An institution of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, was crea'ted in 1959 and is an important part of the system designed to promote and protect human rights in OAS member states. The commission draws its mandate from two basic documents applicable to all OAS member states: the OAS Charter (1948) and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948). Its duties expanded with the creation of the American Convention on Human Rights in 1969 and with subsequent human rights agreements. For those states that have signed and ratified these more detailed and binding Inter-American human rights treaties-the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), its Optional Protocol on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1988), the Protocol to Abolish the Death Penalty (1990), or the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture (1985)-the commission, in conjunction with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, is also responsible for overseeing states' parties' treaty obligations.