Interamerikanisches Menschenrechtssystem

1. Interamerikanisches Menschenrechtssystem Charta der Organisation Amerikanischer Staaten (OAS) 1948 Präambel (...) Confident that the true significance of American solidarity and good neighborliness can only mean the consolidation on this continent, within the framework of democratic institutions, of a system of individual liberty and social justice based on respect for the essential rights of man; (...) Article 3 The American States reaffirm the following principles: (...) l)     The American States proclaim the fundamental rights of the individual without distinction as to race, nationality, creed, or sex;

2. Amerikanische Menschenrechtskonvention Article 3 AMRK Right to Juridical Personality Every person has the right to recognition as a person before the law. Article 20 AMRK Right to Nationality 1.    Every person has the right to a nationality. 2.    Every person has the right to the nationality of the state in whose territory he was born if he does not have the right to any other nationality. 3. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality or of the right to change it. Article 23 AMRK Right to Participate in Government 1.    Every citizen shall enjoy the following rights and opportunities: a.  to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives; b.    to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters; and c.    to have access, under general conditions of equality, to the public service of his country. 2.    The law may regulate the exerciseof the rights and opportunities referred to in the preceding paragraph only on the basis of age, nationality, residence, language, education, civil and mental capacity, or sentencing by a competent court in criminal proceedings.

3. Amerikanische Menschenrechtskonvention Article 26 AMRK Progressive Development The States Parties undertake to adopt measures, both internally and through international cooperation, especially those of an economic and technical nature, with a view to achieving progressively, by legislation or other appropriate means, the full realization of the rights implicit in the economic, social, educational, scientific, and cultural standards set forth in the Charter of the Organization of American States as amended by the Protocol of Buenos Aires. Article 42 AMRK The States Parties shall transmit to the Commission a copy of each of the reports and studies that they submit annually to the Executive Committees of the Inter-American Economic and Social Council and the Inter-American Council for Education, Science, and Culture, in their respective fields, so that the Commission may watch over the promotion of the rights implicit in the economic, social, educational, scientific, and cultural standards set forth in the Charter of the Organization of American States as amended by the Protocol of Buenos Aires.

4. Diskriminierungsverbot AMRK/EMRK Article 24 AMRK Right to Equal Protection All persons are equal before the law. Consequently, they are entitled, without discrimination, to equal protection of the law. Art. 14 EMRK Verbot der Benachteiligung Der Genuss der in der vorliegenden Konvention festgelegten Rechte und Freiheiten muss ohne Unterschied des Geschlechts, der Rasse, Hautfarbe, Sprache, Religion, politischen oder sonstigen Anschauungen, nationaler oder sozialer Herkunft, Zugehörigkeit zu einer nationalen Minderheit, des Vermögens, der Geburt oder des sonstigen Status gewährleistet werden.

5. Amerikanische Menschenrechtskonvention Article 1 AMRK Obligation to Respect Rights 1.    The States Parties to this Convention undertake to respect the rights and freedoms recognized herein and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms, without any discrimination for reasons of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic status, birth, or any other social condition. 2.    For the purposes of this Convention, "person" means every human being.

6. System der Individual-und Staatenbeschwerden STATUTE OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Article 19   With respect to the States Parties to the American Convention on Human Rights, the Commission shall discharge its duties in conformity with the powers granted under the Convention and in the present Statute, and shall have the following powers in addition to those designated in Article 18:  a. to act on petitions and other communications, pursuant to the provisions of Articles 44 to 51 of the Convention;  b. to appear before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases provided for in the Convention;  c. to request the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to take such provisional measures as it considers appropriate in serious and urgent cases which have not yet been submitted to it for consideration, whenever this becomes necessary to prevent irreparable injury to persons;  d. to consult the Court on the interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights or of other treaties concerning the protection of human rights in the American states;  e. to submit additional draft protocols to the American Convention on Human Rights to the General Assembly, in order to progressively include other rights and freedoms under the system of protection of the Convention, and  f.  to submit to the General Assembly, through the Secretary General, proposed amendments to the American Convention on Human Rights, for such action as the General Assembly deems appropriate. 

7. System der Individual-und Staatenbeschwerden Article 44 AMRK Any person or group of persons, or any nongovernmental entity legally recognized in one or more member states of the Organization, may lodge petitions with the Commission containing denunciations or complaints of violation of this Convention by a State Party.

8. System der Staaten- und Individualbeschwerden Article 20  Statute of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights  In relation to those member states of the Organization that are not parties to the American Convention on Human Rights, the Commission shall have the following powers, in addition to those designated in Article 18:  a. to pay particular attention to the observance of the human rights referred to in Articles I, II, III, IV, XVIII, XXV, and XXVI of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man;  b. to examine communications submitted to it and any other available information, to address the government of any member state not a Party to the Convention for information deemed pertinent by this Commission, and to make recommendations to it, when it finds this appropriate, in order to bring about more effective observance of fundamental human rights; and,  c. to verify, as a prior condition to the exercise of the powers granted under subparagraph b. above, whether the domestic legal procedures and remedies of each member state not a Party to the Convention have been duly applied and exhausted.  

9. Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Article 40.  Friendly Settlement  1.       On its own initiative or at the request of any of the parties, the Commission shall place itself at the disposal of the parties concerned, at any stage of the examination of a petition or case, with a view to reaching a friendly settlement of the matter on the basis of respect for the human rights recognized in the American Convention on Human Rights, the American Declaration and other applicable instruments.   (...) 5.       If a friendly settlement is reached, the Commission shall adopt a report with a brief statement of the facts and of the solution reached, shall transmit it to the parties concerned and shall publish it.  Prior to adopting that report, the Commission shall verify whether the victim of the alleged violation or, as the case may be, his or her successors, have consented to the friendly settlement agreement.  In all cases, the friendly settlement must be based on respect for the human rights recognized in the American Convention on Human Rights, the American Declaration and other applicable instruments.

10. Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Article 44 .  Report on the Merits After the deliberation and vote on the merits of the case, the Commission shall proceed as follows: (...) 2.       If it establishes one or more violations, it shall prepare a preliminary report with the proposals and recommendations it deems pertinent and shall transmit it to the State in question.  In so doing, it shall set a deadline by which the State in question must report on the measures adopted to comply with the recommendations.  The State shall not be authorized to publish the report until the Commission adopts a decision in this respect.

11. Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Article 45  Referral of the Case to the Court 1. If the State in question has accepted the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court in accordance with Article 62 of the American Convention, and the Commission considers that the State has not complied with the recommendations of the report approved in accordance with Article 50 of the American Convention, it shall refer the case to the Court, unless there is a reasoned decision by an absolute majority of the members of the Commission to the contrary. 2. (...)

12. Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Article 47.  Publication of the Report  1.       If within three months from the transmittal of the preliminary report to the State in question the matter has not been solved or, for those States that have accepted the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court, has not been referred by the Commission or by the State to the Court for a decision, the Commission, by an absolute majority of votes, may issue a final report that contains its opinion and final conclusions and recommendations. (...)