A/HRC/39/58
comprehensive report on the human rights situation. The report was released in June 2000
and was crucial in ending the Fujimori regime. 22 In 1999 the Commission published a major
report on the human rights situation in Colombia, in which for the first time it considered
international humanitarian law, i.e., the law of armed conflict, to identify the legal regime
governing the ongoing internal armed conflict. More recently, reports were issued on
Guatemala (2016) and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (2018) which drew attention
to serious human rights challenges in those countries. The Commission has also publicized
prominent individual cases, such as its issuance of a public condemnation of the murder of
human rights defender Marisela Escobedo in Mexico. 23 It regularly conducts on-site visits
to countries and publishes press releases with its recommendations. The Commission issues
an annual report, in which it highlights the most serious human rights violations in the
Americas. It also publishes thematic reports, of which the most recent refer to the
criminalization of human rights defenders and human rights standards in relation to human
mobility. Furthermore, it has been asking for transparency about the detention facility at
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and urging its closure since the early 2000s.
17.
While the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights is responsible for
reviewing State compliance through biannual reports on country efforts to implement the
African Charter, many States combine several years’ worth of reports instead of submitting
biannual reports. Moreover, seven member States have yet to submit a report at all. That
can be attributed to a lack of resources and interest in those States. African Commission
communications have only a 15 per cent implementation rate. Nevertheless, even that level
of transparency has had an impact. According to the Government of Kenya, the reporting
requirements of the regional mechanism have played a major role in strengthening the
rights of indigenous people. The new Kenyan Constitution provides several avenues for the
protection and strengthening of the personal and collective rights of indigenous peoples.
Article 27 obliges the State to develop legislation and affirmative action programmes.
Article 56 obliges the State to provide for adequate representation of “marginalized groups”
at all levels of government, undertake affirmative action on behalf of those groups and
promote the use of indigenous languages and the free expression of traditional cultures.
Article 100 requires the legislature to enact a law which will promote the representation of
marginalized communities.24
18.
The Arab Human Rights Committee carried out its first examination of State reports
in 2012 and 2013, starting with Jordan, then Algeria and Bahrain. The concluding remarks
of the Committee are now published on its website in Arabic. Civil society organizations
are allowed to disseminate the concluding remarks in their countries for public outreach
(through the media, websites and social networks) and follow up with the national
authorities.25
IV. Challenges faced by regional and subregional human rights
arrangements
Structural and financial challenges
19.
Broadly speaking, structural challenges refer to the way in which a lack of political
will, membership issues, or greater than expected demand have manifested themselves in
poorly resourced or unbalanced regional arrangements. The global human rights system is
trying to do more with less. Thus, the greatest obstacle to the effective functioning of both
the Inter-American Commission and Court is the lack of adequate human and financial
resources. The 30 staff lawyers at the Commission, who are presently handling nearly 1,250
22
23
24
25
8
Robert K. Goldman, “History and action: the inter-American human rights system and the role of the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights”, Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 31, No. 4 (November
2009).
See www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/preleases/2011/127.asp.
Survey response by the Government of Kenya.
See report of the International Federation for Human Rights and others on a seminar held in Cairo in
February 2013, “The Arab League and human rights: challenges ahead”, (May 2013).
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