A group made up of three law students from the Universidad Austral For the first time, it obtained the confidential responses that the Peruvian State sent to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on various matters that would affect the protection of fundamental rights. Draft laws limiting the application and scope of crimes against humanity and war crimes, reports of threats and restrictions on freedom of expression and association in Peru, and issues related to human mobility and climate change, among others, triggered the regional body's inquiries. 

The Human Rights Clinic of the Universidad Austral has achieved an unprecedented feat in the field of public oversight and international transparency. Mateo Acosta Sabatini, Alexander Chatfield, and Ana Batallán, fourth- and fifth-year law students, under the guidance of Professor Lucas Gómez, with the collaboration of Bruno Noblecilla Marini, a Peruvian lawyer, and through mechanisms provided for in laws on access to public information, They managed to obtain confidential communications that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) sent to the Peruvian State in 2024This organization is part of the Organization of American States (OAS), created in 1948, and is responsible for the protection and defense of Human Rights. 

To achieve this objective, the starting point was the assumption that the content of these letters and responses had always been confidential, according to the IACHR's practice. That said, there is no rule establishing this, so the goal was to achieve something unprecedented: access to these letters sent by the IACHR and the states' responses. These communications, sent under the protection of Article 41 of the American Convention on Human Rights, concern... urgent requests for information and measures to the Peruvian State in cases linked to possible human rights violations. This initiative began at the end of July of this year, and the responses from the Peruvian State arrived on October 6th.  

“This experience allowed us to engage with real-world problems and put our legal knowledge into practice with a clear objective: to contribute to the effective enjoyment of human rights. Working with communications from the Inter-American system not only helped us understand firsthand how its mechanisms function, but also challenged us to find creative solutions within complex legal frameworks. Today we have achieved something unprecedented, and that has unique educational value because it brings us closer to becoming professionals who are not only academically sound, but also committed to transparency, institutional strengthening, and human rights,” reflected Ana Batallán, a law student at the Universidad Austral.  

Excerpt from a response from the Peruvian state to a communication from the IACHR. 

This achievement represents an extraordinary discovery from several points of view: 

• Article 41 communications have functioned thus far as confidential mechanisms of the Inter-American system to urgently request information and measures from the State in the face of possible human rights violations. 
• Neither the content nor the state's response to these communications is public: when the IACHR's annual report is published, only the title of the communication can be known, without access to its text or the actions taken by the State to respond.
• That these students—through strategies for accessing public information—have managed to declassify these communications represents a unprecedented opening to citizen scrutiny of the functioning of the IACHR and state compliance.
• The clinic is currently thoroughly analyzing all the documentation obtained, which undoubtedly contains data of enormous value to civil society, media, public and academic authorities interested in transparency and the Inter-American human rights system. 

What are the IACHR's "Article 41 communications"? 

Article 41 of the American Convention on Human Rights, ratified in January 2012 by 24 countries in the region (Peru is one of them), establishes that the Inter-American Commission has among its functions to request reports from member States on the measures they adopt in the area of ​​human rights, as well as to formulate recommendations when it deems it appropriate.   

This mechanism functions as a prior monitoring instrument, which does not require that the country's internal resources have been exhausted, and which is activated even before a case is in a judicial or contentious phase. 

In practice, these communications are formal warnings that the Commission, in its role of promoting and defending human rights, believes the State may be infringing upon fundamental rights, and requires it to justify or take preventive measures. To this end, the State is obligated to respond, but both communications (from the State and the State's response) are generally kept confidential, not by legal mandate, but due to an implicit practice between the IACHR and the States. 

“This case sets a significant precedent: for the first time, an academic group has gained access to confidential communications under Article 41 in Peru, which could inspire similar actions in other countries in the region and a rethinking by the Inter-American Commission regarding its customary practice of confidentiality,” said Lucas Gómez, professor of Human Rights at the Universidad Austral. 

Communication from the IACHR sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Javier González-Olaechea Franco 

Communications obtained in 2024  

The following is a list of the communications sent by the IACHR to the Peruvian State during 2024 that were obtained (titles, dates, references). It is important to note that, even having obtained the responses mentioned, not all those requested were obtained, as is the case with the investigation of journalists, which could give rise to legal actions for access to public information.   

• Update on proceedings against the National Board of Justice (JNJ). 

• Bill that limits the application and scope of crimes against humanity and war crimes.  

• Investigative proceedings against prosecutors and journalists. 

• Human mobility and climate change in the Americas.  

• Request for Information on reports of sexual violence against girls, boys and adolescents in the Awajún and Wampi villages in Peru. 

• Request for information on reports of threats and restrictions to freedom of expression and association in Peru. 

Invitation to the press and civil society 

The Human Rights Clinic of the Universidad Austral It invites media outlets, human rights organizations, academics, and institutions linked to transparency and international monitoring to closely follow this investigation.  

You can access the content of the letters under Article 41 addressed to Peru and the State's responses through the following link:  

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHVDIO_hMpRsrVtgurGDHmE0OQ-KzSNHzdTgYYUJwQBEGc8g/viewform?usp=dialog