ABSTRACT
The Inter-American system for the protection of human rights is based and, has evolved from, the premise that the defence of the rights of the individual and the effective exercise of representative democracy are closely interrelated. This basic notion is inscribed in the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS), the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the American Convention on Human Rights and its Additional Protocol in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 'Protocol of San Salvador'.1
