INTRODUCTION

          The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has the honor to submit its report to the General Assembly, in compliance with the provisions of Article 52 f of the Charter of the Organization of American States.

            This report contains four “sections”: The first is a summary of the origin, structure and competence of the Commission; the second contains the material that is called for expressly in Article 9 (bis) of its Statute; the third summarizes the other activities of the Commission during the year. In addition, this Annual Report adds a fourth section on the development of the situation of human rights in Uruguay and Paraguay, in accordance with decisions of the eighth regular session of the General Assembly. The Commission also decided, in view of its previous reports, to add studies on the human rights situation in Chile and Panama in 1978 to this fourth section.

          Section One also includes a summary of the Commission’s budget and an account of its relations with other organs of the system and with similar regional and global agencies.

          Section Two, in accordance with operative paragraph 4 of Resolution XXII of the Second Special Inter-American Conference, is divided into three parts: I – “A statement of progress achieved in realization of the goals set forth in the American Declaration;” II – “A statement of areas in which further steps are needed to give effect to the human rights set forth in the American Declaration,” and III – “Such observations as the Commission may deem appropriate on matters covered in the communications submitted to it and in other information available to the Commission.”

          In order to prepare Part I of this Section, the Commission requested the governments of the member states of the Organization to transmit to it information on the progressive steps taken in the texts of laws promulgated and of judicial decisions and administrative acts issued during 1977 and 1978 in relation to the promotion and defense of the rights and duties of man set forth in the American Declaration. The Governments of Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica and Nicaragua had sent information concerning their legislation on matters of human rights, up to the time this report was prepared.

          Section Three contains a detailed summary of the activities of the IACHR in connection with its 43^rd, 44^th and 45^th sessions, which permits an analysis of the work accomplished by it during the year 1978. In accordance with the desire expressed by the sixth regular session of the General Assembly, the Commission has not included in this report the information or denunciations being processed (Resolution AG/RES. 246 (VI-0/76)).

          Finally, in the last section, the Commission considered it proper to include special reports on the development of the human rights situation in Chile, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay since the date of the most recent reports of the IACHR on those countries.

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