Firstly, one of the activities of the Inter-American Commission is to conduct on site visits to specific countries. The use of on site visits by the Commission during a period of systematic and massive violations of fundamental political rights is one way to plant the human rights flag in a country and to mobilize and affect public opinion about what is happening in that country.
On this subject, it is
always important to present legitimate and accurate reports about
events; consequently, the Inter-American Commission's public report
is a way to establish that there were disappearances and summary
executions in the face of denial by many countries that these acts
occurred. With the change in the region's conditions, the on site visits,
except in those cases with massive and systemic violations of political
rights, have been redefined and are now devoted primarily to specific
categories of rights or are linked to our case system.
It is not inconceivable that in the future there could be an on site visit of the
Inter-American Commission to investigate the issue of trafficking of
women and children for sexual exploitation, if a serious problem is
alleged in a particular country. I am pleased to tell you that during its
periodic sessions in February-March [2000], the IACHR conducted a
hearing on the subject of child exploitation at the request of different
non governmental organizations (NGOs).
This was at the specific
request of the NGOs. At the time, the NGOs requested the realization
of on site visits to Central America to observe this subject.
Accordingly, the topic was placed on the agenda.
A second activity of the IACHR is to administer a system of
cases or individual petitions from individuals who consider their rights
violated under the American Convention or the American Declaration.
Twenty seven countries have ratified the Convention, and the rest can
be supervised under the American Declaration. The case system is
managed according to the juridical tradition: there are hearings; there
are attempts to reach a friendly settlement; and afterwards there is a
report.
If the country decides not to implement the recommendations
of the Commission, there are two possibilities: take the case to public
opinion; or bring the case before the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, which can only be done when countries have accepted the
Court's contentious jurisdiction. The Commission has taken more than
thirty cases to the Inter-American Court. Again, the use of cases is a
way to place the subject in the public eye and to achieve binding
decisions obligating State compliance.
I wanted to mention a case
relating to children I am not referring to sexual exploitation that has
gone before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: one such case
is Amstraum Villagran Morales and Others against the State of
Guatemala for the killing of children, street children who beg, etc. In
this case, the Commission's position was that business owners paid the
police to exterminate these children so that their businesses would not
suffer.
There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of street
children and one way to promote and achieve change is through the
Court's decisions and advancements in this direction. Again, cases
involving sexual exploitation of children and women could fall within
the individual petition system and could proceed all the way to the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which is the most effective
component within the system.