Part II Means of Protection, Ch.VII Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, s.4 Procedure, Article 49

Abstract

This chapter evaluates Article 49 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR). Article 49 of the ACHR complements Article 48-1(f), addressing the noncontentious procedure that may be applied in an individual petition or interstate communication. It describes the steps to be followed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights when a friendly settlement is reached by the parties. Under Article 49 of the ACHR, the Commission must approve the amicable settlement. To do so, it has to verify that the conditions of validity are met, in particular as regards the consent of the parties and the content of the agreement, which must be fully compatible with human rights. Therefore, the approval procedure described briefly under Article 49 (and detailed under Article 40-5 of the Commission's Rules of Procedure) is far from purely formal or technical. Quite the opposite, the noncontentious phase is the subject of a particular attention by the Commission that provides not only an assessment of the terms of the agreement, but also of its status of implementation by the State's authorities.