Ecuador lobbies T&T on human rights measures

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran has met with his Ecuadorean counterpart, Ricardo Patino, as diplomatic efforts increase to encourage T&T’s support for contentious proposals to reform the Inter-American human rights system.
Yesterday’s meeting in Port-of-Spain precedes Friday’s Extraordinary General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS). It also follows over 18 months of deliberations by a special working group convened to “reflect on the workings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with a view to strengthening the Inter-American human rights system.”
The measures have been roundly criticised by hemispheric human rights organisations as an attempt to reduce the powers and influence of the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The General Assembly is to consider a resolution replacing an earlier version presented to the OAS Permanent Council last Wednesday which attracted the fire of countries such as the United States, Canada, Jamaica and Barbados.