10
foregoing is shorter than the period established for the identification,
delimitation, demarcation, titling and free transfer of the lands whose price
should be previously budgeted,” and
b)
“how this obligation would be fulfilled considering the maximum time
period of three years which was also set by the Court and within which the
State should comply with [the transfer of the territory to the Community].”
Arguments of the Inter-American Commission
29.
The Commission considered that the second question raised by the
representatives “addresses a valid doubt about how two parts of the judgment are
supposed to be interpreted together with respect to its enforceability in the future,”
and stated that:
a)
“nothing prevents […] the process of identification of the lands [, …]
which will facilitate the accurate estimate of the necessary monies for the
Fund, […] from being completed by the State within a year as from the date
of notification of the [J]udgment [on the merits]. The other (two years) of the
maximum time period allowed by the Court might be used, based on
standards of necessity and usefulness, to fulfill the process of transfer of the
territories to the injured party through their delimitation, demarcation, titling
and material transfer,” and
b) if the identification of the territory to be given to the Community was not
made, the Commission considered that “it would be the State´s responsibility
to create the Fund in any case, with enough funds to ensure that, in due
course, it will be able to […]acquire the misappropriated territories and
‘sufficient to guarantee that the Community may develop and keep its own life
style.’”
Arguments of the State
30.
For its part, the State considered that the representatives “have reques[ted]
the […] Court to replace the State as to the budgetary provisions it should make to
determine the sum to be allocated” either to the acquisition of the lands from private
owners or to the payment of a fair compensation to the injured parties in case of
condemnation as the case may be. Furthermore, the State argued that, though it is
within the jurisdiction of the Court “to hear and determine the interpretation of the
American Convention as to whether a violation thereof was committed […], and if
such were the case, to impose sanctions, as it did in [the] Judgment [on the merits],
it has no jurisdiction to determine ‘how’ the State which has been sanctioned […]
should comply wit[h] the provisions of such Judgment [on the merits].”
Considerations of the Court
31.
The Court has verified that the second matter raised by the representatives in
their request for interpretation poses a valid doubt, and therefore, it is admissible,
and the Court now proceeds to examine it.
32.
Paragraphs 215-217 of the Judgment on the merits rendered by the Court in
the instant case provide that the State must identify the traditional territory of the
Yakye Axa Community, delimit it, demarcate it, title and transfer said territory for