Part III General and Transitory Provisions, Ch.XI Transitory Provisions, Articles 79–82

Abstract

This chapter evaluates Articles 79–82 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR). Chapter XI closes the text of the ACHR and contains four articles on “Transitional Provisions.” These are divided into two sections. One section is devoted to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the other to the Inter-American Court. They are of purely historical interest, since they were intended to organize the installation of the two protection bodies when the ACHR would come into force. The provisions are therefore not the subject of a separate commentary, but their content and the manner they were discussed during the preparatory work call for a number of common remarks. First, Chapter XI has the fundamental function of organizing the installation of the Commission and the Court in concrete terms the manner in which the members are to be nominated by the States and elected by the OAS General Assembly, all of which is handled by the OAS Secretary-General. Second, this installation raises a question of time, which is regulated in the same way for the Commission and the Court by Chapter XI.