The Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS) offers alternative channels through which people may advocate for fundamental rights, social change and institutional reform. It serves as a particularly appealing venue for human rights advocates and organizations, whose mandates are typically local, to incorporate an international human rights dimension to their work. This regional human rights system, while serving as a last resort in the protection of human rights victims, also functions as a source of principles and standards, helping to drive and direct processes to strengthen local and national institutions. In its more than 50 years, the norms and jurisprudence of the IAHRS have played an essential role in the advancement of laws and public policies respectful of fundamental rights as well as in the improvement of the democratic systems and the rule of law.

HRI’s current work before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) seeks to develop international law arguments and strategies in the areas of domestic violence, violence against women, juvenile life without parole, and the rights of Haitians and Haitians descendants in the Dominican Republic, among others.