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Extraordinary OAS General Assembly Approved Resolution on the Functioning of the IACHR for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Human Rights System

  March 23, 2013

The Extraordinary General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) today approved by acclamation a resolution which concludes the process of reflection on the functioning of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for the strengthening of the Inter-American System of Human Rights (ISHR).

The full text of the resolution is available here.

The Assembly today concluded the fourth phase of the process that began in the General Assembly of El Salvador, in June 2011, with the creation of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Permanent Council which presented its report of recommendations in January 2012. Subsequently, in June 2012, the General Assembly held in Cochabamba, Bolivia, instructed the Permanent Council to complete its work in this area before the end of the first trimester of 2013.

The Extraordinary General Assembly today, which was held at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, was attended by eleven Foreign Ministers (Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Peru), the Minister of Haiti, delegated by the Prime Minister, in charge of human rights and the fight against extreme poverty, five Deputy Ministers (Brazil, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Bolivia and Nicaragua) and heads of delegation of 17 Member States. The meeting was chaired by the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, José Enrique Castillo, who was elected unanimously. The General Committee, which negotiated the draft resolution, was led by the Foreign Minister of Honduras, Arturo Corrales.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The video of the event is available here.

The B-roll of the event is available here.

The audio of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-115/13