Chapter 3 • The Major Regional Human Rights Instruments and the Mechanisms for Their Implementation The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child protects numerous rights which have to be interpreted and applied in the best interest of the child. The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child shall promote and protect the rights of the child. The implementation mechanism consists of (a) a reporting procedure, and (b) a complaints procedure. 3. American Human Rights Treaties and their Implementation 3.1 The American Convention on Human Rights, 1969, and its Protocols of 1988 and 1990 The American Convention on Human Rights, 1969,7 also commonly called the Pact of San José, Costa Rica, since it was adopted in that capital city, entered into force on 18 July 1978 and, as of 9 April 2002, had 24 States parties, following the denunciation of the treaty by Trinidad and Tobago on 26 May 1998.8 The Convention reinforced the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which since 1960 had existed as “an autonomous entity of the Organization of American States”.9 It became a treaty-based organ which, together with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, “shall have competence with respect to matters relating to the fulfilment of the commitments made by the States Parties” to the Convention (art. 33). In 1988, the General Assembly of the OAS further adopted the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, also called the Protocol of San Salvador.10 This Protocol develops the provisions of article 26 of the Convention whereby the States parties in general terms “undertake to adopt measures, both internally and through international co-operation, ... with a view to achieving progressively, by legislation or other appropriate means, the full realization of the rights implicit in the economic, social, educational, scientific, and cultural standards set forth in the Charter of the Organization of American States as amended by the Protocol of Buenos Aires”. This Protocol entered into force on 16 November 1999 and, as of 9 April 2002, had 12 States parties.11 7 OAS Treaty Series, No. 36. 8 See the following OAS web site: http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/Sigs/b-32.html. 9 OAS doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.83, doc. 14, corr. 1, March 12, 1993, Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 1992-1993, p. 5. 10 OAS Treaty Series, No. 69. 11 See: http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/Sigs/a-52.html. 80 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers