Wolf Law Building
(Bildungsroman/Wikimedia Commons)
University of Colorado Law School Dean S. James Anaya welcomed George Washington University Law Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies, Rosa Celorio, to CU to speak as part of the International Human Rights Speaker Series (IHRSS) on Sept. 26, 2019.
Celorio is well-versed in international law, having experience in the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Celorio’s legal work focuses on discrimination and women’s rights cases.
Celorio’s lecture focused on the legal system of protecting human rights in the Americas, the Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS has 35 nations as members and manages cases with seven commissioners and seven judges.
Celorio explained that the system requires petitions to first go through the OAS Commission before they can be prosecuted. When addressing one of the system’s main treaties, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, Celorio said that she had one issue with the title — its use of the word “man.”
“There’s something missing there, right?” Celorio asked.
Celorio stated that the most prominent cases of discrimination in the Americas involve women, children, racial minorities and people discriminated against based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Celorio spoke of cases of discrimination against women.
“Every day the commission is releasing information on discrimination against indigenous women and afro-descendent women,” Celorio said. She added that the “international commission has been very slow at producing standards on economic, social and cultural rights for women.”
Celorio emphasized the danger that human rights defenders experience in areas where human rights are often violated.
Celorio also discussed the effectiveness of the OAS and different approaches the court uses to prosecute cases of discrimination. Celorio said that we still have a huge problem with gender-based violence and that improvement could be made by backing away from a vulnerability approach.
“I do think that encouraging empowerment and autonomy is very important rather than treating women as victims,” Celorio said.
Celorio concluded her talk by discussing issues the system faces when trying to prosecute cases. Some issues Celorio highlighted are that it takes a long time to get a petition through the commission, political pressures are involved, there is a financial crisis within the OAS commission and dialogue is more with states because the commission has benefited tremendously from relationships with the European and African commissions.
To see real compliance, Celorio said, the OAS needs to work with investigations on the local level rather than the federal level.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Kerrie Joyce at kerrie.joyce@colorado.edu.
