Updates from the Regional Human Rights Systems Carson Osberg American University Washington College of Law
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Human Rights Brief Volume 18 | Issue 2 Article 8 2011 Updates from the Regional Human Rights Systems Carson Osberg American University Washington College of Law EmilyRose Johns American University Washington College of Law Christopher Tansey American University Washington College of Law Michael Becker American University Washington College of Law Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Human Rights Brief. "Updates from the Regional Human Rights Systems." Human Rights Brief 18, no. 2 (2011): 53-59. This Column is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Human Rights Brief by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Osberg et al.: Updates from the Regional Human Rights Systems UPDATES FROM THE REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEMS inTer-ameriCan SySTem World Health Organization (WHO) esti- inTer-ameriCan CourT invalidaTeS mates of 22,680 maternal deaths in the amneSTy laW enaCTed during iaChr preSenTS reporT Americas in 2003 and emphasizes that the brazil’S miliTary diCTaTorShip demonSTraTing iTS preoCCupaTion risk of maternal death is 21 times higher in In its November 2010 landmark deci- WiTh Women’S laCk oF aCCeSS To Latin America and the Caribbean than in sion, the Inter-American Court of Human maTernal healTh ServiCeS during Canada. Moreover, the maternal mortality Rights (Inter-American Court) invalidated viSiT To el Salvador rate of indigenous Guatemalan women is Brazil’s 1979 Amnesty Law (Law No. three times higher than that of non-indige- In November 2010, Commissioner 6683/79) protecting those who committed nous Guatemalans. Luz Patricia Mejía, the Rapporteur atrocities during the country’s military on the Rights of Women of the Inter- The Commission is especially con- dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. In Gomes American Commission on Human Rights cerned with structural and cultural bar- Lund v. Brazil, the Inter-American Court (Commission) presented a report address- riers to maternal health, especially for found that by impeding the investigation ing the link between women’s human indigenous and Afro-descendant women. of grave human rights violations, the 1979 rights and access to pre-natal, childbirth, High health care fees, lack of information, Amnesty Law contravenes the American and post-partum health care services. adequate equipment, supplies, and prop- Convention on Human Rights (American Commissioner Mejía presented the the- erly trained personnel, and limited clinic Convention), to which Brazil is a party. matic report to a group of government access prevent women from getting appro- In 1964, a military coup overthrew officials and civil society organizations priate care. Barriers also include a lack of Brazil’s existing constitutional govern- in El Salvador. The report stresses states’ interpretation services, a dearth of cultur- ment. Under the ensuing military dictator- obligations to provide equal access to ally-sensitive medical personnel, and the ship, murders, torture, arbitrary detention, maternal health services and reproductive denial of care due to gender, marital status, forced exile, and disappearances transpired health information in accordance with the or education level. Regional examples of regularly. For example, in the early 1970s, right to humane treatment as protected by such barriers include cases of forced steril- the Brazilian army arrested, tortured, and Article 5 of the American Convention on ization due to ethnic and economic status, killed members of a small guerrilla upris- Human Rights (American Convention). and refusal to provide abortion services to ing in the Araguaia River region (Guerrilha The report also stresses that many maternal a victim of sexual violence. do Araguaia). The fate of many of the and infant mortalities could be prevented The thematic report recommends that guerrilla members still remains unknown. through better information and medical states strengthen their institutional capaci- In 1982, family members of 22 individu- care, and that poor, indigenous, and Afro- ties to guarantee adequate maternal health als disappeared during the Guerrilha do descendant women are disproportionately care and training of providers, establish Araguaia uprising initiated legal proceed- affected. During its October 2010 hearings, referral mechanisms to deal with obstet- ings in an attempt to discover what hap- the Commission emphasized the need to rical emergencies, revise legislation to pened to their relatives. The lower court improve marginalized populations’ access ensure conformity with regional and inter- dismissed the case, but the court of appeals to health services and information. national standards, and eliminate obstacles reversed the dismissal. In 2003, more than The report cites several Inter-American to health services, in particular for mar- 20 years after the families initiated their Court of Human Rights (Inter-American ginalized populations. The Commission suit, the First Federal Court ordered the Court) decisions in which adequate health also commends countries that have already Brazilian government to release informa- care was deemed a key factor in pre- initiated health care reform by expanding tion about the disappeared guerrilla mem- serving the right to humane treatment services to vulnerable groups. bers. Appeals ensued over the course of the under the American Convention. In its next six years. In 2009, the same year the The Commission’s report demonstrates 2006 Ximenes-Lopes v. Brazil decision, Inter-American Commission on Human concern regarding the disproportionate the Court linked the right to health care to Rights (Commission) submitted the case access that poor women, particularly indig- the basic respect for dignity that all people to the Inter-American Court, the Brazilian enous or Afro-descendant women, have deserve. Similarly, the Court linked health Supreme Court affirmed the federal court’s to adequate, affordable, and timely health care with the rights to life and humane ruling and the government began releasing care. It also indicates the commitment of treatment in its 2007 decision on Albán- thousands of pages of records regarding the the Inter-American system to complying Cornejo et al. v. Ecuador. The Commission Guerrilha do Araguaia. with the Millennium Development Goal relies heavily upon a 2007 report by the Pan of improving maternal health. Finally, it In Gomes Lund v. Brazil, the Inter- American Health Organization (PAHO) for further entrenches the right to health as a American Court found that Brazil breached data on maternal health. PAHO’s report fundamental right that goes hand in hand its obligations under the American highlights the region’s challenges of pro- with the right to life, humane treatment, Convention, including the rights to life, viding adequate, universal, and culturally- and respect of human dignity. liberty, and personal security (Articles 1, appropriate health care services. It cites 4, and 7), juridical personality (Article Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College53 of Law, 2011 1 Human Rights Brief, Vol. 18, Iss. 2 [2011], Art. 8 3), humane treatment (Article 5), fair trial of Human Rights (Court), as well as to Similarly, Mexico has reported efforts (Article 8), and judicial protection (Article compensate unspecified victims of past to comply with some, but not all, non- 25) by forcibly disappearing the victims human rights violations. The creation of monetary measures ordered in the six and withholding access to truth and infor- the reparations fund follows six Court judgments. The Supreme Court’s 2010 mation from their families. Brazil’s 1979 judgments against Mexico since it formally Annual Report mentions its investigation Amnesty Law, which exonerates those who accepted the Court’s competence in 1998. into compliance with the Radilla Pacheco committed political crimes during the dic- judgment. It also references publication of Civil society organizations have tatorship, has also been interpreted by the the judgment and coordination of a round- responded to the creation of the fund with Brazilian Supreme Court as pardoning table and conference on gender stereotypes mixed reactions. Some are optimistic that government actors responsible for torture, and access to justice per the 2009 Cotton the fund signals progress by the Mexican murder, and forced disappearance. The Field judgment. Although there is evidence government to fulfill its obligations, while Inter-American Court’s judgment requires of Mexico’s attention to its criminal justice others are concerned that it is merely a Brazil to ensure that the Amnesty Law does system through constitutional reform, there means of temporary appeasement through not preclude the investigation and punish- is no indication that Mexico is altering the payment of monetary reparations and that ment of human rights violations committed jurisdiction of the military justice system, the government will not tackle larger insti- during the dictatorship and to establish as required by the latest four judgments. tutional reforms ordered by the Court. The legislation criminalizing forced disappear- Court ordered Mexico to investigate the As