protected or included in the protection system of the Convention, which means that
they had not been fully realized based on Article 26. Otherwise, it would be difficult to
understand either the purpose or the utility of the Protocol.
87. From this perspective, the Protocol recognizes, 94 establishes,95 sets forth96 and97 the
following rights: the right to work (Art. 6), the right to just, equitable, and satisfactory
conditions of work (Art. 7), trade union rights (Art. 8), the right to social security (Art.
9), the right to health (Art. 10), the right to a healthy environment (Art. 11), the right
to food (Art. 12), the right to education (Art. 13), the right to the benefits of culture
(Art. 14), the right to the formation and the protection of families (Art. 15), the rights
of children (Art. 16), the protection of the elderly (Art. 17) and the protection of the
handicapped (Art. 18). It should be recalled that, to the contrary, Article 26 does not
establish or set forth any right, it merely refers to those derived from the OAS Charter.
88. And regarding those rights recognized by the Protocol, the States Parties undertake to
adopt, gradually, measures to ensure their full effectiveness (Arts. 6(2), 10(2), 11(2)
and 12(2)). This coincides with the provisions of Article 26; that is, both the Protocol
and the said article relate to rights that have not been realized or not fully.
89. The Protocol also includes a provision, Article 19, concerning the means of protection
of the above-mentioned rights. Those means consist in the reports that the States
Parties must present to the OAS General Assembly “on the progressive measures they
have taken to ensure due respect for the rights set forth in this Protocol,” in the
treatment accorded to those reports by the Inter-American Economic and Social Council
and the Inter-American Council for Education, Science and Culture of the OAS, and in
the opinion that the Commission may eventually provide on the matter.98 It should be
Art. 1: “Obligation to Adopt Measures. The States Parties to this Additional Protocol to the American
Convention on Human Rights undertake to adopt the necessary measures, both domestically and through
international cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the extent allowed by their available
resources, and taking into account their degree of development, for the purpose of achieving progressively
and pursuant to their internal legislations, the full observance of the rights recognized in this Protocol.”
94
Art. 4: ”Inadmissibility of Restrictions. A right which is recognized or in effect in a State by virtue of its internal legislation or
international conventions may not be restricted or curtailed on the pretext that this Protocol does not recognize the right or
recognizes it to a lesser degree.
Art. 5: “Scope of Restrictions and Limitations. The State Parties may establish restrictions and limitations
on the enjoyment and exercise of the rights established herein by means of laws promulgated for the
purpose of preserving the general welfare in a democratic society only to the extent that they are not
incompatible with the purpose and reason underlying those rights.
95
Art. 19(6): “Any instance in which the rights established in paragraph a) of Article 8 and in Article 13 are
violated by action directly attributable to a State Party to this Protocol may give rise, through participation
of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and, when applicable, of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights, to application of the system of individual petitions governed by Article 44 through 51 and
61 through 69 of the American Convention on Human Rights.
96
Art. 2: “Obligation to Enact Domestic Legislation. If the exercise of the rights set forth in this Protocol is not already guaranteed
by legislative or other provisions, the States Parties undertake to adopt, in accordance with their constitutional processes and the
provisions of this Protocol, such legislative or other measures as may be necessary for making those rights a reality.”
Art. 3: ”Obligation of Non-discrimination. The State Parties to this Protocol undertake to guarantee the exercise of the rights set
forth herein without discrimination of any kind for reasons related to race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions,
national or social origin, economic status, birth or any other social condition.”
Art. 19: ”Means of Protection. 1. Pursuant to the provisions of this article and the corresponding rules
to be formulated for this purpose by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, the
States Parties to this Protocol undertake to submit periodic reports on the progressive measures they have
taken to ensure due respect for the rights set forth in this Protocol.”
98
Art. 19: “Means of Protection. 1. Pursuant to the provisions of this article and the corresponding rules to be formulated for this
purpose by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, the States Parties to this Protocol undertake to submit
periodic reports on the progressive measures they have taken to ensure due respect for the rights set forth in this Protocol.
97