Initial steps towards improving the implementation of decisions in the Americas

On 20 March 2017, members of the Strategic Litigation Working Group (SLWG) gathered at the office of the Due Process Law Foundation (DPLF) in Washington D.C., to convene a webinar discussion open to all SLWG members regarding possibilities for fostering the implementation of positive human rights decisions in the Americas. The collective work of SLWG members falls under two priority action areas, and this project is a component of the one dedicated to institutional development with a focus on implementation. While this action area already includes projects focused on UN treaty bodies, it will now begin to incorporate work with the Inter-American System of Human Rights (IASHR) as well. 

Together, organizational members and allies of ESCR-Net, the Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law, and members of the ESCR-Net secretariat identified three spaces for the collective work of SLWG members: with States (laws to domesticate international decisions), with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and with the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. Participating organizational members and allies of ESCR-Net included the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA – Peru), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS – Argentina), Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL – United States), Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR – United States), Due Process Law Foundation (DPLF – United States), Foro Ciudadano de Participación por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos (FOCO – Argentina), and Fundar – Centro de Análisis e Investigación (Mexico).

Participants concluded that work must advance according to medium- and long-term objectives, and that the project with the IACHR should begin. As a next step, SLWG members will develop a brief concept note that identifies which primary practices related to the implementation of recommendations should be prioritized. The concept note will be used to inform meetings with Commissioners throughout the year.

Read more about the collective work of the SLWG on implementation here.