Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has given notice of its intention to withdraw in a year’s time from the leading regional human rights treaty in the Americas, with the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) having confirmed receipt of the notice of denunciation here: http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-307/12. (Rumours back in July had suggested that Venezuela was considering withdrawal.) The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has also issued a press release announcing that Venezuela is withdrawing from the American Convention on Human Rights, with the denunciation to take effect in September 2013. The IACHR press release can be found here: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2012/117.asp The American Convention on Human Rights (also known as the Pact of San José, Costa Rica) was adopted in 1969 and entered into force in 1978. It is a key regional human rights instrument for the protection of civil and political rights within the Western Hemisphere (with the Convention working alongside the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man…