The Inter-American Court of Human Rights elected during its XLV Regular Session

its new President and Vice-President.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights elected during its XLV Regular Session its new President and Vice-President for the period 1999 - 2001. Its President during the period 1997 - 1999, until this session, was the Judge Hernán Salgado-Pesantes, Ecuadorian.

The new President of the Court is Judge Antônio A. Cançado-Trindade, of Brazilian nationality. Judge Cançado-Trindade is Ph.D. in International Law by the University of Cambridge, Great Britain; Professor of International Law at the University of Brasilia and at the Diplomatic Academy Rio-Branco of Brazil; visiting professor in numerous Universities and rapporteur of themes in a great many international congresses or symposia of International Law in several countries, among them the Hague Academy of International Law (1987) and the Courses of International Law organized by the OAS Inter-American Juridical Committee. Member of the Boards of Directors of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, of which he was Executive Director (1994-1996), and of the International Institute of Human Rights (Strasbourg), and associé of the Institut de Droit International. As a jurist, Judge Cançado-Trindade has been, among other posts, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of External Relations of Brazil (1985-1990); member of the Group of Senior Legal Advisers to the United Nations Environment Programme (1990-1992); member of the Commission of Jurists of the OAS for Nicaragua (1993-1994); Director of the Brazilian Journal of International Law (since 1985). From 1992 to 1995, he gave legal opinions to international organisms such as UNHCR, ICRC and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Judge Cançado-Trindade has published 23 books and more than 250 monographs in the main worldwide publications of International Law. He was elected as Judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 1995.

The new Vice-President of the Court is Judge Máximo Pacheco-Gómez, of Chilean nationality. Judge Pacheco-Gomez is Doctor specialized in the Philosophy of Law by the Rome University; professor of the Introduction to the Study of Juridical and Social Sciences and was elected Dean in the Social Sciences School of the University of Chile in 1972; has given numerous lectures on the subject of specialization in several universities, among them: Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Moscow, Buenos Aires and Autonomous of Mexico. Judge Pacheco-Gomez has held the positions of Ambassador of Chile to the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (1965-1970); Minister of Public Education (1968-1970); President of the Inter-American Council for the Education, the Sciences and the Culture (1970); President of the Juridical Editorial of Chile (1972-1974); Senator of the Republic of Chile (1990-1994) and Honorary Consul of Lithuania in Chile (1995). He was elected as Judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 1992.

The other Judges of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights are: Hernán Salgado-Pesantes (Ecuador); Oliver Jackman (Barbados); Alirio Abreu-Burelli (Venezuela); Sergio García-Ramírez (Mexico) and Carlos Vicente de Roux-Rengifo (Colombia). The Secretary of the Court is Manuel E. Ventura-Robles, and the Deputy Secretary, Renzo Pomi.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution of the Organization of American States, formally established in 1979. It is formed by jurists of the highest moral standing and competence in the area of Human Rights. The Judges are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and cannot exercise their functions for more than two six year terms.