Talk:Inter-American Court of Human Rights

message: Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States (OAS), which serves to uphold and promote basic rights and freedoms in the Americas. The Court rules on whether a State has violated an individual's human rights, rather than if individuals are guilty of human rights violations.[1]
Composition[edit]
As stipulated by Chapter VIII of the Convention, the Court consists of seven judges from the Organization's member states. The court consists of seven judges, held to the highest moral judgement who have a high competency in human rights law.[1] These judges are elected to six-year terms by the OAS General Assembly; each judge may be reelected for an additional six-year term.
Unlike the commissioners of the Inter-American Commission, judges are not required to recuse themselves from hearing cases involving their home countries; however no member state may have more than one representative judge serving on the Court at any time. In the event a member state is party to a case as a defendant does not have a representative judge sitting on the Court, the member state is entitled to appoint a judge to the court ad hoc for the case. Recent policy changes state, when serving on the court, judges are expected to act as individuals, not representing their state. They must be OAS member states’ nationals; however, they do not need to be individuals of a state that has ratified the American Convention or accepted jurisdiction of the Court. Judges are required to recuse themselves from cases involving their home country. States parties are no longer permitted to name a judge ad hoc to their case if a sitting judge is not from their country. If a judge is a national of one of the State Parties to the case, the State Parties can only designate a judge ad hoc if there are inter-state complaints.[1] In order to be nominated as a judge, one must be a national of a member state of OAS, a jurist, have the ‘highest moral authority’, have high competency of human rights law, have ‘the qualifications required for the exercise of the highest judicial functions in conformity with the law of the state of which they are nationals or of the state that proposes them as candidates’. [2]
'Highest Moral Authority' is loosely defined by the ACHR as never having never been convicted of a crime, suspended or expelled from the legal profession, or dismissed from public office.[2]
Judges are elected by State Parties to the Convention from a list of nominated candidates. Each State Party may nominate up to three candidates, but if nominating three, at least one of the three must be a national of a state other than the nominating state. The Secretary General of the OAS organizes the candidates alphabetically and forwards it to the State Parties. The election consists of a secret ballot, requiring an absolute majority of the State Parties to the Convention. Those who receive the most votes are elected.
After the Convention came into force on 18 July 1978, the first election of judges took place on 22 May 1979. The new Court first convened on 29 June 1979 at the Organization of American States Headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States.
Criticisms[edit]
The Court's behaviour has also been criticized. Among other issues, some authors have criticized the politization of the Court. Furthermore, the process of nomination and election is a subject of criticism. It is not a transparent or accountable process at both the National and International levels. There is a push for the OAS to create an independent group in charge of evaluating candidates. Another independent group in charge of overseeing the national processes and ranking the candidates that is separate from OAS is a proposed initiative by scholars to address these criticisms. These would ensure that all candidates have been through two reviews on the National and International level before being able to be elected.[2]
Fair representation when it comes to candidates is also a point of contempt. Scholars have stated that State Parties should strive for equal representation in terms of geographic sub-regions, different ethnic and cultural groups, and female and male judges; however, this should be done without straying from the high standards and qualifications required for candidates.[2]
"Highest Moral Authority", a requirement for nomination, is often criticized because its vagueness. The necessary qualifications are not clearly defined and vary from country to country. The minimum age ranges from none to 45 years old and the number of years of experience ranges from 10-15 years and only Paraguay requires candidates to have a PhD.[2]
Some of the latest criticisms come from Peru and Venezuela.Venezuela subsequently withdrew from the system after President Hugo Chavez declared the court's decision to rule Venezuela guilty of holding a prisoner in "inhumane" jail conditions.[3] Up to then, Trinidad and Tobago had been the only state to withdraw. Peru tried to do so, but did not follow the appropriate procedure. The last of these criticisms is directed against the Court's decision in the case of the Mapiripán Massacre declaring that some people were murdered with the consent of the Colombian state, a few of whom were subsequently found alive.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by MadDale16 (talk • contribs) 21:59, 18 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Proposed Changes

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: A significant development, but we need sources. Have both govts signed up? Do they accept blanket jurisdiction? (I.e., should VZ be burgundy or coral on the map?) — kwami (talk) 20:10, 15 August 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Venezuela? 

message: Can someone add the new composition information to the article? Vinirgon (talk) 21:12, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  I/A COURT H.R. composition as january 2023