I.. INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND PURPOSE OF THE DISPUTE 1. The case submitted to the Court. On December 3, 2016, pursuant to the provisions of Articles 51 and 61 of the American Convention and Article 35 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the InterAmerican Commission” or “the Commission”) submitted to the jurisdiction of the InterAmerican Court the case of Cuscul Pivaral et al. against the Republic of Guatemala (hereinafter “the State” or “Guatemala”). According to the Commission, the case refers to the presumed international responsibility of the State for the violation of various rights established in the American Convention to the detriment of 49 presumed victims who were diagnosed with HIV between 1992 and 2003. The Commission established that, up until 2006 and 2007, there had been a total lack of public medical care for this group of individuals who were living with HIV and also in poverty, and determined that this failure had had a serious impact on their health, life and personal integrity. According to the Commission, starting in 2006-2007, the State implemented some treatment for people living with HIV, but the care provided was neither comprehensive nor adequate. The Commission therefore considered that these shortcomings continued to violate the rights to health, life and personal integrity of the surviving victims. The Commission also determined that the death of eight of the presumed victims occurred as a result of opportunistic illnesses, or during the time that they presumably did not receive the care they required from the State, or following deficient care. The Commission added that the application for amparo filed before the Constitutional Court on July 26, 2002, did not provide the presumed victims with effective judicial protection. Lastly, it concluded that the mental and moral integrity of the next of kin and/or those closest to the presumed victims had been violated. The names of the presumed victims can be found in Annex 1 to this judgment. 2. Procedure before the Commission. The procedure before the Commission was as follows: a. Petition. On August 26, 2003, a petition against Guatemala was lodged before the Commission by the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Red Nacional de Personas que Viven con el VIH/SIDA, the Gente Unida Association, Proyecto Vida, the Fernando Iturbide AIDS Prevention Foundation, and the Asociación de Salud Integral (hereinafter “the petitioners”). b. Admissibility Report. On March 7, 2005, the Commission adopted Admissibility Report No. 32/05.2 c. Merits Report. On April 13, 2016, the Commission issued Merits Report No. 2/16, under Article 50 of the Convention (hereinafter “the Merits Report”), in which it reached a series of conclusions and made several recommendations: i. Conclusions. The Commission concluded that Guatemala was responsible for violating the rights recognized in Articles 4(1), 5(1) and 25(1) of the Convention, in relation to the obligations established in Article 1(1) of this instrument, to the detriment of the presumed victims mentioned in the Merits Report. Cf. IACHR, Report No. 32/05, Petition 642/2003, Admissibility, Luis Ronaldo Cuscul Pivaral et al. (Persons living with HIV/AIDS), Guatemala, March 7, 2005. 2 3