Freedom of Expression

Mandate of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression

The Office of the Special Rapporteur has a general mandate to carry out activities for the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of thought and expression. This includes the following activities: 

• Advise the IACHR in evaluating cases and requests for precautionary measures, as well as in preparing reports.
• Carry out promotional and educational activities on the right to freedom of thought and expression.
• Advise the IACHR in conducting on-site visits to OAS member countries to deepen the general observation of the situation and/or to investigate a particular situation having to do with the right to freedom of thought and expression.
• Conduct visits to OAS Member States.
• Prepare specific and thematic reports.
• Promote the adoption of legislative, judicial, administrative, or other types of measures that may be necessary to make effective the exercise of the right to freedom of thought and expression.
• Coordinate with ombudsmen’s offices or national human rights institutions to verify and follow up on conditions involving the exercise of the right to freedom of thought and expression in the Member States.
• Provide technical advisory support to the OAS bodies.
• Prepare an annual report on the situation regarding the right to freedom of thought and expression in the Americas, which will be considered by the full Inter-American Commission for its approval and inclusion in its Annual Report to the General Assembly.
• Gather all the information necessary to prepare the aforementioned reports.

In 1998, the Commission announced a public competition for the post of Special Rapporteur. Once the process was completed, the IACHR decided to designate as Special Rapporteur the Argentine attorney Santiago A. Canton, who assumed the post on November 2, 1998. In March 2002, the IACHR named Argentine attorney Eduardo A. Bertoni as Special Rapporteur. Bertoni occupied this position from May 2002 to December 2005. On March 15, 2006, the IACHR chose Venezuelan attorney Ignacio J. Alvarez as Special Rapporteur. In April 2008, the IACHR announced a competition to select Álvarez’s successor. During the period in which the post was vacant, the Office of the Special Rapporteur was under the responsibility of then-Commission Chairman Paolo Carozza. The competition was closed in June 2008, and the pre-selected candidates to occupy this post were interviewed in July, during the IACHR’s 132nd period of sessions. Following the round of interviews, on July 21, 2008, the IACHR selected Colombian attorney Catalina Botero Marino as Special Rapporteur.[1] The new Special Rapporteur assumed the post on October 6, 2008.

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