The Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The inter-American system and the organization of American states; origins of the system; the organization of American states; the major organs of the OAS; the regional system for protecting human rights; under the OAS charter; the American convention on human rights; the structure and procedure of the court; structure of the court; rights, duties and responsibilities of judges; organization of the court; the practice and procedure of the court; contentious proceedings; advisory opinions; the contentious jurisdiction of the court; acceptance of the court's jurisdiction; waiver of commission procedures; exhaustion of domestic remedies; evidence and the burden of proof in contentious cases; judgments in contentious cases; remedies; the advisory jurisdiction of the court; basis of the court's advisory jurisdiction; who may request an advisory opinion?; what may be the subject matter of an advisory opinion?; the court's obligation to tender advisory opinions; disguised contentious cases; the meaning of "other treaties" in article 64(1); the meaning of "domestic laws" in article 64(2); agencies of the state competent to seek an opinion; the developing jurisprudence of the court; the court's techniques of interpretation; the literal approach; context and object and purpose; supplementary means of interpretation; the development of international law by the court; the law of treaties; state responsibility; the rule against discrimination; the development of the court's jurisprudence concerning the convention substantive rights; disappearances - the right to life (article 4), the right to humane treatment (article 5) and the right to personal liberty (article 7); the right to nationality (article 20); freedom of thought and expression (article 13); right to reply (article 14); restrictions to, and derogation from, rights protected by the convention; evolving concepts, current problems and future prospects; the court, its ideology and human rights; human rights and ius cogens; human rights as novel instruments; lack of use of the court's contentious jurisdiction; general problems concerning the international protection of human rights; problems arising from the structure of the convention.