The Commission has designated Commissioner Tracy Robinson and Emilio Álvarez Icaza L.,
Executive Secretary, as its delegate. Likewise, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Deputy Executive Secretary, Silvia
Serrano Guzmán, Isabel Madariaga y Cristina Blanco, attorney of the Executive Secretariat of the IACHR,
have been designated to serve as legal advisors.
In accordance with Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Court, the
Commission is enclosing a copy of Merits Report No. 30/13, prepared in compliance with Article 50 of
the American Convention, as well as a copy of the entire file before the Inter-American Commission
(Appendix I.) and the attachments used to prepare the Report on the Merits (Attachment). The
Commission adopted its Report on the Merits No. 30/13 on March 21, 2013.
The Merits Report was transmitted to the State on April 1, 2013, granting it two months to
provide information on the measures adopted in compliance with the recommendations. On June 21,
2013, the State of Honduras submitted a communication expressing its will to comply with the
recommendations On June 26, 2013 the State requested an extension and expressively gave the waiver
regarding article 51 of the Convention. The IACHR granted the extension requested for three months. By
means of the communication of September 1, 2013, informing the State of the granting, the Commission
requested to the State to present information regarding the fulfillment of the recommendations. To
date, the State has not sent the requested report.
The Commission submits the case to the jurisdiction of the Court due to the needs of justice in
the particular case for the victims.
Although the State of Honduras expressed its willingness to comply with the recommendations
made by the Commission and formulated a proposal, that proposal does not correspond to the principal
reparation involved in the case, which is the effective regularization of the lands and territories of the
Garífuna Community of “Punta Piedra.” In addition, its alternative proposals were emphatically rejected
by the community. Since the State was granted an initial extension of three months, it has not
responded to the Commission’s request for information regarding progress made in complying with the
recommendations nor has it sought an additional extension of the deadline.
In accordance to the above mentioned, the IACRH concluded that:
1. The State of Honduras violated the right to property enshrined in Article 21 of
the American Convention on Human Rights, in connection with Articles 1.1 and 2
thereof, to the detriment of the Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra and its
members.
2. The State of Honduras violated the right to judicial protection enshrined in
Article 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in connection with Articles
1.1 and 2 thereof, to the detriment of the Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra and
its members.
As a consequence, the Commission suggests to the Court to request to the State to:
1. Adopt as soon as possible the necessary measures to make effective the right to
communal property and possession of the Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra
and its members, with respect to their ancestral territory; and, in particular, the
legislative, administrative and other measures necessary to effectively
normalize their title, in accordance with their customary law, values, practices