IACHR ANNUAL REPORT 2008


CHAPTER III

 

THE PETITION AND CASE SYSTEM

 

 

A.         Introduction

 

1.           This chapter refers to the work of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2008 in relation to the petition and case system.

 

2.            Section B includes statistical tables on all the petitions received by the Commission in 2008, indicating the number of petitions received by country, as well as a comparison of the number of petitions received in 2008 in relation to each of the last eleven years. It also includes statistical information on the number of petitions it decided to transmit to the States, and the number of petitions being processed, also by country. The statistical information reflects as well the number of requests for precautionary requests received by the Commission in 2008, as well as the number of precautionary measures the Commission decided to grant during that same period. The statistics indicate how many reports on admissibility, inadmissibility, friendly settlement, archive, and the merits the Commission published in 2008. The section also includes statistical tables on the Commission’s activity before the Inter-American Court. Finally, statistics are included on the number of hearings the Commission held in 2008.

 

3.           Section C has two parts. The first, section C.1, contains an overview of the precautionary measures granted or extended by the IACHR in 2008, in relation to the various member States, under Article 25 of its Rules of Procedure. The precautionary measures are presented in alphabetical order of the States addressed in the requests, indicating the name of the person or persons on whose behalf they were requested, a summary of the information that was the basis for the request, the rights of the persons exposed to serious and imminent danger, and finally the date of the request and the name of the State referred to, as well as other relevant information.

 

4.           The second part, section C.2, includes all the reports on which the Commission adopted a decision on admissibility, inadmissibility, the merits, or friendly settlement during the period covered by this report. This section contains a total of 70 reports that include 49 cases found admissible; 10 reports on petitions found inadmissible; 4 reports on friendly settlements; and 7 reports on the merits.

 

5.            Section D includes an analysis of compliance by the States with the recommendations contained in the reports on individual cases published in the Annual Reports for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, in keeping with Article 46 of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure.

 

6.          Section E refers to the Inter-American Commission’s work litigating before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It presents the provisional measures issued by the Court at the request of the Commission in cases of extreme gravity and urgency, under Article 63(2) of the American Convention on Human Rights; a synthesis of the Court’s decisions; and a summary of the Commission’s pleadings in the contentious cases.  The provisional measures are also described in the order in which they were requested, and include the name of the person or persons on whose behalf they were sought, a summary of the facts and the rights involved, the date of the request, the name of the State in question, and the date on which the Court adopted the respective decision.
 

B.         Statistics

 

7.            This chapter of the 2008 Annual Report contains statistical information to provide a general overview of the different activities carried out by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

 

8.           First it presents data concerning the cases and petitions being processed.  These comprise the greater volume of the Commission's work.  “Cases” is taken as meaning all those petitions declared admissible by means of a report on admissibility. “Petitions” is taken as meaning all those complaints that have been forwarded to the state involved but in which no report on admissibility has been issued.

 

1.         Petitions and cases

 

a.         Total number of complaints received by country in the year 2008.

 

 

The preceding graph illustrates the total number of complaints received by the IACHR according to the OAS member States in respect of which the complaints were presented.
 

b.         Total number of complaints received by year.

 

 

            This graph illustrates the total number of complaints received by the Commission during the last eleven years. "Complaints" for the purposes of these statistics includes all complaints, presented in writing, concerning an alleged violation by an OAS member state of the Convention, the Declaration and/or other pertinent instrument.

 

            * In the year 2002, the Commission received 3,783 complaints in addition to those represented in the graph, which refer to the human rights situation of persons affected by various banking measures (“corralito”) in Argentina. 

c.             Total number of complaints evaluated by country during 2008. 

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