COMMUNITY

March 17, 2026 – In the context of the Advisory Opinion on democracy requested by Guatemala State before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR),  GQUAL Campaign and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) will participate in public hearings on March 19 to urge the Court to recognize gender parity as a structural, permanent, and enforceable component of representative democracy under inter-American law.

Although the inter-American legal framework—including the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the American Convention, and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS)—has established key standards for the protection of democracy as a guarantee of fundamental rights and has affirmed the centrality of the right to equality and non-discrimination, the IACHR has not yet systematically developed the relation between democracy, substantive equality, and gender parity.

This Advisory Opinion represents a historic opportunity to close that gap. In particular, it would allow to affirm that parity constitutes a state obligation derived from the right to substantive equality and the rights to political and public participation, as well as for the clarification of the measures that states must adopt to guarantee it and the legal consequences of non-compliance.

This moment also offers the potential to consolidate parity as a permanent standard applicable to the design and functioning of democratic systems.

In their amicus curiae brief, GQUAL and CEJIL emphasize that the right to public and political participation on equal terms, as well as equality before the law, are structural elements of democracy.

However, this framework coexists with a persistent underrepresentation of women in all decision-making spaces, one of the most evident deficits of democracy in the region. This exclusion is not due to a lack of merit or conditions inherent to women, but rather to structural patterns of discrimination, institutional barriers, and practices that have limited their effective access to power.

From this perspective, the right to participation is not exhausted by its formal recognition: it demands real and effective conditions that translate into genuine representations of society. Given that women constitute half the population, parity must be understood as the necessary measure of substantive equality in public and political participation and, consequently, as a constitutive component of the right to democracy.

This approach is consistent with normative developments in the inter-American sphere, the practices of States in the region, and international law, in particular General Recommendation 40 of the CEDAW Committee that confirmed that parity—understood as a 50/50 distribution of power—constitutes a standard applicable to all decision-making spaces that must be understood as a starting point and as a permanent measure.

An Advisory Opinion to this effect would not only strengthen the progressive development of inter-American law and consolidate parity-based democracy as a regional goal, but would also send a clear message: there is no full democracy without real equality in the exercise of power.

Based on these grounds, GQUAL and CEJIL call on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to:

Recognize that the equal participation of women in all decision-making spaces constitutes an essential component of the right to democracy and to political and public participation protected by the American Convention on Human Rights.

Declare that gender parity is the necessary measure of substantive equality in matters of public and political participation, and that its guarantee derives directly from Articles 1.1, 2, 23, and 24 of the Convention.

Affirm that parity is a permanent principle requiring a 50/50 distribution of power and representation.

Establish that this standard of parity applies to all decision-making spaces, from the local and national levels to international and multilateral forums whose members are appointed or elected by States.

Determine that failure to comply with the principle of gender parity in public and political participation and representation triggers the application of a strict scrutiny test for its justification.

Access the full text here: https://bit.ly/4pzmesn