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Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announced that it will be holding several Periods of Sessions and the Third Forum of the Inter-American Human Rights System in 2019.

The 171^st Period of Sessions will be held on February 7–16 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and will include hearings on all countries except the host. The system for requesting hearings and working meetings for these sessions is open until December 8, 2018.

The 172^nd IACHR Period of Sessions will be held from May 2–10 in a Caribbean country to be announced in due course. The 173^rd Period of Sessions will take place from September 23 to October 2, 2019, at the IACHR headquarters in Washington, D.C. Finally, the 174^th Period of Sessions will take place between November 25 and December 6 in Ecuador, and will include hearings on all countries except the host. The dates on which the system for requesting hearings and working meetings for these sessions will be open will be announced in due course.

The IACHR wishes to thank the states of Bolivia and Ecuador for their invitations to host sessions, which contributes to publicizing the Inter-American Human Rights System and raising the IACHR’s public profile in the region.

“Holding periods of sessions in OAS member countries in recent years has brought the mechanisms that the inter-American system uses to protect, promote, and defend human rights closer to all of the region’s inhabitants,” said the IACHR president, Commissioner Margarette Macaulay.

“The sessions held in 2018 in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and the state of Colorado in the United States have multiplied the number of people who have access to the IACHR. The same was true in 2017, when sessions were held in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, and Uruguay. We will continue the off-site session programme in 2019, building on these successes,” she said. “It is excellent news that we are to hold sessions in Bolivia, Ecuador, and a Caribbean country in 2019.”

IACHR executive secretary Paulo Abrão thanked the host states for their support. “The states that invited the IACHR to hold its sessions within their borders in 2017 and 2018 are helping strengthen the IACHR and the inter-American human rights system, as did the countries that hosted sessions in 2019. This will help us comply with our mandate to promote and defend human rights in the region more efficiently.”

The IACHR will hold the Third Forum on the Inter-American Human Rights System on December 9, 10, and 11, 2019. The location of the event will be announced in due course.

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.

* This press release was modified on February 26, 2019 to reflect a change in the dates of the 173 Period of Sessions.

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