14. According to the petitioner, no criminal investigation was initiated as a result of the complaint he presented on August 1, 2002 to the Office of the Prosecutor of Port-au-Prince. Nor was any criminal investigation initiated based on the complaint submitted on June 27, 2002 by the director of the Justice and Peace Commission to the Chief Inspector General of the National Police of Haiti. B. The State 15. The State has not presented any response to the facts alleged by the petitioner in his petition, nor has it questioned the admissibility of the petition under consideration. It simply acknowledged receipt of the communications from the Commission, and, in a letter dated March 21, 2003, and received by the IACHR on May 6, 2003, he indicated that a meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between the petitioner and Mr. Gaspard, a Ministry official, to discuss implementation of the precautionary measures. IV. ANALISYS A. Competence of the Commission ratione personae, ratione loci, and ratione temporis 16. The petitioner is authorized by Article 44 of the American Convention to submit complaints to the Commission. The petition notes as the alleged victim Mr. Lysias Fleury, a natural person, in keeping with Article 1(2) of the American Convention. The respondent State, the Republic of Haiti, ratified the American Convention on September 27, 1977. Therefore, the Commission is competent ratione personae to examine the petition. 17. As regards competence ratione loci, all the alleged violations were committed in the jurisdiction of the Republic of Haiti. 18. As regards competence ratione temporis, the violations are alleged to have been committed after September 27, 1977, when Haiti ratified the American Convention. 19. As for competence ratione materiae, the violations described, if true, could constitute violations of Articles 5, 7, and 11 of the American Convention. B. Other admissibility requirements 1. Exhaustion of domestic remedies 20. Article 26(1)(a) of the Convention provides that the admissibility of a petition submitted to the Commission is subject to the requirement that domestic remedies have been pursued and exhausted, in keeping with generally accepted principles of international law. The preamble to the Convention states that it confers international treaty protection, which reinforces or complements the protection offered by the domestic law of the respective states. 1 The rule of prior exhaustion of domestic remedies allows the state to resolve the problem in keeping with its domestic law before being faced with an international proceeding, which is especially valid in respect of the international jurisdiction over human rights matters. 21. In this case, as mentioned above, the petitioner alleges in his petition and subsequent communication that he filed a criminal complaint on August 1, 2002, before the public prosecutor of Port-au-Prince, reporting the events of June 24 and 25, 2002, requesting that the Public Ministry open a criminal investigation against the police officers from the Bon Repos police station. He also indicates that on June 27, 2002, the director of the Justice and Peace Commission lodged a criminal complaint with the Inspector General of the National Police. 1 See second paragraph of the Preamble of the American Convention. 3