28. In accordance with Articles 1.2.b and 20 of its Statute, the IACHR has ratione materiae competence to examine possible violations of human rights protected by the American Declaration, and ratione materiae and ratione temporis competence to examine possible violations of the American Convention that occurred after the ratification of said treaty by Brazil. The Inter-American Commission notes that the facts described in the petition began in 1989, when the State had not yet ratified the American Convention. Nevertheless, the IACHR has ratione temporis competence to determine whether in the period prior to September 25, 1992, there was any violation of rights protected by the American Declaration. In this regard, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“the Inter-American Court”) has said: Articles 1(2)(b) and 20 of the Commission's Statute define the competence of that body with respect to the human rights enunciated in the Declaration, with the result that to this extent the American Declaration is for these States a source of international obligations related to the Charter of the Organization.7 29. The IACHR also has ratione loci competence to consider the petition, because it alleges violations of human rights protected in the American Declaration and the American Convention said to have occurred within the jurisdiction of Brazil, a State party to those instruments. B. 1. Other requirements for admissibility of the petition Exhaustion of domestic remedies 30. Article 46.1 de the American Convention stipulates that admission of a petition requires that remedies under domestic law have been pursued and exhausted. Paragraph 2 of the same article states that the 7 I-A Court, Interpretation of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man within the Framework of Article 64 of the American Convention on Human Rights, Advisory Opinion OC-10/89 of July 14, 1989, Series A No. 10, para. 45. See also IACHR, Report No. 19/98, Admissibility, Case 11.516, Ovelário Tames, Brazil, February 21, 1998, para. 15; Report No. 33/01, Admissibility, Caso 11.552, Guerrilla de Araguaia, Julia Gomes Lund et al, Brazil, March 6, 2001, para. 38; Report No. 17/98, Admissibility, Cases 11.407 Clarival Xavier Coutrim, 11.406, Celso Bonfim de Lima, 11.416, Marcos Almeida Ferreira, 11.413, Delton Gomes da Mota, 11.417, Marcos de Assis Ruben, 11.412, Wanderley Galati, 11.414, Ozeas Antônio dos Santos, 11.415, Carlos Eduardo Gomes Ribeiro, 11.286, Aluísio Cavalcanti Júnior and Cláudio Aparecido de Moraes, Brazil, February 21, 1998, para. 163. 10

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