-4was to declare that Article 26 had not been violated.11 Furthermore, this consideration in the judgment has not been reiterated in the subsequent case law of the Court, even though cases have been heard in which the alleged violations could have allowed the Court to reaffirm its position; consequently, doubts remain as to whether, six years after that judgment was adopted, it can be considered a consistent precedent. Lastly, there is a significant basic problem with that judgment, in that it makes no mention of the Protocol of San Salvador, which, as we shall see below, is fundamental to understanding the competence of the Court in this matter. 11. Taking the above into account, it is possible to reach a first conclusion, and this is that Article 26 of the American Convention does not contain a list of clearly established subjective rights, owing precisely to the problems resulting from the referral to the OAS Charter. Therefore, the obligation implied by this article, and that the Court may supervise directly, is compliance with the obligation of progressive development – and the consequent obligation of non-regressivity – of the rights that may be derived from the Charter, over and above the mere reference to their name, such as the right to work, for example.12 C. The Protocol of San Salvador 12. As indicated previously, the Inter-American Court’s competence with regard to ESCR cannot be discussed without taking into account the Protocol of San Salvador. In this regard, during the eighteenth OAS General Assembly, held in 1988, the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Protocol of San Salvador) was opened to signature. The text of the Protocol was based on a working draft prepared by the Inter-American Commission13 and it was adopted on November 17, 1988. The Protocol entered into force on November 16, 1999, after it had been ratified by 11 States and, at the present time, 16 States have ratified it.14 13. With regard to the nature of protocols, it should be recalled that, under public international law, they are independent agreements, but they are subsidiary to a treaty, that add to, clarify, amend, or supplement the procedural or substantial content of that treaty. The existence of a protocol is directly related to the existence of a treaty; in other words, without a framework treaty, there is no protocol. 15 11 Indeed, the reason why the judgment decided that there had not been a violation is that “considering that the analysis is not centered on some measure adoptaed by the State that hindered the progressive realization of the right to a pension, but on the State’s non-compliance with the payment ordered by the domestic ourts, the Court finds that the violated rights are those protected in Articles 25 and 21 of the Convention and does not find grounds to also declare non-compliance with Article 26 of this instrument.” Case of Acevedo Buendía et al. (“Discharged and Retired Employees of the Comptroller’s Officev. Peru, para. 106. 12 For example, Article 45(b) of the Charter establishies that: “Work is a right and a social duty, it gives dignity to the one who performs it, and it should be performed under conditions, including a system of fair wages, that ensure life, health, and a decent standard of living for the worker and his family, both during his working years and in his old age, or when any circumstance deprives him of the possibility of working.” 13 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Documentos Básicos en Materia de Derechos Humanos en el Sistema Interamericano (Actualizado a febrero de 2012), 2012, pp 11. 14 The following States have ratified the Protocol: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay. Taken, on September 10, 2015, from: http://www.oas.org/juridico/spanish/firmas/a-52.html. 15 See, Definitionns of key terms used in the UN Treaty Collection. Consulted https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Overview.aspx?path=overview/definition/page1_en.xml&clang=_en. at: