PRESENTATION OF FLAVIA PIOVESAN´S CANDIDACY FOR

THE INTER-AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION:

VISION, PROPOSALS AND INITIATIVES

1. INTRODUCTION
For over twenty years I have dedicated my life to the cause of human rights.
Along this journey, I have been exposed to a variety of experiences: as a human rights
teacher at universities in Brazil and abroad, as a researcher at well-known centers of
study abroad; as a member of different local, regional and global non- governmental
organizations, as public attorney, as Special Secretary of Human Rights and as a
member of working groups at international organizations such as the United Nations
and the Organization of American States in the realm of human rights protection.

It is because of such an extensive and diverse experience that I felt compelled to

accept the challenge launched by the Brazilian Government to run for Commissioner of
the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. I took the challenge with the upmost
belief in the importance of the Inter-American system for strengthening human rights,
democracy and the rule of law in the region.

While serving as professor of Human Rights and Constitutional Law at the Catholic
Pontifical University of São Paulo, I earned part of my doctorate at Harvard Law School
in 1995, with emphasis in the Inter American system, its roots, institutionality and impact
with regard to International Constitutional Law and the way it can help us safeguard
victims’ rights and foster law and public policies in Brazil and in the region. I went back
to Harvard from 2000 to 2002 for my post-doctorate which focused on the area of
regional integration and human rights as well as key topics pertaining to the human
rights contemporary agenda. In 2005, while at Oxford University, I dedicated myself to
an in-depth study of regional systems of human rights protection by comparing the
European, Inter-American and African systems. Since 2007, I have been involved with
post-doctorate studies at Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and
International Law, in Heidelberg, Germany. Such studies are centered in regional
systems of human rights protection and focus on the Inter-American system.

As a member of the OAS Working Group for the San Salvador Protocol, I was
able to experience the Inter American system from inside, mainly taking into
consideration the challenge of assessing the progressive application of economic, social
and cultural rights according to article 19 of the Protocol. In order to perform that
assessment we resorted to using a unique instrument of technical-scientific indicators to
measure with enhanced methodological rigor the exercise of those rights. The system of
indicators allows us to incorporate the perspective of human rights into public policies,
and creates information, data and statistics that will form a solid database useful for
understanding the situation of human rights. It also contributes to the strengthening of
public policies and helps identify priorities and strategies. I was also a member of the
UN High Level Task Force for the implementation of the right to development, with the
challenge of identifying the components to the right to development with a human rights
perspective and proposing a system of indicators to assess its progress. I was part of
recent initiatives in 2016 and 2017 at the United Nations regarding right to development
and the 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals.

Along with my academic background and having worked as a member of an OAS

working group, I also have served in the Inter-American Human Rights Commission
both as a petitioner and as a respondent for the State. As a member of non-
governmental organizations, I brought cases to Inter American Human Rights
Commission and participated at public hearings. As a Special Secretary of Human
Rights, I was in a position to respond to cases in the Inter American system concerning
Brazil and to implement decisions taken by the Court and the Inter American
Commission that demanded intragovernmental and federative discussions.

Being able to experience the Inter American system through these four different
angles- academic, member of an OAS Working Group, petitioner and as State- allows
me to have a broad, solid, deep and serene vision of the Inter American Human Rights
Commission, through retrospective and prospective lenses, bringing together its past,
present and future.
 2. INTER AMERICAN COMMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH A
RETROSPECTIVE VISION: THE IMPORTANCE OF ITS LEGACY
It is the Inter American Commission´s duty to protect and promote human rights in
the region. According to article 41 of the American Convention on Human Rights, the
Commission has the main goal of promoting the observance and defense of human
rights and in doing so its main functions and assignments are: a) promote awareness
about human rights in the Americas; b) provide recommendations to State members,
when considered suitable, encouraging States to adopt progressive measures in favor
of human rights through its laws and constitutional precepts as well as the appropriate
dispositions to promote due respect to those rights; c) prepare the necessary studies
and reports; d) request States to provide information about measures taken in the area
of human rights; e) answer questions posed by States with regard to human rights and,
when possible, provide States with the guidance in that area; f) act regarding petitions
and communications according to articles 44 to 51 of the Convention; and g) present an
annual report to the Organization of the American States´ General Assembly.
Promoting, monitoring and protecting human rights in the region are the Inter
American Commission´s main vocation. It develops its role by conjugating conciliation
(for example, by trying to reach friendly settlements between victims and States
whenever there is a violation of law); assistance (for example, by recommending a State
to adopt measures to promote human rights); criticism (for example, by informing about
the human rights situation in a member State, after hearing from the State and if the
violations persist); promotion (for example, elaborating studies about human rights in
order to promote them); protection (for example, by acting in cases of extreme gravity
and emergency in order to avoid irreparable damage to people) and prevention (for
example, by stimulating a human rights culture within the region through technical
cooperation, with capacity-building programs to diverse social actors and thus
strengthening institutions and public policies with focus on human rights, taking into
consideration regional diversity).
The Inter-American Commission has done extraordinary work in spreading regional
protective parameters with regard to safeguarding human dignity (the so called “Inter
American corpus iuris”) which reflect a minimum not a maximum preventive level of
protection. Such protective parameters have allowed for compensation regarding
national deficits, fostering progress in legislation and public policies regarding human
rights as well as preventing backsliding and setbacks in the protection of rights.
In the Brazilian experience, cases submitted to the Inter-American Commission
have had a significant impact in the formulation of laws and public policies in the field of
human rights. Such cases have led to important domestic advances. In order to better
illustrate that, one could mention the following progress made: a) cases that dealt with
the excessive use of violence by the police, especially those denouncing impunity in
crimes performed by the military police, were fundamental in leading to the adoption of
Law 9.299/96, which established the transfer of judgment from the Military Justice to the
Common Justice of cases concerning willful crimes against life committed by military
policemen; b) cases involving torture and forced disappearance encouraged the
adoption of Law 9.140/95, which established an indemnity to the families of those
whose suffered political deaths or disappeared; c) a case involving domestic violence
suffered by the victim (case Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes) led to the adoption of
Law 11.340/2006 (“Law Maria da Penha”), that creates mechanisms to prevent
domestic violence against women; d) cases involving violence against human rights
defenders contributed to the adoption of the National Plan for Protection of Human
Rights Defenders; and e) cases involving rights of indigenous people were essential for
the demarcation and homologation of land.
We all recognize that several other countries of our region have felt this positive
impact of the Commission´s performance.
It is worth emphasizing that when the American Convention on Human Rights
came into force in 1978 many countries in Central and South America were being ruled
by authoritarian governments. From the 11 state-parties of the Convention at that time
less than half had democratically elected governments. The human rights agenda was
mainly against the state and led mainly by civil society. In that historic context, the Inter-
American Commission played an extraordinary role by performing in loco investigations
and denouncing through its reports serious and massive violations of rights committed
by dictatorial regimens in the region mainly in the 70s. Ever since that time, the
Commission has being a key player in the redemocratization process in the Americas,
contributing to the building a human rights contemporary agenda and to reflecting the
logic of challenges and shared responsibilities, all part of a joint construction that
involves states, victims and civil society.
At the present, the emergence of democratic regimes allowed the human rights to
also become a state policy based on a growing institutionality aimed at the protection
and promotion of human rights in all three branches- Executive, Legislative and
Judiciary- in diverse countries in our region. That was done through the creation of
Secretaries of Human Rights within the Executive power; judiciary policies conceived
with the goal of promotion human rights culture with the Judiciary; national, state and
municipal plans of human rights, among other initiatives. It is ever more reasserted the
inseparability between human rights values, democrat and rule of law. Human rights´
respect is an essential condition to democratic sustainability , to the rule of law
capillarity and to the construction of a peace culture in the region.

3. THE INTER AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION THROUGH A

PROSPECTIVE VISION: CHALLENGES OF ITS FUTURE
Considering this new context, we are challenged with the task of rethinking, giving
new meaning and reinventing the role of the Inter American Commission, as a player
that contributes to the enhancement of human rights, democracy, rule of law and a
peace culture in the region through an articulated, integrated and coordinated action
that should create balance among the duties of promoting, defending and monitoring
human rights. In order to play this important role, it is necessary to have an adequate
and predictable source of financing, while reflecting upon more effective ways for the
Commission to carry on its duties, in light of the current setting of scarce resources.
In this perspective, there are seven core principles that would inspire my role as
a Commissioner, aiming at strengthening the Inter American Human Rights
Commission in the contemporary order:
1) Effectiveness
We must enhance the capacity of dialogue and cooperation among the Inter American
 Commission, the states, the victims, civil society organizations and other actors,
through mediation techniques, trying to reach amicable solutions. In order to
guarantee a higher level in the Inter American system of implementation of
recommendations and decision compliance we must intensify the regional-local
dialogue. The effectiveness of the human rights international protection is strongly
linked to enhanced implementation of national measures.
2) Efficiency
It is essential to deal with the procedural backlog problem, thereby contributing to a
rationalization of procedures and their timing, practice and case management and being
able to identify which cases should be considered a priority. It is also important to
conjugate similar cases among other measures. The American Convention of Human
Rights guarantees the right to have a judgment within a reasonable time, with the due
guarantees by the appropriate body in an independent and impartial way, according to
article 8 (1), which calls for an enhancement in the capacity of the Inter American
Commission to respond quickly and appropriately.
3) Transparency
It is fundamental that we contribute to give more objectivity, clarity and publicity to the
procedures in place, in strict observance to the principles of the due process of law, of
the audi alteram partem and full defense, with the resources and means which are
inherent to it, thereby strengthening the Inter-American justice, with transparency,
access to information, participation and accountability.
4) Institutionality
It is necessary to strengthen observance to juridical parameters and standards of
protection of human rights, with technical rigor in order to enhance the Inter-American
system legality and therefore diminishing any eventual politically-driven action,
considering regional diversity, as well the diversity of legal regimes based on Civil Law
and Common Law, in a way that the Commission can understand well the diverse
juridical traditions in the region.
5) Independence
The legitimacy and credibility of the Inter-American Commission are linked to the
independence of its member, that shall act with impartiality, integrity and non-selectivity,
as stated in articles 34 and 36 of the American Convention of Human Rights.
6) Universality
We must increase the quantity of states that are part of the Inter American system, with
a special and desirable increase in the number of states that are part of the American
Convention (23 states, of which only 22 recognize the Court jurisdiction, according to
data from 2017); as well as increasing the number of states-part of the San Salvador
Protocol with regard to economic, social and cultural rights (16 states are part of the
Protocol according to data from 2017), besides other relevant instruments that foster the
incorporation of protective regional parameters.
7) Sustainability
It is also fundamental to contribute to the appropriate operation of the Inter-American
Commission with technical, administrative and financial resources, allowing it to fulfill is
mandate and functions, at the same time that we try to search a better balance among
the four pillars of the Organization: human rights, democracy, development and
multidimensional security.

It is worth mentioning here the implementation of the ICHR Strategic Plan for 2017-
2020, recently adopted by the State-Parties, after a long debate which also included
consultations with the civil society. At the end, the pursuit of efficiency and the search of
consensus have prevailed. The guidelines and the strategic objectives reinforce the
states´ commitment to transparency, while stimulating the option for friendly settlements
of the cases under the assessment of the Commission.
I accept the challenge of this candidacy with the upmost belief in the importance of
the Inter-American system, which has saved and continues to save so many lives. The
system allowed to put an end to dictatorial regimes; demanded justice in democratic
transitions; and now it demands the enhancement of our democratic institutions in
order to fight human rights´ violations and protect the most vulnerable groups. By
ensuring the safeguard of rights, the Inter-American Commission is playing a relevant
role in the consolidation of minimum protective parameters in defense of human dignity
and fostering domestic advances with regard to legislation and public policies in the
region. The Inter-American regional system symbolizes the consolidation of a “regional
constitutionalism” that seeks to protect and promote human rights in the Inter-American
realm, with an emancipatory and transforming impact, having as its main drive the
articulated, competent and strategic protagonism of civil society in its flight for rights and
justice.
I feel immensely honored to offer myself as an integral part of the Inter-American
Commission, inspired by the highest principle of human dignity and by the defense of
human rights, democracy, peace and the rule of law in the region.