Institutional Strengthening Inter-American Court of HR Institutionell förstärkning av interamerikansk HR-domstol The Inter-American Court of Human Rights based in San Jose, Costa Rica, has applied to Sida for funding of 5 000 000 SEK for optimizing its institutional capacity to carry out its functions during 2020-2021.

The intervention aims at strengthening the Court's capacity to guarantee human rights in the region through institutional strengthening measures, which include increasing the number of Court deliberation sessions during 2021, improving security of the Court's information technology systems, formulating a working plan to strengthen the Court's training activities, updating the Court's policy against sexual and workplace harassment, and translating key sentences to other languages in order to support wider distribution of the Court's jurisprudence. Sida support is complementary to institutional strengthening initiatives supported by other donor countries, including Norway, Switzerland, Spain and the European Commission. Den interamerikanska domstolen för mänskliga rättigheter med säte i Costa Rica, har ansökt till Sida om finansiering om 5 000 000 SEK. Insatsen skall genomföras under perioden november 2020 till december 2021 och har som syfte att stärka domstolens institutionella kapacitet.

Stödet syftar till att stärka domstolen i dess arbete att verka för mänskliga rättigheter i regionen och detta skall ske genom åtgärder som stärker domstolens institutionella kapacitet. De aktiviteter som omfattas av stödet inkluderar 1) en ökning av antalet domstolsöverläggningar, 2) förbättrad IT-säkerhet, 3) framtagandet av en arbetsplan för utbildningsverksamhet, 4) uppdatering av domstolens policy mot sexuella trakasserier och trakasserier på arbetsplatsen, samt 5) bidra till en bredare kunskap och spridning av rättspraxis, bland annat genom översättning av viktiga domar. 

Sidas stöd kompletterar andra initiativ för att stärka domstolens kapacitet vilka finansieras av Norge, Schweiz, Spanien och EU. The objective of the intervention is to support institutional strengthening of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to optimize its functioning in favor of fulfilment of human rights in the Americas, including the Northern Triangle of Central America.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution, established in the American Convention of Human Rights in 1969, beginning its operation in 1979. The Court, together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States (OAS), which serves to uphold and promote basic human rights and
freedoms in the Americas. As of now, twenty states of the Americas have accepted the Courts' jurisdiction to emit binding decisions regarding state responsibility in human rights violation cases. The Court is composed of seven judges from OAS members states, designated for a 6-year period, meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica, in periodic regular and extraordinary sessions, assisted by a permanent staff of over 70 professionals at the Court. The Court is supported by OAS regular funds (71.75%) and external donors (28.25%), executing an annual budget of 6.4 million USD (2019). Given the negative tendencies
over the past few years regarding democracy, rule of law and human rights in the Americas, the Court has encountered increasing needs in terms of institutional strengthening in order to continue responding efficiently to growing threats related to respect and observance of human rights in the region.

The general objective of the project is to contribute to protection of human rights in the region through institutional strengthening of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Court has identified five concrete actions to increase its operational capacity during 2020-2021 which will contribute to a creating a more robust and strong institution better equipped to respond to growing demand, while adapting to changing context and modernizing its operations:
1. Strengthen the Court's jurisdictional activity by increasing the number of sessions;
2. Strengthen the Court's information technology security, capacity and resources;
3. Strengthen the Court's training capacity through formulation of mid and long term
work plan for training activities;
4. Strengthen the Court's internal policy on workplace and sexual harassment;
5. Strengthen the distribution of the Court's work and jurisprudence through translation
of sentences and key decisions.

This clearly defined and results-oriented cooperation with the Court will produce a more
robust and modern Court better prepared to respond to growing needs for protection of
human rights and democracy in the region, and better equipped to continue expanding
its donor base in the future.