The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States. The IACHR is a permanent body, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States, and it meets in regular and special sessions several times a year to examine allegations of human rights violations in the hemisphere.

The mandate of the Commission is found in the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. It represents all of the member states of the OAS.

The Commission undertakes a number of tasks for the promotion and protection of human rights:

• It receives, analyzes and investigates individual complaints although its views and recommendations on these cases are not binding.
• When it finds one or more violations of the 1969 American Convention or its Protocols, it may consider submitting the case to the Court (only if the State concerned has accepted the adjudicatory competence of the Court) for judgment and litigation.
• It can call on states to adopt precautionary measures to avoid serious and irreparable harm to human life and personal integrity in urgent cases.
• It publishes reports (the general Annual Report as well as Special Reports) on the situation of human rights in the member States of the OAS.
• It carries out on-site visits to monitor on the situation of human rights in different countries.

Submitting a case to the Inter-American Commission involves the following:

• All domestic remedies must be exhausted.
• It must be submitted within a period of six months from the date on which the person denouncing the violation of his or her rights was notified of the final domestic judgment.
• The subject of the communication must not be pending in another international proceeding for settlement (the UNWGEID does not count as such)
• The communication must contain the name, nationality, profession, domicile, and signature of the person or persons or of the legal representative of the entity lodging the petition.
• When submitting the case the basic instrument of reference is the American Convention on Human Rights, or the 1994 Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons for those states that have ratified it.
• Any person or group of persons or any nongovernmental entity legally recognized in one or more member states of the OAS can submit a case to the Inter-American system.
• NGOs and associations of families of the disappeared can assist individuals in presenting their complaints to the Commission or the Court, represent them at public hearings, and submit reports or amicus curiae briefs.
• Information to the Commission must be submitted in writing (preferably by fax or e-mail). Communications can be written in one of the four official languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese and French) of the OAS.

In November 1969 the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Human Rights was held in San José, Costa Rica. In this conference the American Convention on Human Rights was adopted, which came into force on July 18, 1978. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is one of the two organs created by this treaty, together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The Court can:

• Adopt binding judgments and order measures of reparation on individual or inter-state complaints (only when the country concerned has expressly recognized its adjudicatory competence).
• Monitor the implementation of judgments.
• Order the adoption of provisional measures to avoid serious and irreparable harm to human life and personal integrity in urgent cases.
• Adopt advisory opinions on the interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights and other human rights treaties applicable in OAS member states.