American Convention on Human Rights.

The American Convention on Human Rights, also known as the Pact of San José, is an international human rights instrument. It was adopted by many nations of the Americas in San José, Costa Rica, on 22 November 1969. It came into force after the eleventh instrument of ratification (that ofGrenada) was deposited on 18 July 1978.

The bodies responsible for overseeing compliance with the Convention are the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, both of which are organs of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Chapter I establishes the general obligation of the states parties to uphold the rights set forth in the Convention to all persons under their jurisdiction, and to adapt their domestic laws to bring them into line with the Convention. The 23 articles of Chapter II give a list of individual civil and political rights due to all persons, including the right to life "in general, from the moment of conception",^[1] to humane treatment, to a fair trial, to privacy, to freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, etc.

Chapter IV describes those circumstances in which certain rights can be temporarily suspended, such as during states of emergency, and the formalities to be followed for such suspension to be valid. However, it does not authorize any suspension of Article 3 (right to juridical personality), Article 4 (right to life), Article 5 (right to humane treatment), Article 6 (freedom from slavery), Article 9 (freedom from ex post facto laws), Article 12 (freedom of conscience and religion), Article 17 (right to family), Article 18 (right to the name), Article 19 (rights of the child), Article 20 (right to nationality), or Article 23 (right to participate in government).^[3]

Chapter V, with a nod to the balance between rights and duties enshrined in the earlier American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, points out that individuals have responsibilities as well as rights.

Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and IX contain provisions for the creation and operation of the two bodies responsible for overseeing compliance with the Convention: the Inter-American Commission, based in Washington, D.C., United States, and the Inter-American Court, headquartered in San José, Costa Rica.

Chapter X deals with mechanisms for ratifying the Convention, amending it or placing reservations in it, or denouncing it. Various transitory provisions are set forth in Chapter XI.'

 

77) The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (also known as the Banjul Charter) is an international human rights instrument that is intended to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in the African continent.

It emerged under the aegis of the Organisation of African Unity (since replaced by the African Union) which, at its 1979 Assembly of Heads of State and Government, adopted a resolution calling for the creation of a committee of experts to draft a continent-wide human rights instrument, similar to those that already existed in Europe (European Convention on Human Rights) and the Americas (American Convention on Human Rights). This committee was duly set up, and it produced a draft that was unanimously approved at the OAU's 1981 Assembly. Pursuant to its Article 63 (whereby it was to "come into force three months after the reception by the Secretary General of the instruments of ratification or adherence of a simple majority" of the OAU's member states), the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights came into effect on 21 October 1986– in honour of which 21 October was declared "African Human Rights Day".

Oversight and interpretation of the Charter is the task of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, which was set up in 1987 and is now headquartered in Banjul, Gambia. A protocol to the Charter was subsequently adopted in 1998 whereby an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights was to be created. The protocol came into effect on 25 January 2005.

In July 2004, the AU Assembly decided that the ACHP would be incorporated into the African Court of Justice. In July 2005, the AU Assembly then decided that the ACHP should be operationalised despite the fact that the protocol establishing the African Court of Justice had not yet come into effect. Accordingly, the Eighth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, on 22 January 2006, elected the first judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. The relationship between the newly created Court and the Commission is yet to be determined.

78) European standards of rights and freedoms.

The European standards applicable to freedom of association have been elaborated by three regional groupings of states; the Council of Europe, the European Unionand the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe ('the OSCE'). These standards take the form of treaties and a variety of other instruments, generally of a non-legally binding character (a mixture of 'soft law' and political undertakings). They are a mixture of reaffirmations of a general guarantee of freedom of association - sometimes focused on particular sectors such as human rights defenders, judges and non-citizens - and more detailed specifications of the requirements for giving effect to this freedomThis article first gives some background on the sources of the standards and then outlines their requirements with respect to certain specific aspects of them.Although the right to freedom of association provides protection only for non-governmental organisations ('NGOs') that are membership-based and for those who belong to them, the position of non-membership-based NGOs has also been assured by some of the instruments discussed.The treaty guarantees of the right to freedom of association have all been adopted by the Council of Europe and comprise one of general application in Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights ('the European Convention') and more specific ones in Article 5 of the European Social Charter and of the European Social Charter (Revised) (for workers and employers), Articles 7 and 8 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (for minorities) and Article 3 of the Convention of the Council of Europe on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level (for foreign residents).In addition there is the unique international obligation found in the Council of Europe Convention on the Recognition of the Legal Personality of International Non-Governmental Organisations. This requires the states party to it to grant the legal capacity to act in them to any NGO which has been established in another ratifying state.

7 9) Council of Europe. General characteristics of the structure and function of major organs.

The Council of Europe is an international organization promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards,human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It was founded in 1949, has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens, and is an entirely separate body^[1] from the European Union (EU), which has only 27 member states. Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws. The two do however share certain symbols such as the flag and the anthem.

The best known bodies of the Council of Europe are the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights, and the European Pharmacopoeia Commission, which sets the quality standards for pharmaceutical products in Europe. The Council of Europe's work has resulted in standards, charters and conventions to facilitate cooperation between European countries.

Its statutory institutions are the Committee of Ministers comprising the foreign ministers of each member state, the Parliamentary Assemblycomposed of MPs from the parliament of each member state, and the Secretary General heading the secretariat of the Council of Europe. TheCommissioner for Human Rights is an independent institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the member states.

The headquarters of the Council of Europe are in Strasbourg, France, with English and French as its two official languages. The Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress also use German, Italian, and Russian for some of their work.