Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Conectas submitted on Thursday, January 29, contributions for the proposal to create an Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights within the IACHR (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) of the OAS (Organization of American States).
The mandate of the future Office will include collaboration in the analysis and assessment of these rights in the region, help for the IACHR in the handling of petitions, cases and requests for precautionary measures, visits to States and the preparation of studies and reports.
In the document, Conectas emphasized the need for the Office to address access to medicines, intellectual property and the public financing of development projects that violate human rights.
Judicial independence in matters related to the mandate of the Office and social rights in the prison system also featured among the submitted recommendations.
“This new Office is an important tool to combat inequalities in the region, but to be effective States need to commit politically and financially to guarantee the necessary conditions for its smooth functioning,” said Laura Waisbich, adviser to the Foreign Policy program at Conectas.
“In this respect, Brazil could use this opportunity to step up its financial support for the system, by resuming its voluntary contributions to the Commission,” reads an excerpt of the letter.
The proposal to create the Office was presented by Paulo Vannuchi, an IACHR commissioner and Brazil’s former secretary of state for human rights, on December 9 in Brasília, after the Commission had visited Argentina and Colombia to receive suggestions from civil society.
Click here to read the full document with the recommendations.
