PRESS RELEASE

N° 4/08

IACHR ANNOUNCES CALENDAR OF PUBLIC HEARINGS OF THE 131^th PERIOD OF SESSIONS

 Washington, D.C., February 27, 2008 – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announces the calendar of public hearings of its 131^th period of sessions, that will take place March 3-14, 2008. The hearings will be held on March 7, 10 and 12, in the TL level of the General Secretariat Building of the OAS, 1889 F St. NW, Washington, DC, 20006. The audio recordings of all public hearings will be available in the Commission’s website and those held in Room A will be webcast live through the OAS website. In the case of the private hearings, there is neither webcast nor video or audio recording available, and the entrance of public and press is not allowed.
 

 

Monday, March 10, 2008 – Room A   The public hearings held in this room will be webcast live through the OAS website, www.oas.org. The videos can also be watched afterwards in the OAS and in the IACHR websites. The audio recordings will be available in the IACHR’s website, www.iachr.org.
Time (Washington, D.C.)	Topic of the hearing	Participants
9:00 - 10:00	Obstacles in Argentina to compliance with the reports, decisions and recommendations of the bodies for the protection of human rights in the Inter-American system	Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) Government of Argentina
10:00 – 11:00	Situation of human rights defenders of the Mapuche People in Chile	Nancy Yáñez / José Aylwin / Observatorio de Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas Government of Chile
11:15 – 12:15	Petition 1345/05 – Professors of Chañaral, Chile	Juan Pablo Olmedo Bustos Government of Chile
3:00 – 4:15	Investigation, trial and punishment of those responsible for serious violations of human rights in the past and the present in Guatemala	CALDH / Unidad de Protección de Defensores y Defensoras de Derechos Humanos   Government of Guatemala
4:30 – 5:15	Protected areas in indigenous territories in Guatemala	Defensoría Maya Qeqchi / Indian Law Resource Center   Government of Guatemala
5:30 – 6:15	Human rights consequences of the grave environmental violations caused by mining activity in Honduras	Alianza Cívica para la Democracia Government of Honduras

 

Monday, March 10, 2008 – Room B   There will not be webcast of these hearings. The audio recordings of the public hearings held in this room will be available in the IACHR’s webpage, www.iachr.org.
Time (Washington, D.C.)	Topic of the hearing	Participants
9:00 – 9:45	Indirect restrictions of freedom of expression in Brazil	CEJIL / Article XIX Government of Brazil
10:15 – 11:15	Human rights situation of captive communities in Bolivia	CEJIL / Alejandro Chávez Ríos, Consejo de Capitanes de Chuquisaca   Government of Bolivia
11:30 – 12:30	Private Hearing   Application of the 2004 Migration Law in the Dominican Republic	Open Society Justice Initiative / Global Rights / University of California, Berkeley International Human Rights Law Clinic / CEJIL
3:00 – 4:00	Case 12.542 – Employees of “Fertilizantes de Centroamérica” (FERTICA, Central American Fertilizers), Costa Rica	Daniel Camacho / FUNDEHUCA Government of Costa Rica
4:15 – 5:15	Case 12.405 – Vicente Grijalva Bueno, Ecuador	Francisco López Bermúdez / Auditoría Democrática Andina Government of Ecuador
5:30 - 6:30	Cases 12.597 – Miguel Camba Campos and others (Judges of the Constitutional Tribunal) and 12.600 – Hugo Quintana Coello and others (Judges of the Supreme Court), Ecuador	Ramiro Ávila Santamaría Government of Ecuador

 

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 – Room A   These hearings will be webcast live through the OAS website, www.oas.org. The videos can also be watched afterwards in the OAS and in the IACHR websites. The audio recordings will be available in the IACHR’s website, www.iachr.org.
Time (Washington, D.C.)	Topic of the hearing	Participants
9:00 – 9:45	Media consolidation and freedom of expression in Mexico	Asociación Mexicana de Derecho a la Información / Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de Derechos Humanos   Government of Mexico
10:00 – 10:45	Human rights of migrant workers in transit in Mexico	Federación Internacional de Derechos Humanos / Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos Government of Mexico
11:00 – 11:45	Human rights situation of women in Chiapas, Mexico	Colectivo Feminista / CEJIL
3:00 – 3:45	The Organic Law for Military and Police Justice in Peru	Instituto de Defensa Legal   Government of Peru
4:00 – 4:45	Follow-up on recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru	Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos / APRODEH Government of Peru
5:00 – 5:45	Right to education of members of Afro-Descendent and Indigenous communities in the Americas	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights /  University of Virginia Law School / Cornell University Law School

 

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 – Room B   There will not be webcast of these hearings. The audio recordings will be available in the IACHR’s webpage, www.iachr.org.
Time (Washington, D.C.)	Topic of the hearing	Participants
9:00 – 10:30	Cases “Comuna 13”, 12.596 – Luz Dary Ospina Bastidas, 12.595 – Myriam Eugenia Rúa Figueroa and 12.621 – Teresa Yarce, Mery Naranjo and Socorro Mosquera	Grupo Interdisciplinario por los Derechos Humanos   Government of Colombia
10:45 – 11:45	General situation of human rights in Colombia	Comisión Colombiana de Juristas / GIDH / REINICIAR
12:00 – 1:00	Human rights situation of displaced Afro-Colombians	Afrocolombianos Desplazados / Global Rights Government of Colombia
3:00 – 3:45	Murder of Women in El Salvador	ORMUSA / Las Dignas / Las Mélidas / CEJIL Government of El Salvador
4:00 – 4:45	Administration of justice in El Salvador	OTLA / CODEFAM / CPDH / COMAFAC / FESPAD / CDH-ES / Probúsqueda / DDH-SL / CO-MADRES / Comisión de Trabajo en Derechos Humanos Pro Memoria Histórica / CEJIL Government of El Salvador
5:00 – 5:45	Administration of justice in Nicaragua	CENIDH Government of Nicaragua

Audio: The audio recordings of all public hearings will be uploaded to the IACHR webpage, www.iachr.org, on the same day that the hearing takes place. Radio stations are authorized to broadcast them, provided that credits are properly recognized.

Videos: All hearings taking place in Room A will be webcast live in the OAS webpage, www.oas.org. These videos will be available to be watched later on the “Videos On Demand” webpage of the OAS and in the Commission’s webpage. Communication media and organizations that would like to broadcast the hearings are authorized to do so, provided that credits are properly recognized. The highest quality signal available through this system is 65 kbps.

Links: The inclusion of links in external websites to the videos of the hearings is authorized. To include a link in your Webpage, please contact Carlos Koo, phone (202) 458 6074, e-mail [email protected].

Languages: Please note that participants in the hearings may speak in any of the four official languages of the OAS: Spanish, French, English and Portuguese. The videos and audio recordings are made through the channel of original voices and may include different languages in the same hearing.

Photographs: The OAS uploads high resolution pictures of the hearings to its Webpage (www.oas.org). The media is authorized to publish them, provided that credits are included.

Private hearings: The program of public hearings is made available to journalists for organization purposes only. Please note that the petitioners and the State have the right to ask that the hearing is made private, and they can request this at any time, including minutes before the hearing’s start.

Press: Media representatives do not need to present any specific credentials to cover the public hearings. Journalists may be present in all public hearings. The use of audio recorders and portable computers is allowed, with the condition that they do not interfere with the normal development of the hearing. Cellular phones must be turned off before entering the room.

Cameras: The taking of photographs (stills and filming for TV) is permitted only during the first five to ten minutes of the hearing. Photographers and cameramen must leave when asked to do so. After the hearing has started, photographers and cameramen will not be allowed to enter the room. TV crews wishing to cover the hearings at greater length or transmit them live may do so taking direct feeds of sound and images from the OAS’ system if that hearing is webcast.

Feeds: The audio connections are XLR and the video connections are BNC. Media representatives who would like to tape the hearings through this system should arrive at least 15 minutes before the start time of the hearing, so all the equipment is ready at the starting time.

Copies of videos: High resolution copies of the videos of public hearings that have been webcast can be required by the public. This service is free for TV channels. The copies can be delivered in Beta SP, in DVCPro or in DVD, according to the election of the party requiring it. They can be picked up at the OAS headquarters on the same day that the hearing took place. Copies can also be sent by mail to media headquartered outside Washington, DC. To coordinate this service please contact Luis Batlle, phone (202) 458-3336, e-mail [email protected].

Special service for TV stations: The TV stations headquarted outside Washington, DC, that wish to obtain video footage on the same day that the hearing took place may request the OAS to send them an unedited selection of three minutes of footage through the Internet. This is done through the OAS’ FTP server. For more information on this service please contact Luis Batlle, phone (202) 458-3336, e-mail [email protected]

Press contact: Any questions and interview requests should be directed to Maria-Isabel Rivero, IACHR’s Press and Outreach Office director, phone (202) 458-3867, e-mail [email protected].