Inter-American Human Rights System . Subsequently, in 1959, a meeting of consultation of the American Ministers for Foreign Affairs created, within the framework of the OAS, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which has since undertaken important investigative activities concerning human rights in the Americas. Of the 26 western hemispheric states that so far have signed the Convention, only the United States has yet to ratify it. Both the substantive law and the procedural arrangements of the American Convention, which entered into force in 1978, are strongly influenced by the UN covenants and the European Convention and its protocols, and they were drafted also with the European Social Charter in mind. Thus, the core structure of the Inter-American human rights system is similar to that of its European counterpart.
Some noteworthy differences exist, however, and three stand out in particular.
First, reminiscent of the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, the American Convention, unlike the European Convention, details individual duties as well as individual rights. Whereas Europe once utilized a mandatory interstate and optional individual application procedure, the Americas utilize an optional interstate complaint and mandatory individual petition procedure. The Commission is as much an organ of the OAS Charter as it is of the American Convention, with powers and procedures that differ significantly depending on the source of the Commission's authority, particularly in relation to human rights petitions. The Court, while primarily an organ of the Convention, nonetheless has jurisdiction to interpret human rights provisions of treaties other than the American Convention, including the human rights provisions of the OAS Charter. African Human Rights System .