ABC de la Corte ENG v9

ABC of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 2020 6 I.Inter-American Human Rights System WHAT IS THE AMERICAN CONVENTION? TheAmerican Convention on Human Rights, also called the Pact of San José, Costa Rica, is an international treaty that contemplates the rights and liberties that must be respected by States Parties. In addition, the Convention establishes the Commission and Court as organs competent to hear issues regarding the compliance of agreements undertaken by States Parties to the Convention and regulates their operations. WHEN DID THE AMERICAN CONVENTION ENTER INTO FORCE? The American Convention was adopted after the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Human Rights, on 22 November 1969, in the city of San José, Costa Rica, and entered into force on 18 July 1978, pursuant to Article 74(2) of the Convention. WHICH STATES ARE PART OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION? The States that have ratified the American Convention are: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay. On 10 September 2012, Venezuela presented an instrument of denunciation of the American Convention on Human Rights to the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS). The denunciation took effect on 10 September 2013. On 26 May 1998, Trinidad and Tobago presented a denunciation before the Secretary- General of the OAS. The denunciation took effect on 28 May 1999. Under Article 78(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights, “[t]he States Parties may denounce this Convention … by means of notice given one year in advance.” It is worth mentioning that, as established in the second section of Article 78 of the Convention, the denouncements do not exempt States from their obligations under the American Convention regarding human rights violations that may occur between the date of denouncement and the date the denouncement takes effect. “The American Convention on Human Rights, also called the Pact of San José, Costa Rica, is an international treaty that contemplates the rights and liberties that must be respected by States Parties.”