Regional bodies

There are a number of regional human rights bodies that have been created to monitor, adjudicate and set standards on human rights at the regional level. These include the African Commission (and Court) on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Inter-American Commission (and Court) on Human Rights (IACHR), and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), among others.

While each of these bodies have different structures, mandates and varying levels of competence to set binding legal standards, they perform an important function in enabling regional cooperation on human rights protections. ARTICLE 19’s regional offices and programmes regularly engage with these bodies to improve regional standards and address violations of the right to free expression at the regional level.