REPORT Nº 3/09
PETITION 4408-02
ADMISSIBILITY
V.R.P. and V.P.C.1
NICARAGUA
February 11, 2009
I.
SUMMARY
1.
On October 28, 2002, the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or “IACHR” or “the InterAmerican Commission”) received a petition lodged by Mrs. V.P.C.
(hereinafter “the petitioner” or “V.P.C.”), the mother of V.R.P.
(hereinafter “the alleged victim” or “V.R.P.”), in which they allege the
international responsibility of the State of Nicaragua (hereinafter “the
State,” the “State of Nicaragua,” or “the Nicaraguan State”) for
irregularities and the failure to render a final judgment in the criminal
proceedings instituted on November 20, 2001 for the crime of rape
allegedly perpetrated against the child V.R.P,2 aged nine.
2.
The petitioner alleges that the facts denounced constitute
violation of Articles I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, XVIII, XXIV, and XXX of
the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (hereinafter
“the American Declaration”); Articles 1, 2, 5(1) and (2), 7(1), 8(1), 11,
12(1) and (2), 13(1), 17(1), 19, 24, and 25 of the American Convention
on Human Rights (hereinafter the “American Convention” or “the
Convention”); Articles 2.c, 3, 4.b, c, d, e, f, and g, 5, 6.a, 7.a, b, e, f,
and h, 8.b and f, 9, and 10 of the Inter-American Convention on the
Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women
(hereinafter the “Convention of Belém do Pará”), and Articles 1, 2.1 and
2, 3.1 and 2, 5, 6, 12.2, 14.3, 15, 16.1 and 2, 17, 19.1 and 2, 20.1,
24.1 and 2, and 27.1 and 2 of the United Nations Convention on the
1 Although not specifically requested by the petitioner, the IACHR is reserving the
identity of the alleged victim because she is below the age of 18 years and because
this is a case of alleged rape. In order to afford greater protection to the alleged
victim, the IACHR is also withholding the names of the petitioner, the mother of the
alleged victim, and of the father. Accordingly, the IACHR refers to the alleged victim,
aged 9, as “V.R.P.,” to the petitioner and mother of the alleged victim as “V.P.C.,” and
to the father of the alleged victim as “H.R.A.”
2 The American Convention on Human Rights does not contain a definition of
“children.” Therefore, the inter-American human rights system employs the concept
established in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defines
a child as “every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law
applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.”.
1