The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is one of the international human rights mechanisms that HRP utilizes to hold the United States accountable to international human rights laws and standards. Since the program's inception, we have filed petitions through the IACHR in order to supplement and advance existing ACLU advocacy.
The active petitions and cases we have before the IACHR are below:
Case Name
Description
Structural Racism and Police Violence Hearing
The ACLU and 6 other organizations submitted a request to the IACHR during the 177th Period of Sessions for a hearing to address structural racism and police violence in the United States and specifically the urgent issue of accountability, redress, and reparations for the extrajudicial killings of Black Americans by State agents in the country.
Petition on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen who was kidnapped from Macedonia in 2003 by the U.S. government and transferred to a secret prison in Afghanistan, where he was held and tortured for four months.
Petition on behalf of six domestic workers, all women, who were employed by diplomats in abusive and inhumane conditions that were allowed to persist due to diplomatic immunity.
Petition arguing that the U.S. and the New Jersey government on behalf of citizens of New Jersey challenging their exclusion from voting in federal, state and local elections based on prior convictions.
Petition arguing that the U.S. violated its universal human rights obligations by failing to protect millions of undocumented workers from exploitation and discrimination in the workplace.
Petition arguing that Jeppessen DataPlan, Inc. knowingly participated in extraordinary renditions by providing critical flight planning and logistical support services to aircraft and crews used by the CIA for these purposes.
Petition on behalf of Ali v. Rumsfeld plaintiffs who were subjected to torture and abuse under the command of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Petition on behalf of juveniles sentenced to life in prison without parole (JLWOP) arguing mandatory JLWOP violates regional and international human rights laws.