REPORT Nº 76/08
ADMISSIBILITY
PETITION 1055-06
PAOLA DEL ROSARIO GUZMÁN ALBARRACÍN AND NEXT OF KIN
ECUADOR
October 17, 2008
I.
SUMMARY
1.
On October 2, 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (hereinafter the “Inter-American Commission” or the “IACHR”) received
a petition that the Centro de Derechos Reproductivos [Center for
Reproductive Rights] and the Centro Ecuatoriano para la Promoción y Acción
de la Mujer [Center for the Advancement and Action of Women] (CEPAMGuayaquil) (hereinafter “the petitioners”) lodged against the State of Ecuador
(hereinafter “the State,” “the Ecuadorian State” or “Ecuador”) alleging its
international responsibility for acts of harassment and sexual abuse, failure to
provide medical care, and delays in criminal prosecution, to the detriment of
Paola del Rosario Guzmán Albarracín (hereinafter “the alleged victim”), age
16. The petitioners allege that the assistant principal at the public school
where Paola del Rosario was a student, took advantage of his position of
authority to sexually harass the alleged victim. As a result she committed
suicide. The petitioners allege further that the judicial and administrative
systems have allowed these offenses to go unpunished.
2.
The petitioners allege that the State is responsible for violation of the
rights to life, to humane treatment, to personal liberty, to a fair trial, the rights
of the child, to equal protection, and to judicial protection, provided in articles
4, 5, 7, 8, 19, 24 and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights
(hereinafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”), in conjunction
with the general obligation to respect and ensure the Convention-protected
rights, established in Article 1(1) of the Convention, and for violation of articles
3, 4 (subparagraphs a, b, c, and e), 5, 6(a), 7 (subparagraphs a, b, c, e, f and
g) and Article 9 of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention,
Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (hereinafter the
“Convention of Belém do Pará), to the detriment of Paola del Rosario Guzmán
Albarracín and her next of kin.
1