Part II Means of Protection, Ch.VII Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, s.2 Functions, Article 42

Abstract

This chapter explores Article 42 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), which is a procedural and institutional provision. It requires the States Parties to the Convention to transmit to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights copies of the reports and studies that they submit to other inter-American bodies each year. Although this provision appears to be a marginal procedural provision, it reflects the longstanding position of American States on the nature of economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR). Indeed, according to that position, the nature of the economic, social, and cultural rights is perceived to be different from that of civil and political rights and therefore, does require different and specific mechanisms of overview. Article 42 is intimately and inherently connected to Article 26; formally speaking, the “implicit rights” mentioned in Article 42 are those quoted in Article 26.