CDH-CP-08/02 ENGLISH
PRESS RELEASE(*)
The Inter-American Court of Human
Rights will hold its LVI Regular Session at its seat in San Jose, Costa
Rica, from August 26 to September 7, 2002.Â
During this Session, the
following public hearings will take place at the seat of the Court:
1.            Five Pensioners Case. Merits and
Possible Reparations Phase. At 10:00
o’clock on September 3 and 4,
2002 the Court will hold a public hearing to receive the arguments
of the representatives of the alleged victims, the Inter-American Commission
of Human Rights and the State of Peru on the merits and possible reparations
of the case. Likewise, the Court
will hear statements from the witnesses and the experts proposed by
the Inter-American Commission and the representatives of the alleged
victims. The State did not offer witness or expert testimonies
during this phase of the procedure.
Background
On December 4, 2001, the Inter-American Commission
submitted to the Court, pursuant to Article 51 of the American Convention,
the Five Pensioners Case (No. 12,034), concerning the alleged “modification
by the State of Peru in the pension system that Carlos Torres-Benvenuto,
Javier Mujica-Ruiz-Huidoboro, Guillermo �lvarez-Hernández, Reymert Bartra-Vásquez
and Maximiliano Gamarra-Ferreira had been enjoying in conformity with
Peruvian legislation until 1992, and the failure to comply with the
judgments of the Supreme Court of Justice of Peru and the Peruvian Constitutional
Court, which ordered that these persons be paid a pension for an amount
calculated in accordance with the legislation in force when they began
to enjoy of a specified pension system.� Similarly, it is indicated
that “said situation has signified for the pensioners a violation of
the rights to judicial protection, to property and the progressive development
of economic, social and cultural rights, embodied in Articles 25, 21
and 26 of the American Convention respectively, in conjunction with
the obligations established in Article 1(1) and 2 thereof.� Likewise,
the Commission requested in its application for the Court to order the
State to guarantee the alleged victims and their next of kin the enjoyment
of their alleged violated rights “and the consequent payment that the
State […] should make to the [alleged] victims and their next of kin for
the difference in the amount of their pensions that it has omitted to
pay since November 1992, as well as the payment of their pensions at
their future value.� The Commission
also requested the Court to order the State to annul and terminate,
in a retroactive manner, the effects of Article 5 of Decree Law No.
25792 of October 23, 1992, for considering it incompatible with the
American Convention. Finally, the Commission asked the Court to
order the State to investigate the responsibilities for the alleged
human rights violations indicated in the application and to pay the
costs derived from the domestic judicial proceedings filed by the alleged
victims, as well as those arising at the international level in processing
the case before the Inter-American Commission and the Court.
The Court
will also hear, among others, the following matters:
2.            Request for Advisory Opinion OC-17. During this Session, the Court
will deliberate and study the possibility of delivering an opinion in
response to this request that refers to the interpretation of Articles
8 and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in accordance with
Article 19 of said international instrument.
Background
In the request for an Advisory Opinion, presented
on March 30, 2001, pursuant to Article 64(1) of the American Convention
on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission requested that the Court
interpret Articles 8 and 25 of said Convention in order to determine
if these provisions constitute “limits on States’ capacity or discretion
to issue special measures of protection� with respect to children in
light of Article 19 of the same. Likewise,
it requested the Court to formulate general criteria governing the issue
within the framework of the Convention.
On June 21, 2002 the Court held a public hearing
with regard to this request for Advisory Opinion, and heard the observations
of the United States of Mexico, Costa Rica, the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights, the Rafael Preciado Hernández Foundation, Mexican University
Institute of Human Rights, A.C., the Center for Justice and International
Law (CEJIL) and the United Nation’s Latin-American Institute for Crime
Prevention and the Treatment of Criminals (ILANUD), these last four
participated as amici curiae. At this hearing, the President granted the
parties the possibility of submitting their closing arguments within
a month’s period.
3.            El Caracazo Case. Reparations Phase. During this session the Court will deliberate and study the possibility
of delivering a Judgment on reparations in this case, pursuant to the
provisions of its November 11, 1999 Judgment, in which it unanimously
decided, “[t]o initiate the procedure on reparations
and costs�, due to the State’s acquiescence regarding the facts of the
case and the pretensions on its international responsibility.
Background
The Inter-American Commission
filed the application in this case on June 7, 1999. According to the complaint, in virtue of the
course of incidents that occurred in the months of February and March
1989, 35 persons were allegedly extra judicially executed by agents
of the State of Venezuela, while two others resulted disappeared and
another three wounded which gave rise to Case No. 11,455 before the
Commission. It was the Commission’s opinion that Venezuela
violated Articles 1(1) (Obligation to Respect Rights), 4 (Right to Life),
5 (Right to Humane Treatment), 7 (Right to Personal Liberty, 8 (Right
to a Fair Trial), 25 (Right to Judicial Protection), 2 (Domestic Legal
Effects) and 27 (Suspension of Guarantees) of the American Convention.
On November 10, 1999,
the Court held a public hearing in which Venezuela admitted to the facts
and accepted the legal consequences and international responsibilities
from which they derived. In the same hearing, the Commission expressed
its satisfaction with Venezuela’s position.
Accordingly, on November
11, 1999, the Court delivered its judgment on the case. In said judgment, it was recognized that “Venezuela’s
acquiescence in this case [was] a positive contribution
to the development of the process and effective exercise of the principles
that inspire the American Convention�. It decided unanimously to take cognizance of Venezuela’s admission
of the events outlined in the application and declared that the dispute
over the facts had ceased. It
also took unanimous note of the State’s recognition of responsibility
and declared that Venezuela had violated Articles 4(1), 5, 7, 8(1),
25(1), 25(2), and 27(3) of the American Convention, in accordance with
Articles 1(1) and 2, to the injury of the persons cited in paragraph
1 of the judgment. Finally, it took note of information provided by
the State with regards to investigations that had been initiated for
the purpose of identifying, prosecuting, and punishing those responsible
for the acts described in the application, urged the State to continue
its investigations, and initiated the procedure on reparations and costs.
4.            Other matters. On September
6 and 7, 2002, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights will
visit the seat of the Court for the annual joint meeting that it holds
with the Inter-American Court, by mandate of the General Assembly of
the OAS. The following persons will take part in this
meeting for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Antônio A. Cançado-Trindade,
President; Alirio Abreu-Burelli, Vice President; Máximo Pacheco-Gómez;
Hernán Salgado-Pesantes; Oliver Jackman; Sergio GarcÃa-RamÃrez; Carlos
Vicente de Roux-Rengifo; Manuel E. Ventura-Robles, Secretary and Pablo
Saavedra-Alessandri, Deputy Secretary.Â
The following persons will take part in this meeting for the
Inter-American Commission of Human Rights: Juan Méndez, President; Marta
Altoaguirre-Larraondo, Vice President; Robert K. Goldman; Julio Prado-Vallejo;
Clare Kamau Roberts, José Zalaquett; Susana Villarán and Santiago Cantón,
Executive Secretary. The meeting
will deal mainly with the evaluation of the application of the new Rules
of Procedure of the Court and of the Commission, which entered into
force on May and June, 2001 respectively.
Likewise, the Court will also consider
several procedures in matters pending before it, and it will analyze
the various reports submitted by the States involved in matters on which
provisional measures have been adopted, as well as the observations
of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and of those benefited
by those measures, related to those reports.Â
The Court will furthermore analyze the various reports submitted
by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the States involved,
and the victims or their representatives in those cases that are in
the stage of compliance with the Judgment.Â
The Court will also consider various administrative matters.
The composition of the Court for
this Session is as follows: Antônio A. Cançado-Trindade (Brazil), President;
Alirio Abreu-Burelli (Venezuela), Vice-President; Máximo Pacheco-Gómez;
Hernán Salgado-Pesantes (Ecuador); Oliver Jackman (Barbados); Sergio
GarcÃa-RamÃrez (Mexico), and Carlos Vicente de Roux-Rengifo (Colombia).
In the Five Pensioners Case,
Javier de Belaunde will participate as an ad
hoc Judge, appointed by the Peruvian State.Â
The Secretary of the Court is Manuel E. Ventura-Robles, and the
Deputy Secretary is Pablo Saavedra-Alessandri.
The Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, which is an autonomous judicial institution of the Organization
of American States established in 1979, is formed by jurists of the
highest moral standing and widely recognized competence in the area
of human rights. The judges are elected in an individual capacity
by the General Assembly of the OAS, and cannot serve for more than two
six-year terms.
For further information, please contact:
Manuel E. Ventura Robles, Secretary
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Apartado 6906-1000, San José, Costa Rica
Phone (506) 234-0581. Fax (506) 234-0584.
Web site: www.corteidh.or.cr.
E-mail: corteidh@corteidh.co.cr
San Jose, August 19, 2002.
(*) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â This is an unofficial translation and is for informative
purposes only. The official
version of this press release is available in Spanish.
(**)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The content of this press
release is the responsibility of the Secretariat of the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights. The
official text of the documents mentioned can be obtained through a
written request to the Secretariat, at the address below.