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76 Am. J. Int'l L. 231 (1982)
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights

handle is hein.journals/ajil76 and id is 237 raw text is: THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF
HUMAN RIGHTS
By Thomas Buergenthal*
I. INTRODUCTION
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has drafted its Statute, adopted
its Rules of Procedure, negotiated its headquarters agreement, and so far dealt
with its first case.1 It is timely, therefore, to describe the Court's institutional
framework and to analyze its jurisdiction. A more extensive study, of course,
will have to await its developing case law.
The Court was established by the American Convention on Human Rights,
which entered into force in 1978; to date the Convention has been ratified by
17 of the 29 member states of the Organization of American States.2 The Court
consists of seven judges, nominated and elected by the states parties to the
Convention.3 The judges must be nationals of an OAS member state, but they
need not have the nationality of the states parties to the Convention.4 The
regular term of the judges is 6 years; they may be reelected for one additional
term.5 The judges constituting the first Court were elected in May 1979.6
* Of the Board of Editors; Judge, Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Government of Costa Rica (In the Matter of Viviana Gallardo et al.), Inter-American Court
of Human Rights, Decision of Nov. 13, 1981, reprinted in 20 ILM 1424 (1981). For the Prelim-
inary Ruling in this case, see Decision of July 22, 1981, reprinted in id. at 1057.
2 The American Convention on Human Rights [hereinafter cited as Convention] was opened
for signature in San JosE, Costa Rica, on Nov. 22, 1969, and entered into force on July 18, 1978.
For the official text, see ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES, HANDBOOK OF EXISTING RULES
PERTAINING TO HUMAN RIGHTS [hereinafter cited as HANDBOOK] 27, OEA/Ser.L/V/1 1.50, doc.
6 (1980). The text as it appears in OAS, OFFICIAL RECORDS, OEA/Ser.K/XVI/1.1, doc. 65,
Rev.1, Corr. 2 (1970), is reprinted in 9 ILM 673 (1970).
As of January 1982, the following OAS member states had ratified the Convention: Barbados,
Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Gua-
temala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
On the American Convention in general, see Symposium: The American Convention on Human
Rights, 30 AM. U.L. REV. 1-187 (1980); Frowein, The European and the American Conventions
on Human Rights-A Comparison, 1 HUMAN RIGHTS L.J. 44 (1980); L. SOHN & T. BUERGEN-
THAL, INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 1356-74 (1973); Fox, The American
Convention on Human Rights and Prospects for United States Ratification, 3 HUMAN RIGHTS
(ABA) 243 (1973); Buergenthal, The American Convention on Human Rights: Illusions and Hopes,
21 BUFFALO L. REV. 121 (1971). For a study of the Court, see Abranches, The Inter-American
Court of Human Rights, 30 AM. U.L. REV. 79 (1980).
3 Convention, Art. 52.
4 Id., Art. 53. On this subject, see Buergenthal, The American and European Conventions on
Human Rights: Similarities and Differences, 30 AM. U.L. REV. 155, 157-59 (1980).
Convention, Art. 54.
6 The following were elected in the first election: Thomas Buergenthal (U.S.), M~ximo Cisneros
(Peru), Huntley Eugene Munroe (Jamaica), C~sar Ord6fiez (Colombia), Rodolfo Piza (Costa
Rica), Carlos Roberto Reina (Honduras), and M. Rafael Urquia (El Salvador). Judge Urquia
resigned shortly after his election and was succeeded by Judge Pedro Nikken of Venezuela, who
was elected in October 1979.

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