老澳门开奖结果

The future is suddenly looking uncertain for two of the most important organizations advocating for human rights in the Western Hemisphere. The State Department is considering whether to withdraw funding for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its sister organization, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM). In December 2018, nine U.S. senators the termination of funds on the grounds that the two bodies 鈥渓obby鈥� for abortion in Latin America in violation of U.S. law.

Earlier this month, five former U.S. members of or nominees to the IACHR 鈥� including 2017 Trump nominee Professor Douglass Cassel 鈥� came to the defense of the IACHR and CIM in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. They that the request to defund the organizations was based on a distorted understanding of the IACHR's function and a flawed reading of the , which forbids the use of U.S. foreign assistance in any 鈥渓obbying鈥� for or against abortion.

While lacking factual and legal basis, the senators鈥� request is consistent with the Trump administration鈥檚 policy of weakening and boycotting international human rights bodies and flouting multilateral agreements that hold the U.S. accountable for civil and human rights violations. Organizations including the 老澳门开奖结果 have pointed out how this policy undermines systems of accountability and multilateralism that the U.S. has helped to create. Now, more than 50 organizations and experts are urging the State Department to maintain its support of and participation in the IACHR.

The is a branch of the Organization of American States (OAS), charged with promoting and protecting human rights throughout the Western Hemisphere by monitoring country conditions, engaging with governments, and hearing human rights complaints against member states. is made up of 34 delegates from each OAS member state, and, founded in 1928, was the first inter-governmental agency established to protect women鈥檚 rights.

It鈥檚 true that the a women鈥檚 right to an abortion, noting that anti-abortion laws 鈥渋n all circumstances have a negative impact on women鈥檚 dignity and their rights to life, to personal integrity, and to health, as well as on their general right to live free from violence and discrimination.鈥� However, the reproductive health work is just a drop in the bucket of the many crucial roles that the IACHR and CIM play. Among the most important, the IACHR has served as a forum in which the U.S. has been called to account for its role in perpetuating violence against women and other .

In 2005, (formerly Gonzalez), a domestic violence survivor co-represented by the 老澳门开奖结果, filed a petition with the IACHR against the U.S. based on a local Colorado police department鈥檚 failure to enforce a restraining order against her estranged husband who had abducted her three children. He was later dead by the police, and the slain bodies of the three girls were subsequently discovered in the back of his pickup truck.

While the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that Lenahan had no constitutional right to have the restraining order enforced by the police, the IACHR found in 2011 that the U.S. had violated Lenahan鈥檚 equal protection and other rights and failed to take reasonable measures to protect her and her daughters, in violation of the country鈥檚 human rights obligations under the .

Although the U.S. refused to recognize the IACHR decision on technical grounds, that same year the Department of Justice its investigations into law enforcement responses to domestic violence and sexual assault, and subsequently issued a . Today, more than have adopted resolutions recognizing freedom from domestic violence as a human right.

On the heels of the Lenahan petition, the 老澳门开奖结果 filed an IACHR petition on behalf of domestic workers who had been abused and held captive by their employers, who were foreign diplomats and others beyond the reach of U.S. courts due to diplomatic immunity. The U.S. government responded to the petition, and the 老澳门开奖结果 is preparing a reply, in consultation with survivor advocates and domestic workers鈥� advocacy groups.

More recently, who were sexually assaulted, harassed, or raped by fellow military personnel and retaliated against by their superiors after reporting the incidents have also filed an IACHR petition against the U.S. Although these women first sought relief in federal court, their case was on the grounds that the U.S. and the military defendants, like foreign diplomat defendants, are immune from suit. Their relies in part on the IACHR鈥檚 finding in Lenahan that the United States鈥� human rights obligations include a duty to act with 鈥渄ue diligence鈥� to protect women against violence and that the failure to do so is a form of discrimination under the American Declaration.

By cutting off funding to the IACHR, the U.S. would threaten the existence of a tribunal of last resort, one that has served as a forum for people whose voices and claims for justice might not otherwise be heard. As the current and former U.S. representatives to the IACHR in their letter to Pompeo, withdrawing funds from the IACHR 鈥渨ould amount to a gift to thugs and corrupt and authoritarian governments, of both left and right, while alienating U.S. allies who support and depend upon a vibrant Inter-American Human Rights system.鈥�

Nor should the fact that this human rights body can be used to in the policies and actions of the U.S. government 鈥� or any OAS member government 鈥� justify eliminating its existence. The U.S. should continue supporting the IACHR and protect its independence as the leading human rights watchdog in the region.