WASHINGTON, The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has presented its strategic plan for 2023–2027, a roadmap for its work over the coming years that focuses on protecting everyone in the Americas.
The plan was released Friday ahead of International Human Rights Day, which will be observed globally on Saturday.
Fifty-three years after the approval of the American Convention on Human Rights, the Commission stresses its commitment to promoting respect for and enforcement of the human rights of groups, communities, and peoples in the Americas, paying particular attention to those who have historically suffered exclusion.
The IACHR said to draft its third strategic plan, it adopted an inclusive, intersectional, and differentiated approach, considered various contexts, and listened to users, civil society organizations, experts in human rights and the inter-American system, and member states of the Organization of American States (OAS).
It conducted 32 consultations to hear opinions and suggestions concerning priority issues, likely challenges for the next five years, and strategic action required in the current context and in the future. An online consultation was held, along with ten regional forums with states and civil society, 12 consultations about priority issues and groups, five internal workshops for the IACHR team, one workshop for donor institutions, and one workshop with OAS institutions.
Overall, these activities brought together 2,663 individuals, 26 member states, and 585 civil society organizations.
The IACHR said that based on these events, it systematized and assessed more than 5,000 opinions, suggestions, and recommendations on the operations of its own mechanisms, the impact of its decisions, the challenges for the coming years, and innovative action that should be integrated into the strategic plan.
“This process confirmed the priority groups and themes that are already contemplated in the IACHR’s 13 thematic and special rapporteurships and in the cross-cutting issues of the current plan and added an extra theme concerning human rights in the digital sphere,” the IACHR said, adding that to deepen the analysis, it also looked at the results of an independent assessment of the current strategic plan, set to end in December 2022.
“This assessment found that the plan was very effective, fostered a results-based management culture, enabled well-coordinated work to fulfill its mission, and helped to modernize the IACHR and to ensure sustainability in its results.”
The IACHR, a principal, autonomous body of the OAS, said that the new strategic plan is based on a theory of change that defines the changes the Commission wants to see in the short, medium, and long term, as well as the results it hopes to achieve through its own actions, with the strategic vision of a scenario in the Americas that is democratic, inclusive, and committed to protecting the human rights of all persons and all peoples in the region, enabling them to live with dignity, equality, and justice.
“The new Strategic Plan sets nine strategic objectives and 34 programs focused on achieving results in the medium term: improving the protection and defense of victims of human rights violations; increasing respect for and enforcement of human rights by states in the Americas; and improving the institutional culture with a human rights focus.”
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