A Jamaican has been appointed a Rapporteur on the Rights of Women as well as on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Transsexual, Bisexual, and Intersex Persons (LGTBI).
In addition, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said that Tracy Robinson will now be the Thematic and Country Rapporteur for Bahamas, Honduras, Nicaragua and Suriname; Rapporteur on the Rights of Women; and Rapporteur on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Transsexual Bisexual and Intersex Persons (LGTBI).
The IACHR said that the appointment was made during a two-day working meeting that ended on Friday with the distribution of Thematic and Country Rapporteurships.
Robinson, a lawyer, is a lecturer in Gender and the Law, Constitutional Law and Commonwealth Caribbean Human Rights at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica.
IACHR said she has also been a consultant for international agencies such as the United Nations Fund for Women and UNICEF, and she has advised Caribbean governments on topics related to legislation on gender and children rights, among others.
Robinson, who is also the IACHR first vice-president, was elected at the 41st Organisation of American States (OAS) General Assembly in June 2011 for the standard four-year term, which began on January 1, 2012.
The IACHR said that it had also appointed rapporteurs for several Caribbean islands including Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis, Belize, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. It has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
Source-Jamaica Observer
