Inter-American Human Rights System and the United States: from a foreign affairs’ tool to domestic mechanism of change

Abstract

Over the last 60 years, the relation between the Inter-American Human Rights System and the United States has gone through ebbs and flows. During the last administration, Trump never let a word out about the Inter-American Human Rights System. Despite that, the Inter-American Human Rights System has been coming after thorny domestic issues in the United States. This article exams how the Inter-American Human Rights System found ground to promptly confront one of the most powerful countries following human rights violations. It also explores how, in reaction to that, there has been a growing interest among citizens, academics and civil society at large in rediscovering the Inter-American Human Rights System as an efficient tool to instill human rights change from within the United States.