OAS appoints new members of the IACHR and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

This Friday the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) elected three new members of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and four of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).

The new members of the IACHR, elected by the majority of the votes for the period 2022-2025, are the Mexican Joel Hernández García, who renewed his seat; Roberta Clarke from Barbados and Carlos Bernal Pulido from Colombia.

At the beginning of the third session of the 51st General Assembly, the Brazilian Rodrigo Bittencourt Mydrovitsch, the Argentine Verónica Gómez, the Costa Rican Nancy Hernández López and the Chilean Patricia Pérez Goldberg were elected to join the Inter-American Court from 2022 and for the next five years.

Goldberg won her place in a playoff with Paraguayan Miryam Josefina Peña Candia.

Prior to the election at the IACHR, more than 60 Colombian, American, and Americas organizations rejected the candidacy of Bernal Pulido to the IACHR, nominated by the Government of Colombia.

In a press release sent to EfeThe organizations criticized that Bernal adopted decisions during his time at the Constitutional Court of his country that allegedly “violated the human rights of some sectors of the population.”

Specifically, according to the organizations, Bernal Pulido made “decisions that violated the rights of boys and girls, women, the LGBTIQ + community, peasants, among others.”

In addition, the 34 delegations meeting in the OAS Assembly unanimously elected Dean Evanson, from Antigua and Barbuda, to the Board of External Auditors.

In addition, for the Administrative Tribunal of the OAS, Wilson Vallejo Bazante, from Ecuador; and for the Center for Justice Studies of the Americas, the position was held by Jenny Murphy and Nadia Franco Basán, from the US and Panama, respectively.

Likewise, the Peruvian Luis García-Corrochano Moyano was appointed, the only candidate who ran to fill the three vacancies on the Inter-American Juridical Committee.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo, who chairs the 51st General Assembly of the OAS, indicated that the other two members will be defined by the OAS Permanent Council before December 15.

Guatemala is the host country of the 51st General Assembly of the OAS, which comes to an end this Friday after being held for three days virtually for the second consecutive year due to the pandemic. (I)