Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Limit: XX delegates
Committee Chairs
IACHR Description
The IACHR is an Institution rooted from the Inter-American System of Human Rights protection. It was founded in 1979 with the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights in the Americas. This committee, just like in the real world, is driven by human rights protection. The day of the conference delegates will be assigned one of three positions: judge, state or petitioner. As a judge your job is to lead the debate, listen closely and ask questions. If you are a petitioner you defend the victim of the case using the American convention on human rights. As state you are in charge of finding evidence and loopholes that protect the state. You will be involved in a passionate debate that includes morality as well as legality. You will research various different testimonies and look into the context of the country you are representing. Overall you will define the limits of the state in regard to their citizens.
CASE A: Michael Domingues v. United States of America
On October 22nd, 1993, sixteen-year-old Michael Domingues brutally murdered Arjin Chanel Pechpo and her four-year-old son, Jonathan Smith. Due to the two homicides that took place in the state of Nevada Mr. Dominguez was sentenced to death at sixteen years old. Furthermore, on November 1st, 1999 the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review a ruling by the Supreme Court of the State of Nevada permitting the execution of a person convicted of a crime committed while a juvenile. The issue is that the United States is part of the American Convention on human rights, and we can clearly see breaches of Articles I (right to life), II (right to equality before law), VII (right to protection for mothers and children) and XXVI (right to due process of law), and others. The United States claims to not be in breach of any of these articles due to Article 6 of the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) permits the use of the death penalty in limited circumstances, it also provides that “nothing in this article shall be invoked to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment by any State Party to the present Covenant.”, as well as the United States amendments.
It is your responsibility as a delegate to find out more about the original murder trial, as well as dig deep into the United States right to enforce capital punishment. Look into the context of the USA in the 90s and into every person involved in the case.
CASE B: Guzmán Albarracín et al. v. Ecuador
Paola del Rosario Guzmán Albarracín was born on December 10, 1986, in the city of Guayaquil, where she lived with her mother, grandmother and younger sister. From the age of 12 onwards she attended a public school for girls under the supervision of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Ecuador. In 2001, when she was 14 years old and in her second year at the school, Paola began having difficulties with certain subjects and faced the prospect of having to repeat the year. The vice principal of the school, Bolívar Eduardo Espín Zurtía, offered to help her pass to the next grade, on condition that she would have sexual relations with him. There are also testimonies and indications suggesting that the staff at the school knew about the relationship between the two, and that Paola had not been the only student with whom the vice principal had had close contacts of that nature. On December 12, 2002, Paola swallowed some pellets containing white phosphorus (also known as “diablillos”) at home. On the way to school she told her classmates what she had done, and when she arrived at school, they took her to the infirmary. The Inspector General was informed and went to the infirmary, where she offered no more help than urging Paola to pray to God. Her classmates called Paola’s mother, who arrived at the school nearly 30 minutes later, and then took Paola away in a taxi to the Hospital Luis Vernaza, where they pumped her stomach. When she did not improve, they took Paola to the Clínica Kennedy.
On the morning of December 13, 2002, Paola del Rosario Guzmán Albarracín died at the Clínica Kennedy, in the city of Guayaquil, as a result of poisoning caused by voluntary ingestion of white phosphorus. Paola left three letters before she committed suicide. In one letter, addressed to the vice principal, Paola says that she felt “betrayed” by him, and that she decided to take poison because she could no longer bear “all the things I’ve suffered.”
According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization, in 2008 -years after Paola’s abuse took place-, 23.3% of the children surveyed in Guayaquil reported having been victims of some form of sexual abuse. As a delegate, you must investigate further on the facts regarding Paola’s case, the whereabouts of her abusers and the measures taken by the Ecuatioran State regarding the situation. You may rely on the American Convention, the Protocol of San Salvador, the Belém do Pará Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.