CIDH-CP-8/03

During its LX Regular Period of Sessions the Inter-American Court of Human Rights chose as its new Secretary the Chilean attorney Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, who currently serves as Deputy Secretary of the Court. Dr. Saavedra will replace Dr. Manuel E. Ventura Robles, who was elected as Judge of the Court during the last General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). Dr. Saavedra will asume his new duties as Secretary on January 1, 2004.

Dr. Saavedra studied law at the University Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile. Subsequently, he completed a masters in international law at the University of Notre Dame in the United States. He worked as an attorney of the National Body for Reparation and Reconciliation in Chile. He was an attorney of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights in Washington, D.C. for four years and, since 2001, has served as Deputy Secretary of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution of the Organization of American States; its objective is the application and interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights and other treaties regarding this same matter, and it was established in 1979. It is formed by jurists of the highest moral standing and widely recognized competence in the area of human rights, elected in an individual capacity.

For further information, please contact:

Manuel E. Ventura Robles, Secretary

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Apartado 6906-1000, San José, Costa Rica

Phone (506) 234-0581. Fax (506) 234-0584

Website: www.corteidh.or.cr

E-mail: corteidh@corteidh.or.cr

San José, September 10, 2003.

(*)The content of this press release is the responsibility of the Secretariat of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The official text of the documents summarized here can be obtained by addressing a written request to the Secretariat, at the address below.