I would like to say that another possibility is for the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights to offer up its system of rapporteurships through the Rapporteur on Children's Rights and the new Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, Marta Altolaguirre. I served in that position for several years, and we issued a report regarding the compatibility and incompatibility of the laws and practices of the hemisphere with the Convention and American Declaration of Human Rights.
The advantage [of the rapporteurship] is that because it deals
with freely established treaties, norms exist that can be mobilized.
Currently, the Rapporteur on Children's Rights is Helio Bicudo, current
President of the Human Rights Commission, and I believe that he could
also be involved in some activities. I would like to tell you,
nevertheless, that one who lacks priorities does not have a program, and
there is only one component of the Inter-American system that can do
things that no other part can do. And one of the things that we can do
that no other component can do is manage the case system.
Facing insufficient resources, many times we face what some
of us call a situation of "Sophie's choice". I don't know if you saw this
movie where a mother has to decide which of her two children will die.
But many times we find ourselves in that situation: there are close to
600 cases presented annually to the Inter-American Commission and
with inadequate resources, but with very important support from
democratic states in the hemisphere, and with a significant legitimacy
regarding men and women from this hemisphere, the Commission has a
voice that would otherwise not exist to correct domestic problems.
But at the crux and center of all these things a tendency exists to
immediately attack the Commission, in circumstances where cases are
before the Inter-American Commission, and there is a threat of
maintaining the Commission in light of continuous efforts by some to
reduce its legitimacy, and other sectors of the Organization of
American States. As an early warning system, we are first in line to
face cases that arrive and begin to show that things are going poorly.
Afterwards, others will join, but those first moments are very stormy, I
would say.
Nevertheless, our significant legitimacy has allowed us to
progress, even with sizeable resource problems that force us to respond
to all our cases in only two sessions annually. The Inter-American
Court has announced that it is suspending its June session due to budget
cuts. Therefore, I believe all these issues should also be discussed.
I would like to conclude my commentary with the following:
to begin with, I believe discussing matters on hemispheric terms is
positive because it calls attention to the issue, it defines the agenda,
captures imaginations, and makes things a priority.
At the same time, the hemisphere has had an extensive imagination and tradition,
combining excellent declarations with a totally incompatible practice
that is fundamental. This is derived from the time when laws and
orders were received from the King of Spain, and they were placed on
one's head, and they said, "It is obeyed but not carried out". At that
time, great creativity existed in having declarations without practice.
Now, this does not imply that we should not have declarations because
if there are no declarations or other normative instruments then there is
a legal void. But I believe things need to run parallel, because many
times we set out in one direction that results in the creation of a
document and the provisions of that document are not carried out.
With the knowledge that non compliance occurs, I believe we should
work in a parallel fashion regarding declarations with mechanisms of
supervision and control. With respect to the mechanisms of
supervision and control, one possibility is the use of the Inter-American
Commission's case system with the goal of resolving ten to fifteen
cases regarding the exploitation of children.