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Community” (para. 221). In our opinion, the very Judgment of the Court clearly
establishes the causal link between the inhumane living conditions of the members of
the Community and the death of some of them.
14.
Regarding this point, in his expert opinion at the public hearing before this
Court on March 4 and 5, 2005, expert witness P. Balmaceda Rodríguez pointed out 2
the precariousness of the living conditions of the members of the Yakye Axa
Community, who lived in huts, and the lack of healthcare posts or community clinics,
as the Community’s settlement is 356 kilometers from the capital city, Asunción, and
70 kilometers from the nearest hospital (para. 40.g) of the instant Judgment).
15.
In addition to said expert opinion at the aforementioned hearing before the
Court, the representatives of the victims sent the Court, as an annex to their brief
with pleadings, motions and evidence, a public health-medical report on the Yakye
Axa indigenous Community, prepared by expert witness Pablo Balmaceda himself,
together with his team. Said report literally asserted that
The community as a whole has for many years been living in an absolutely
precarious situation, in huts that cannot be considered housing, in indescribable
overcrowding, without a single latrine in all the community, without drinking water and
without sufficient water for even the most basic needs.
They have not the slightest possibility of living their lives in accordance with the
Enxet traditions, hunting, gathering, and farming on a small scale.
Furthermore, the State is absent, there are no police, judiciary or public health
authorities, as we can corroborate through the deaths. They all died without medical
care. The two or three who were able to reach a medical professional did so belatedly.
In view of all this, we can say that the Yakye Axa community is in a completely
destitute state.
16.
As if the above were not enough, the Court, in operative paragraph No. 7 of
the instant Judgment –which, together with operative paragraph No. 3 of this
Judgment, conclusively proves the flagrant contradiction between operative
paragraph No. 4 and the Judgment as a whole,- has correctly decided that
as long as the members of the Yakye Axa indigenous Community are without
land, the State must provide them the necessary basic services and goods for their
subsistence, pursuant to paragraph 221 of the instant Judgment.
17.
that
In whereas paragraphs 219-221 of the instant Judgment, the Court has noted
The Commission and the representatives, in their main briefs, stated the need
to provide basic services to the Yakye Axa indigenous Community, including drinking
water and sanitary infrastructure, a public health center, and a school. They also
asserted the need to permanently provide culturally pertinent medical and educational
care to the members of the community, bearing in mind its customs and traditions.
The State, in turn, pointed out that
It likewise acquiesces to the request to establish a healthcare post, a
school, drinking water supply, and sanitary infrastructure for the
Community, at a place where the State can provide said services as
close as possible to a provisional settlement. (…)
As can be corroborated in the recording and transcript of the public hearing before this Court,
held on March 4 and 5, 2005, at the seat of the Court in San José, Costa Rica, available in the Court’s
archives.
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