforts such as the Inter-American SIMORE, which together promote reflection, analysis, and the evaluation of factors such as compliance with inter-American decisions and the impact of these," said IACHR president Antonia Urrejola.

For Commissioner Flavia Piovesán, Second Vice President, "the Impact Observatory is one of the most significant projects that the IACHR has set in motion in recent years. It will bring together States, civil society, international organizations, and academics to work together to build methodological frameworks for identifying, analyzing, and evaluating the impact of the IACHR's work on guaranteeing human rights in the Americas," she noted.

IACHR Executive Secretary Tania Reneaum expressed her confidence that the Impact Observatory will be consolidated as an open, constructive space for dialogue that will encourage participation and reflection among people, States, and organizations that are working ceaselessly to ensure that human rights in the Americas truly become a reality.

The IACHR invites States, victims, civil society, academics, international organizations, and the general public to visit the Impact Observatory webpage and consult the Monitoring Notes on the Effects of Full Compliance with Structural Recommendations in Cases on Which Merits Reports Have Been Published.

The IACHR is a principal and autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate derives from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR is composed of seven independent members who are elected by the OAS General Assembly in their personal capacity, and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 164/21

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