NEW YORK (Mar. 10, 2026) — The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) recently submitted written observations to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) in response to Guatemala’s request for an Advisory Opinion on “Democracy and Political Rights.” The submission came after the Court invited civil society organizations and experts to contribute analysis regarding whether democracy constitutes a human right protected under Inter-American and international law.
In its submission, HRF respectfully urged the Court to affirm that democracy, long recognized as essential to the enjoyment of human rights, is itself a right belonging to the peoples of the Americas, and an obligation binding upon their governments.
HRF’s written observations to the IACtHR were prepared by Javier El-Hage, HRF’s chief legal & policy officer; Sergei Korotkov, HRF’s international legal associate; Ezequiel Podjarny, HRF’s Americas policy officer; and Mariana Atala, HRF’s Americas legal & policy fellow.
On Dec. 6, 2024, Guatemala formally asked the Court to clarify whether states are obligated under the American Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS), and other relevant instruments to guarantee and promote democracy as a human right, and to define the scope of such obligations.
A public hearing to receive oral arguments on the request will be held during the Court’s 187th session in Brasília, Federative Republic of Brazil. HRF will participate in the March 18 hearing, represented by Chief Legal & Policy Officer Javier El-Hage and Chief Advocacy Officer Roberto González.
“As a result of decades of oppression by left-wing dictatorships and right-wing dictatorships alike, democratic countries in the Americas have long developed the world’s most sophisticated international legal framework — through the OAS Charter and the Inter-American Democratic Charter — to fight back, and it is now the Court’s duty to affirm the right to democracy as a key component of the region’s actionable bill of rights,” said El-Hage. “As constitutions continue to be manipulated by authoritarian rulers, this Advisory Opinion would allow the region’s highest international Court to unequivocally affirm, for the first time, that the peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and that their governments have a legal obligation to promote it and defend it.”
In its submission, HRF argues that democracy is a binding human right in the Inter-American system and not only a political ideal. It explains that, when read together, the OAS Charter, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and the American Convention on Human Rights recognize that the peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and that governments have a legal duty to promote it and protect it from erosion or breakdown. HRF further notes that, based on decades of regional practice and an evolving shared understanding among states, this right has also become a rule of regional customary international law.
The submission maintains that the right to democracy in the Americas is concrete: it protects people’s collective right to live under a representative and participatory political system grounded in the rule of law, free and fair elections, political pluralism, respect for human rights, independent institutions, and meaningful citizen participation. It also stresses that this right creates two main duties for states: to promote democracy by strengthening democratic institutions and civic space, and to defend democracy by refraining from and responding to coups, unconstitutional changes to the constitutional order, and more gradual attacks on core democratic guarantees.
HRF has spent over two decades advancing democratic governance and the rule of law across the Americas and around the world, including by publishing legal analyses, contributing to UN human rights processes, and advocating for prisoners of conscience targeted by authoritarian regimes. HRF’s Center for Law and Democracy (HRF-CLD) leads the organization’s scholarly work on international democracy, law, and human rights.
