INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE & GOVERNANCE RECOVERY

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, The University of Texas, School of Law



The University of Texas Law Working Group and the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice recently announced that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights /Organization of American States has granted a hearing in response to the legal briefs submitted on behalf of indigenous, farming, ranching, individual land owners, and ecological life systems negatively impacted by Texas-Mexico Border Wall.

"Obstructing Human Rights: The Texas-Mexico Border Wall"

Margo Tamez, co-Founder Lipan Apache Women Defense-Strength, will be present at the hearing in Washington D.C. in support of this effort. She will provide a brief statement and will be available for questions by the Commission.

What is the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights/Organization of American States?
Excerpted from the IACHR/OAS Website:

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (IACHR) is one of two bodies in the inter-American system for the promotion and protection of human rights. The Commission has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The other human rights body is the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which is located in San José, Costa Rica.

The IACHR is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS). Its mandate is found in the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The IACHR represents all of the member States of the OAS. It has seven members who act independently, without representing any particular country. The members of the IACHR are elected by the General Assembly of the OAS.

The IACHR is a permanent body which meets in ordinary and special sessions several times a year. The Executive Secretariat of the IACHR carries out the tasks delegated to it by the IACHR and provides legal and administrative support to the IACHR as it carries out its work.

[...]The Commission may decide to take the case to the Inter-American Court. If it wishes to take the case to the Court, it must do so within three months from the date in which it transmits its initial report to the State concerned. The initial report of the Commission will be attached to the application to the Court. The Commission will appear in all proceedings before the Court.