IACHR

Press Release

IACHR and IPPDH Salute the End of their International Course on Public Human Rights Policies

February 28, 2019

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Washington, D.C. / Buenos Aires - The in-person week of the International Course on Public Human Rights Policies—jointly sponsored by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and MERCOSUR’s Institute of Public Policies on Human Rights—was held in Buenos Aires on February 11-15, 2019. The course brought together 100 participants from 22 countries in the Americas, and 72% of them managed to pass the course, take part in the in-person week and obtain the diploma.

During the in-person week, course participants held sessions where they discussed and reflected on proposals and assessments of the public policies they had put forward in their end-of-course projects. Further, representatives of State institutions and civil society organizations from Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Mexico presented “country experiences” of public policies with a human rights approach.

The event also featured sessions that were open to the public, where experts debated the public-policy challenges facing the region and spoke about equality and non-discrimination, access to information and an indicator system, participation and demands for rights, and public institutions that focus on human rights.

The IACHR and the IPPDH salute the successful completion of this international course and the progress it entails in terms of training and capacity-building for relevant actors around the Americas, in order to promote a human rights approach in public policy.

This effort to strengthen institutions and train organizations and networks of social actors for the defense of human rights will be reinforced in the fourth edition of the International Course on Public Human Rights Policies. With these efforts, the IACHR seeks to implement Objective 3 of its Strategic Plan, through the implementation of the Program for Technical Cooperation on Public Institutions and Policies with a Human Rights Approach, which promotes public policies aimed at bracing respect for human rights as a fundamental element of any process to strengthen national capacities to implement inter-American human rights standards.

This international course is an initiative of the IPPDH’s International School. Its goal is to train strategic actors in the public sector and in civil society organizations, as a contribution to strengthening public human rights policies in the Americas. Since 2018, this has been a joint strategic effort by two iconic human rights institutions.

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

The IPPDH is a technical research institution active in the field of public policy on human rights. Its strategic guidelines are approved by MERCOSUR’s Meeting of High Authorities on Human Rights and Foreign Ministries (RAADH, by its Spanish acronym), to support compliance with and enforcement of human rights, which are regarded as central axes for integration within MERCOSUR. Its structure was designed to carry out research, training and consulting tasks for public-policy formulation, and to provide support for communications concerning human rights.

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

No. 049/19