ORDER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS∗ OF JULY 9, 2004 PROVISIONAL MEASURES REQUESTED BY THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MATTER OF VENEZUELA CASE OF CARLOS NIETO ET AL. V. VENEZUELA HAVING SEEN: 1. The July 7, 2004 brief of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or “the “the Inter-American Commission”) where, pursuant to Article 63(2) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”) and Article 25 of the Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Court” or “the Inter-American Court”), it submitted to the Court a request seeking provisional measures with respect to Venezuela (hereinafter “the State” or “Venezuela”), “to protect the life, integrity of person, freedom of expression and freedom of association of Carlos Nieto Palma, who works as General Coordinator of Una Ventana a la Libertad, a nongovernmental organization[, and] to protect the life and integrity of person of his family, including that of his nine-month-old nephew, John Carmelo Laicono Nieto.” 2. The Inter-American Commission’s arguments are based on the following allegations of fact: a) b) in its Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Venezuela, the Commission underscored the considerable number of complaints of attacks, acts of intimidation and threats made against human rights defenders in Venezuela. The information available indicates that human rights defenders and the organizations of which they are members are frequently harassed, either in the form of direct attacks on their physical person or more shadowy forms of intimidation such as veiled threats. The human rights defenders generally become selective targets of attack when no serious judicial inquiries are conducted to investigate threats and attempts made upon them. The situation is often exacerbated by the States’ refusal to acknowledge the obstacles that human rights defenders are up against in their work and the States’ refusal to admit that because of those obstacles, human rights defenders require special protection; on June 22 and July 5, 2004, the Inter-American Commission received a request seeking precautionary measures for attorney Carlos Nieto Palma, who has for eight years been coordinator general of a nongovernmental human rights organizations called “Una Ventana a la Libertad,” an organization devoted to defending and promoting human rights in Venezuelan prisons and jails. Mr. Nieto Palma is also a ∗ Judges Alirio Abreu Burelli and Diego García-Sayán informed the Court that, for reasons of force majeure, they could not be present for, and therefore did not participate in the discussion and signing of this Order.