Article 51
1. If, within a period of three months from the date of the transmittal of the report of the
Commission to the states concerned, the matter has not either been settled or submitted by
the Commission or by the state concerned to the Court and its jurisdiction accepted, the
Commission may, by the vote of an absolute majority of its members, set forth its opinion
and conclusions concerning the question submitted for its consideration.
2. Where appropriate, the Commission shall make pertinent recommendations and shall
prescribe a period within which the state is to take the measures that are incumbent upon it
to remedy the situation examined.
3. When the prescribed period has expired, the Commission shall decide by the vote of an
absolute majority of its members whether the state has taken adequate measures and
whether to publish its report.
CHAPTER VIII
INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1. Organization
Article 52
1. The Court shall consist of seven judges, nationals of the member states of the
Organization, elected in an individual capacity from among jurists of the highest moral
authority and of recognized competence in the field of human rights, who possess the
qualifications required for the exercise of the highest judicial functions in conformity with the
law of the state of which they are nationals or of the state that proposes them as candidates.
2. No two judges may be nationals of the same state.
Article 53
1. The judges of the Court shall be elected by secret ballot by an absolute majority vote of the
States Parties to the Convention, in the General Assembly of the Organization, from a panel
of candidates proposed by those states.
2. Each of the States Parties may propose up to three candidates, nationals of the state that
proposes them or of any other member state of the Organization of American States. When a
slate of three is proposed, at least one of the candidates shall be a national of a state other
than the one proposing the slate.
Article 54
1. The judges of the Court shall be elected for a term of six years and may be reelected only
once. The term of three of the judges chosen in the first election shall expire at the end of
three years. Immediately after the election, the names of the three judges shall be
determined by lot in the General Assembly.
2. A judge elected to replace a judge whose term has not expired shall complete the term of
the latter.
3. The judges shall continue in office until the expiration of their term. However, they shall
continue to serve with regard to cases that they have begun to hear and that are still
pending, for which purposes they shall not be replaced by the newly elected judges.