When good intentions do not go too well: assessing the role of the Latin American Parliament in the achievement of socioeconomic development in Latin America

Formally conceived as a permanent organization that benefits from its own juridical status and corresponding privileges and immunities according to its establishing treaty, the Latin American Parliament (‘Parlatino’) represents an ambitious project for the enhancement of regional integration and cooperation in the Latin America and Caribbean region (‘LAC’). Parlatino’s numerous failures and modest successes have resulted from its intergovernmental nature and reflect the circumstance that the organization constitutes a process for cooperation, rather than a real institution with definite powers and the means for enforcing them. The author traces the origins and history of Parlatino, follows developments through the ope- ration of its internal bodies –in particular the Permanent Commissions and the Board of Directors– and assesses Parlatino’s accomplishments especially in the areas of socio-economic cooperation. The author concludes, in view of the diverse interests of its members, that Parlatino’s enduring focus on a relatively limited number of countries from the Latin-American region will continue to deprive this institution of a chance of real success in this region, especially in the field of socio-economic cooperation.Concebida formalemtne como una organización permanente que se beneficia de sus propios privilegios e inmunidades de acuerdo con su tratado constitutivo, el Parlamento Latinoamericano (‘Parlatino’) representa un ambicioso proyecto para la mejora de la integración y la cooperación regional en la región de América Latina y el Caribe. Numerosos fracasos y éxitos modestos han resultado de su naturaleza intergubernamental que reflejan que esta organización constituye un proceso de cooperación, en lugar de una verdadera institución con poderes definidos y medios para hacer cumplir sus funciones. El autor traza los orígenes y la historia del Parlatino, sigue la evolución a través del funcionamiento de sus órganos internos –en particular, las Comisiones Permanentes y el Consejo de Administración– y evalúa los logros del Parlatino sobre todo en los ámbitos de la cooperación socio-económica. El autor llega a la conclusión, a la vista de los diversos intereses de sus miembros, que el Parlatino reconocido en número relativamente limitado de países de la región latinoamericana continuará privando a esta institución de una posibilidad de éxito real en la región, especialmente en el ámbito de la cooperación socio-económica

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Right to Adequate Food

General Comment No. 12 was herald as a turning point for the protection of the right to adequate food under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It helps all public authorities –from local councils to central governments, from social services to tribunals and courts– to act compatibly with this fundamental right enshrined in Art. 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and provides States Parties to the Covenant with useful baseline information for their periodic reports to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Nevertheless, more than ten years after its enactment, there is a notable lack of a positive culture of respect for this right in several Contracting States. Undeniably, in recent times the right to adequate food has been more pilloried than celebrated and General Comment No. 12 itself has suffered at the hands of a range of detractors who have frequently indicated its modest utility. This article considers the impressive ambition of General Comment No. 6 to convert society through the opening of a culture of respect for the right to food. It maintain that the failure to guarantee institutional commitment to positive compliance of the right to adequate food –and translate this fundamental right into practical reality as an integral part of public life– has fostered scepticism of General Comment No. 12 and eventually undermined the acceptance in public consciousness of the right to food as a positive social good

Sulla convenzione dell’organizzazione degli stati americani sui diritti delle persone anziane

Il contributo che segue delinea una sintesi del le novità maggiormente salienti contenute nella recente Convenzione Inter Americana sui diritti delle persone anziane, il primo strumento internazionale giuridicamente vincolante previsto in subiecta materia. Premesse alcune considerazioni generali sulla genesi storica della Convenzione, il lavoro prosegue con la trattazione particolareggiata dei contenuti più salienti del nuovo trattato. Questo però non prima di avere dedicato, nel paragrafo secondo, qualche sintetica riflessione anche sulle principali inizia-tive, intraprese rispettivamente nell’ambito delle Nazioni Unite, dell’Unione Europea e del Consiglio d’Europa in materia di tutela internazionale delle persone agée. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the main issues related to the international protection of older persons under the recent inter-american convention on the protection and promotion of the rights and dignity of older persons. It first critically assess the meaning inter alia of the terms «older persons», «equality of opportunity», «older people in need of long-term care and assistance» and «accessibility». Second, and finally, it examines the range of human rights and difficulites associated with interpreting the content and scope of each rights, balanced against other competing rights and values

Enhancing the Implementation of the State’s Duty to Investigate Targeted Killings In the Case-Law of the European Court of Human Rights and American Court of Human Rights

Summary: I. Introduction. II. THE PHENOMENON OF TARGETED KILLINGS IN ITS HISTORICAL DIMENSION. III. THE PHENOMENON OF TARGETED KILLINGS IN ITS LEGAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS. IV. THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STANDARDS ON THE INVESTIGATION OF TARGETED KILLINGS. V. The Two Major Human Rights Systems of Adjudication. 1. The ECHR System of Human Rights Protection. A. Right under the ECHR Convention. B. The Duty to Investigate Targeted Killings in the Case-Law of the ECtHR. 2. The ACHR System of Human Rights Protection. A. Rights Under the ACHR. B. The State’s Duty to Investigate Targeted Killings in the Case-Law of the ACtHR. VI. THE EUROPEAN AND INTER AMERICAN COURTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS SHOULD USE THE UNITED NATIONS PRINCIPLES AND THE PROTOCOL OF MINNESOTA FOR ASSESSING COMPLIANCE WITH THE STATE’S OBLIGATION TO INVESTIGATE TARGETED KILLINGS. 1. The European and Inter American Courts Fail to Provide That the State’s Duty to Investigate Targeted Killings is Not Necessarily Triggered by a Formal Complaint to the Police. 2. The European and Inter-American Courts’ Approach Fail to Provide Practical Guidance on How Crime Scene and Forensic Investigations Should Be Conducted in Cases of Potentially Unlawful Deaths. VII. FURTHER CONCLUDING RECOMMENDATIONS: THE ECtHR SHOULD CHANGE ITS ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE BURDEN OF PROOF IN TARGETED KILLING CASES