ABC de la Corte ENG v9

ABC of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 2020 9 II. Inter-American Court of Human Rights WHAT IS THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND WHAT ARE ITS RE- SPONSIBILITIES? The Inter-American Court is one of three regional human rights tribunals, together with the European Court of Human Rights and the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights. It is an autonomous legal institution whose objective is to interpret and apply the American Convention. The Inter-American Court exercises a contentious function, in which it resolves contentious cases and supervises judgments; an advisory function; and a function wherein it can order provisional measures. WHICH STATES HAVE ACCEPTED THE CONTENTIOUS JURISDICTION OF THE COURT? Twenty States have recognized the contentious jurisdiction of the Court, including as follows: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay. WHERE IS THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS? The seat of the Inter-American Court is in San José, Costa Rica. WHY IS THE COURT LOCATED IN SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA? On 1 July 1978, the General Assembly of the OAS recommended approval of the formal offer of the Government of Costa Rica to establish the headquarters of the Court in that country. This decision was then ratified by the States Parties to the Convention during the Sixth Special Session of the OAS General Assembly, celebrated in November 1978. The ceremony of the Court’s installation occurred in San José on 3 September 1979.