Tristan da Cunha is situated in the South Atlantic and is only accessible by sea. It has a population of around 280, many of whom can trace their family descendants back to early settlers on Tristan.
In September 2009, a new Constitution came into force and for the first time, included a chapter on individual rights. This chapter on rights includes most of the rights found in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Constitution is still shared with St Helena and Ascension but like Ascension, Tristan’s status has been changed from that of a dependency of St Helena to being in partnership with St Helena and Ascension (the other Islands which make up this one territory).
In addition to the ICCPR and ECHR applying in Tristan da Cunha, other human rights treaties have been extended to it; namely the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention against Torture (CAT) and Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). In addition to this, individuals have been given the right to bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights where no other remedy exists on Tristan da Cunha.
Project activities 2008-2010
Under the technical assistance facility, the project provided teaching resource materials to assist with the inclusion of human rights in the school.
The project liaises with the Administrator and Chief Islander about the project. They can be contacted by e-mail tristandcadmin@gmail.com and ianlavarello@yahoo.co.uk.