IACHR highlights results of 4 years of implementation of Resolution 2/20 on follow-up to precautionary measures

June 14, 2024

Washington, D.C. - Four years after the adoption of Resoluci n 2/20, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) celebrates the results achieved and renews its commitment to the beneficiaries of precautionary measures and the States to seek the mitigation and elimination of the risk factors identified.

Resolution 2/20 guides the periodic monitoring of the implementation of precautionary measures and highlights both the actions of States to protect the rights at risk of beneficiaries, as well as the observations of beneficiaries and their representatives. The IACHR included the strengthening of the monitoring of precautionary measures in the Strategic Plan 2017-2021, and by 2023-2027 it commits to strengthen differential risk analyses with respect to persons in historical situations of exclusion.

With the adoption of this resolution, the precautionary measures mechanism implemented a Follow-up Methodology, organized its portfolio of precautionary measures in force, and created the Special Monitoring Group..

This Resolution has contributed to a more timely follow-up of the files of precautionary measures in force through regular communication between the parties to evaluate and follow up on the implementation, promoting a dialogue between the States and beneficiaries. In this way, an increase of 134.12 % of information requests in precautionary measures in force since 2019 has been achieved, and of the 86% of the measures in force monitored per year.

The implementation of Resolution 2/2020 also made it possible to optimize the dialogue with States, representatives and beneficiaries of precautionary measures through bilateral technical and portfolio meetings with a view to having technical exchanges on the mechanism. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the IACHR convened working meetings outside the sessions, with the innovation of holding them virtually. This allowed for a 37.7% increase in working meetings from 2019 to 2023 and the holding of 10 public hearings to follow up on precautionary measures out of a total of 141 precautionary measures.

Follow-up resolutions are another novelty in this framework; they are adopted when risk factors persist, when the State fails to respond, or when challenges in implementation are identified that merit a pronouncement by the Commission. To date, the IACHR has approved a total of 16 follow-up resolutions with respect to ten countries.

Once the pandemic restrictions were lifted, six on-site visits were made to evaluate the status of the precautionary measures in the field. In Mexico, Brazil and Honduras, we visited the territories of beneficiary indigenous communities and interviewed beneficiary prisoners in prisons.

During these visits, the impacts of violence, threats, invasion of territories by unauthorized third parties, as well as the efforts made by the authorities to protect people, were confirmed. This was done through working meetings between the parties, in which agreements were also reached to mitigate the risks identified.

The project's activities allowed us to listen to the beneficiaries and authorities directly implementing the measures and to hold face-to-face working meetings where important consensus-building routes were agreed upon between the parties with a view to mitigating the risks identified.

The IACHR continues to make use of its power to request provisional measures from the Inter-American Court, especially in situations of "extreme gravity", in accordance with Article 63(2) of the American Convention. Since 2020, 16 requests for provisional or extension measures have been filed, with respect to 39 precautionary measures from Brazil, Haiti, Nicaragua and Peru. More than 40 thousand persons deprived of liberty, indigenous peoples, defenders and justice operators have benefited from these provisional measures.

Between 2020 and 2023, the Commission strengthened its capacity to conduct a periodic evaluation of the issues in its current portfolio. The Commission receives, on the one hand, requests from States to analyze the validity of risk situations, and on the other hand, observations from beneficiaries on their risk situation. Having updated information contributes to improve the analysis of the requests from the States. From 2020 to the end of 2023, the Commission approved an average of 36.25 resolutions to lift precautionary measures per year, in which the requirements of seriousness, urgency and irreparability of the damage are no longer met, based on follow-up actions with an active dialogue with the parties involved, States, beneficiaries and representatives.

The follow-up carried out allows the IACHR to maintain closer contact with the parties to ensure the implementation of effective protection measures and to mitigate and eliminate the risk factors identified.

The Commission appreciates the trust of the beneficiaries of precautionary measures and their representatives, as well as the commitment of the States to implement them, aware of the fundamental role of precautionary measures as a protection mechanism of the Inter-American system. It also reaffirms its commitment to strengthen the supervision of the precautionary measures in force and to promote transparency, predictability and legal certainty of the decisions.

Implementation details

Following the implementation of Resolution 2/20, the IACHR organized its portfolio of precautionary measures in force, and created the Special Monitoring Group with no less than four full-time specialists. It also prepared and approved the Methodology for its monitoring and published information on its timeframe policy.

Also, a strategy was implemented to follow up on precautionary measures in force, which included, for the first time in the history of the IACHR, carrying out at least one follow-up action per year on 100% of the portfolio of precautionary measures in force and improving the processing of timely transfers between the parties, starting in 2022. In addition, bilateral meetings were held; working meetings and public hearings were increased; on-site visits were requested and carried out; follow-up resolutions were issued; and the mechanism for provisional measures before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights was activated.

Communications in the current injunctive relief files

With the implementation of Resolution 2/20, progress was made in overcoming delays in communications between the parties and more effective communication was established between the parties and the IACHR, increasing the follow-up through the exchange of reports and requests for information, including specific questions regarding each precautionary measure.

Since 2022, the IACHR has been sending at least one communication per year for each precautionary measure granted, in addition to additional communications depending on the urgency of each case. There has also been a substantial increase in sending and transmitting information to the parties.

The IACHR seeks to carry out a periodic evaluation of the cases and promote interactions between the parties and to keep abreast of the status of implementation of each precautionary measure in force, keeping abreast of the risk situation. This effort has allowed the IACHR to resume contact with and knowledge of the risk situation of beneficiaries and their representatives who, due to the time that has elapsed, had ceased to report periodically to the Commission.

Bilateral meetings

Bilateral meetings are informative in nature and allow the parties to learn about the functioning of the precautionary measures mechanism and the tools available to take follow-up actions such as working meetings or public hearings. However, in order for the information presented to be considered in the precautionary measures procedure, it must be presented in writing in the corresponding file. Bilateral meetings have been useful to provide more information on the procedure.

Work meetings

Since the implementation of Resolution 2/20, the number of working meetings has increased, including the possibility of convening them outside the sessions virtually, to address urgent situations, the need to promote dialogue or clarify the scope of the mechanism.

The working meetings generate an environment that contributes to achieving concrete agreements between the parties. Since 2020, the IACHR has incorporated the practice of notifying the parties of the agreements reached after the working meetings for due follow-up.

Public hearings

The public hearings enable the plenary of the IACHR to learn about the progress and challenges in the implementation of precautionary measures, as well as to give visibility to the situation of the beneficiaries in the countries.

In 2021, the IACHR held 3 public hearings on 8 precautionary measures for indigenous peoples in Colombia and Brazil, and for journalists in Nicaragua. In 2022, there were 4 hearings that reached 102 measures in force, incluiding on persons sentenced to death in the United States, prisoners in Nicaragua, defenders in Colombia and individuals detained at Guantanamo Bay in the United States. In 2023, 3 hearings were held for a universe of 31 precautionary measures referring to persons deprived of liberty in Venezuela and Cuba; and MC 409-14 in favor of 43 missing students in Ayotzinapa, M xico.

180th session - June 21 to July 2, 2021
Public Hearings
1	51-15	Elderly people belonging to the Way u communities of Urib a, Manaure and Riohacha	Colombia
2	563-20	Members of Yanomami and Ye'kwana Indigenous Peoples	Brazil
	754-20	Members of the Guajajara and Aw Indigenous Peoples of the Indigenous Land Ararib ia	Brazil
	679-20	Munduruku Indigenous People	Brazil

182nd session - December 6 to 17, 2021
Public Hearings
3	693-18	An bal Toru o Jir n et al.	Nicaragua
	1606-18	Carlos Fernando Chamorro Barrios and others	Nicaragua
	399-19	Sergio Warren Le n Corea Sergio Yasir Le n Flores Kimberly Janice Le n Aguilar	Nicaragua
	366-21	Kalua Salazar	Nicaragua

184th Session
Public Hearings
1	37-14, 57-14, 74-22, 82-18, 84-13, 101-12, 160-11, 304-15, 334-18, 463-11, 471-11, 490-12, 551-21, 1080-20, 1170-21	15 precautionary measures on death penalty and death row in the U.S.	United States
2	84-19, 96-21, 205-21, 444-20, 489-20, 610-21, 823-18, 949-21, 1169-21	10 Precautionary Measures on persons deprived of liberty in Nicaragua	Nicaragua

185th Session
Public Hearings
3	Thematic	Implementation of precautionary measures for human rights defenders in Colombia (reaching 69 MCs)	Colombia
4	259-02; 211-08; 422-14; 46-15; 184-17	Detainees at Guantanamo Bay with respect to U.S.	United States

186th Session
Public Hearings
1	798-17, 862-18, 1132-18, 1302-18, 83-19, 115-19, 178-19, 289-19, 751-19, 918-19, 258-20, 317-20, 450-20, 456-20, 496-20, 698-20, 978-20, 333-21, 637-22, 54-22	Beneficiaries deprived of liberty	Venezuela

188th Session
Public Hearings
2	484-11, 264-13, 307-19, 306-19, 1068-20, 1101-20, 46-22, 193-22, 768-21, 30-21	Beneficiaries deprived of liberty	Cuba
3	409-14	43 students missing or unaccounted for	M xico

Follow-up resolutions

Resolution 2/20 consolidates the adoption of follow-up resolutions, as an action to supervise precautionary measures. The follow-up resolutions assess the measures adopted by the State to protect the beneficiaries and mitigate or put an end to the risk factors identified, evaluating their adequacy and effectiveness, in light of the differential approaches and applicable context, such as the measures of agreement between the parties and observes whether there are new risk factors reported.

In recent years, the IACHR has adopted follow-up resolutions to promote implementation to protect indigenous peoples, human rights defenders and justice operators, health issues, protection of journalists, among others.

On-site visits

Since 2022, the Commission conducted five on-site visits in the spirit of Resolution 2/20 to allow for closer contact with the beneficiaries, their representatives and state authorities, to learn directly about the status of the implementation of the measures and to assess the current risk situation.

In 2022, the IACHR conducted the following follow-up visits to precautionary measures:

• Mexico: MC 882-17 - Displaced persons from Chalchihuit n and MC 284-18 - Tsotsil indigenous families from twelve identified communities in Aldama, Chiapas;
• Honduras: MC 112-16 - Family members of Berta C ceres and members of COPINH.

In 2023, four follow-up visits were conducted:

• Honduras:MC 1084-21 - Glenda Carolina Ayala Mej a and her immediate family and MC 112-16 - Relatives of Berta C ceres and members of COPINH;
• Brazil: 11 precautionary measures from Brazil, including a visit to the Jorge Santana Prison and Alfredo Tranjan Penitentiary, as well as the Ararib ia Indigenous Land of the Guajajara and Aw Indigenous People;
• Mexico: MC 409-14 in favor of 43 missing or unaccounted for students from the "Ra l Isidro Burgos" rural school in Ayotzinapa, Mexico;
• Brazil: MC 449-22 in favor of Bruno Ara jo, Dom Phillips and members of UNIVAJA in Brazil.

Provisional measures

Since 2020, the IACHR submitted 16 requests for provisional measures or for the extension of provisional measures to the Court, with respect to 39 precautionary measures from Brazil, Haiti, Nicaragua and Peru.

Lifting resolutions

The IACHR recalls the temporary nature of precautionary measures and the need to periodically evaluate their validity, in accordance with the provisions of Article 25(7), (9), (10) and (11) of the Rules of Procedure. This means that the portfolio of precautionary measures in force is focused on those matters that, due to their urgency, merit close monitoring by the IACHR.

Between 2020 and 2023, the Commission approved an average of 36.25 lifting resolutions per year, which no longer meet the requirements of seriousness, urgency and irreparability of the harm. Before lifting a resolution, in accordance with Article 25(9) of the Rules of Procedure, the IACHR requests information from the beneficiaries and their representatives in order to evaluate the persistence of a situation of risk.

The IACHR is a principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate derives from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission is mandated to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR is composed of seven independent members who are elected by the OAS General Assembly in their personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 138/24

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