Inter-American System of Human Rights

Organization of American States (OAS) has 35 countries as members.  There are two legal sources of the inter-American human rights system:  the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights.  The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is the system created by the OAS Charter and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.  The Charter system is legally binding on all 35 member countries, but the Convention applies only to the countries that ratified it.  The Convention created the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, based in Costa Rica.