Argentina urges Ecuador to continue with the reforms to ISHR

Ricardo Patino applauds

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patinosaid the decision was taken following the request of the ALBA to continue with the debate. The outcome will depend on the capacity of each country to negotiate, thus the meeting last Friday after the meeting of nearly 12 hours of the Extraordinary General Assembly of theOrganization of American States (OAS) inWashington (United States).

When the resolution seemed to have consensus, there was a break of 45 minutes but lasted almost three hours. Time in whichEcuador, Venezuela, Bolivia andNicaragua insisted to include their main proposals, change the IACHR headquarters, limiting the financing of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and remove the power of IACHR to issue precautionary measures, but these were not accepted.

When they returned to the auditorium, Patino discussed the draft resolution, which he said had been destroyed and emptied of the most important and obviously said: “If our specific proposals are not considered, Ecuador understands that is better to be outside.”

At 21h00, Hector Timerman, the Argentine foreign minister insisted on “make an effort to achieve consensus and hopefully unanimity” to avoid the weakening of the ISHR due to the abandonment of more countries, such as Venezuela that is already in process of leaving. Around 22h00, another 10-minute break was made, which lasted nearly two hours. This time countries of the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA), Haiti and Argentina convinced Patino to accept the suggestion of Timmerman.

At midnight Patino sat again with the Assembly and gave the news that he had accepted the amendment to paragraph 2 that Argentina requested.