Just like the U.S. government, there are separate state and national human rights organizations. The national organization is the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. This has officials who are voted in and it meets several times a year. A person can submit a petition or file an application to bring up a case. Their official website is here. I have not heard a lot about them, do you think they can be effective if their issues are not well publicized?
I think if it is a stepping stone to bring a case to trial then yes, it is effective in that sense. I haven't heard of it either but I hadn't heard of any of the human rights organizations that we researched before this class. Overall, they're probably not as effective if they have a lower budget, which is what it seems like, but I like that they offer information in several different languages.
ReplyDeleteI believe that any court can be effective no matter how publicized they are. If a court is able to bring justice to a wrongdoing then it is successful. I don't agree that if they have a smaller budget that means they aren't as effective because sometimes small and what seem like non powerful things can turn out to get through amazing endeavors and be extremely effective.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with Julia. They have apparently been around for a while, as they have reports on countries extending as far back as the 60s and 70s. They also have been in the news as recently as November 30 and December 5, 2011. They seem to accomplish a fair amount (over 12,000 cases) with only several (7) people. I don't believe the effectiveness of IACHR should be measured by its publicity, but by the actual justice its bringing to people.
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