Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Issues
By Daniela X. Cornejo Honduran president Porfirio Lobo Sosa signed Decree No.2 (Amnesty Decree) on January 27, 2010 granting amnesty for political and common crimes committed between January 1, 2008 and January 27, 2010, the period of civil strife following the coup d’état that deposed democratically-elected President José Manuel Zelaya. Amnesty International reported serious human [Read More...]
By Daniela X. Cornejo On November 16, 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued an opinion finding Mexico violated the American Convention of Human Rights (ACHR) for failing to effectively investigate, prosecute, and prevent the murders of Claudia Ivette González, Esmeralda Herrera Monreal, and Laura Berenice Ramos Monárrez. In González and others (“Campo [Read More...]
By Daniela X. Cornejo and Adrián E. Alvarez On November 20, 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) found Venezuela violated Francisco Usón Ramírez’s right to freedom of expression when it sentenced him to prison under a statute that criminalizes statements that dishonor the Venezuelan military. American University Washington College of Law’s Impact Litigation [Read More...]
By Daniela X. Cornejo, January 25, 2010 On November 24, 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Right (Court or IACtHR) presented its new rules of procedure, describing the reform process as “the product of constructive, participatory, and transparent communication with the different actors and users of the Inter-American System.” The Court received observations regarding the [Read More...]
By Gretchen Ellis “We are here because we want to live with dignity,” said a neighborhood leader from a village of 7,000 inhabitants in Northern Cauca, Colombia. “We want to live, to pass our culture from generation to generation, which has been done for 350 years.” Afro-Colombian, indigenous, and campesino (peasant) communities northern Colombia have [Read More...]
By Annamaria Racota On November 6, 2009, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional Contra Impunidad en Guatemala, or CICIG) discussed its work and progress in Guatemala on impunity in the judicial system before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The CICIG also received approval from the IACHR for its legal reform [Read More...]
By Daniela X. Cornejo On November 3, 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held a general hearing on the criminalization of human rights defenders in Ecuador. The hearing began as civil society representatives expressed concern for a colleague who was denied entry into the United States — and was therefore unable to [Read More...]
By Zach Zarnow, December 3, 2009 On November 5, 2009, academics and members of civil society from Mexico came before the Inter-American Court for Human Rights to protest an alleged degradation of political rights in their country. Representatives from the Iberian-American Observatory for Democracy, the Center for Analysis and Investigation, and Propuesta Civica presented the [Read More...]
By Soumya Venkatesh On November 5, 2009, NGOs from Colombia gathered at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to present allegations of human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in Colombia. The civil society representatives were from various Colombian organizations dedicated to protecting the rights of the LGBT community. The [Read More...]
