13
firms and of multilateral bodies regarding abridgments of economic, social and
cultural rights are addressed in this framework; thus, when the Human Rights
Commission asserted that poverty abridges the fundamental right to life, it requested
an analysis of the policies of the World Bank, of the World Trade Organization, of the
International Monetary Fund, and of other international bodies.32
36.
Progress of International Human Rights Law requires that the international
community acknowledge that poverty, and especially extreme poverty, is a form of
abridgment of all human rights, civil, political, economic, and cultural, and that it act
accordingly so as to facilitate identification of the internationally liable perpetrators.
The economic growth system linked to a type of globalization that impoverishes
growing sectors constitutes a “massive, flagrant, and systematic violation of human
rights”,33 in an increasingly interdependent world. This interpretation of the right to
life, attuned to evolving times and current living conditions, must pay attention to
the causes of extreme poverty and to their perpetrators. From this standpoint, the
international responsibility of the State of Paraguay and of other Signatory States of
the American Convention does not cease, but it is shared with the International
Community that requires new instruments.
37.
It is also necessary to take into account, in addition to what was stated in
previous paragraphs, that Article 46(1)a of the Convention asserts that for a petition
or communication filed before the Inter-American Commission pursuant to Articles
44 or 45 of the Convention to be admissible, it is necessary to have filed and
exhausted domestic remedies, which did not happen in the instant case.
With regard to the deceased members of the indigenous community, it is necessary
to assert that if complaints had been filed in a timely manner under domestic venue
regarding possible negligence that could lead to avoidable deaths, it would have
been possible to correct, or at least to attenuate, said health problems; this path
would have enabled an investigation of abridgments of the right to life, punishment
of those responsible, and reparations for the next of kin of the victims. Lack of
32
E/CN.4/Sub 2/2004/25. Likewise, the United Nations Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights has asserted in international fora that Intellectual Property
rights as reflected in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization are contrary to human
rights treaties, conventions and agreements. E/CN.4/Sub 2/204/44 para. 11, 17, and
19. The Social Forum held in the framework of the United Nations Human Rights
Commission, in 2004, highlighted the growing need to include a human rights
dimension in international economic decisions, such as those pertaining to debt
payment, trade, and free trade agreements, as a way to avoid generating poverty.
33
International Conference on Poverty and Social Exclusion, held in San Jose,
Costa Rica, in January 1997; General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/55/106) of 14
March 2001, Resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights and the General
Assembly of the United Nations state that both poverty and social exclusion are a
“violation of human dignity”. Paragraph 1; E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/13, Final report on
human rights and extreme poverty, submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Mr.
Leandro Despouy; UNDP, Poverty reduction and human rights, a practice note
(March 2003).; J. Bengoa, Implementation of existing human rights norms and
standards
in
the
context
of
the
fight
against
extreme
poverty
(E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/17.
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