4 general international law, they bind all the States which compose the organized international community, whether or not they are Parties to those treaties (obligations erga omnes lato sensu). In a vertical dimension, the obligations erga omnes of protection bind both the organs and agents of (State) public power, and the individuals themselves (in the inter-individual relations). The advent and the evolution of the International Law of Human Rights have made a decisive contribution toward the formation of this vertical dimension. But it is surprising that, until now, these horizontal and vertical dimensions of the obligations erga omnes of protection have gone entirely unnoticed by contemporary legal doctrine. Nevertheless, I see them clearly established in the legal regime of the American Convention on Human Rights. Thus, for example, in the case of the vertical dimension, the general obligation set forth in Article 1(1) of the American Convention, to respect and to ensure respect for the free exercise of the rights protected by it, generates effects erga omnes, encompassing the relations of the individual both with the public (State) power as well as with other individuals.8 (paras. 77-78). 11. Measures such as those that the Inter-American Court has just adopted in the present Matter of Pueblo indígena de Kankuamo are instrumental in creating, based on a provision of a human rights treaty like the American Convention, continual monitoring of a situation of extreme gravity and urgency. As I had already anticipated in my Concurring Opinion in the Matter of The Communities of Jiguamiandó and Curbaradó (paras. 6-8), such measures also contribute to the gradual establishment of a genuine right to humanitarian assistance. They illustrate that in situations of this kind, it is possible and viable to act strictly within the framework of the Law,9 thereby reaffirming the primacy of the law over the indiscriminate use of force. They testify to the current process of humanization of international law (moving toward a new jus gentium) in the area of provisional measures of protection as well. All this points up the fact that the human conscience (the ultimate source of all Law) has awakened to the need to protect the human person from violations of his rights by both the State and third parties. 12. At the Institut de Droit International, I have maintained that in the exercise of the emerging right to humanitarian assistance, the emphasis must be on the persons of the beneficiaries of the humanitarian assistance, and not on the potential activities of the agents materially trained to provide that humanitarian assistance. The ultimate basis for the exercise of that right lies in the inherent dignity of the human person: human beings are, in effect, the titulaires of the protected rights and of the right to humanitarian assistance. Their defenselessness and suffering– especially in situations of poverty, economic exploitation, social marginalization and armed conflict-merely underscore the need for obligations erga omnes to protect every human being’s inherent rights. 13. Furthermore, the titulaires of the protected rights are the ones most qualified to identify their basic needs for humanitarian assistance, which is a response, based on the Law, to the new needs for protection of the human person. If the human person’s international legal personality and standing ultimately materialize, then the right to humanitarian assistance may gradually become justiciable. 10 As the present 8 . Cf., in this regard, in general, the resolution adopted by the Institut de Droit International (I.D.I.) at the meeting in Santiago de Compostela in 1989 (Article 1), in: I.D.I., 63 Annuaire de l'Institut de Droit International (1989)-II, pp. 286 and 288-289. 9 . Without having to resort to the unconvincing and unfounded rhetoric of so-called “humanitarian intervention.” 10 . Cf. A.A. Cançado Trindade, "Reply [- Assistance Humanitaire]", 70 Annuaire de l'Institut de Droit International – Bruges Meeting (2002-2003) n. 1, pp. 536-540.