REPORT Nº 15/05 PETITION 59/03 ADMISSIBILITY CARLOS ESCALERAS MEJÍA HONDURAS February 24, 2005 I. SUMMARY 1. On January 13, 2003, the Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL) [Center for Justice and International Law] filed a petition against the Republic of Honduras (hereinafter “the Honduran State,” “Honduras,” or “the State”) to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or “the IACHR”). The petition states that there has been a violation of Articles 4, 8, 25 and 1(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”), to the prejudice of Carlos Escaleras Mejía (hereinafter the “alleged victim”). 2. The petitioners allege that the State of Honduras violated the American Convention when it did not undertake an exhaustive and effective investigation to punish those responsible for the homicide of Mr. Escaleras, and, in the current national human rights context, did not adopt effective measures to prevent crimes against environmental activists. With respect to admissibility they allege that the unwarranted delay in deciding domestic legal remedies exempts them from exhausting them. 3. The State alleged that domestic legal remedies had not been exhausted. 4. After an analysis of the petition and pursuant to Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention, the Commission decided to declare the petition admissible in regard to the alleged violations of Articles 4, 8, 25 and 1(1) of the American Convention. It also decided to notify the parties about the report on admissibility and to publish the report in the Annual Report to the General Assembly of the Organization. II. PROCESSING BEFORE THE COMMISSION 5. On May 19, 2003, the Commission, pursuant to its Rules of Procedure, began to process the petition. It transmitted the pertinent sections of the petition to the Honduran State and requested a response 1