REPORT No. 162/11 PETITION 1474-10 ADMISSIBILITY 1 L.M. AND OTHERS PARAGUAY November 2, 2011 I. SUMMARY 1. On September, 2010, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Commission” or the “IACHR”) received a petition submitted by the Coordinator for Children and Adolescents' Rights (Coordinadora por los Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia) and the Center for Justice and International Law, (hereinafter “the petitioners”) in relation to the child L.M., and his biological parents and maternal grandparents. It is alleged that the Paraguayan State (hereinafter “the State” or “the Paraguayan State” or “Paraguay”) violated his rights to humane treatment, the right to a fair trial, the right to privacy, the rights of the family, right to a name, rights of the child, the right to equal protection and the right to judicial protection guaranteed respectively in Articles 5, 8, 11, 17, 18, 19, 24 and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the American Convention” or “the Convention”), in accordance with Article 1.1 of such treaty. 2. According to the petition, the child L.M. would be the son of L.S. and V.H.R., who would have separated and finished their relationship before L.S. knew that she was pregnant. Due to different family issues, the child’s mother would have concealed her pregnancy from her family and the child’s father. On August 2, 2009, she gave birth to her child and on August 4, 2009, she abandoned him at the door of a church, as a consequence of her vulnerable emotional condition. In view of the child’s abandonment, the authorities would have granted provisional guardianship to a family. But, in light of a request made by other couple who was in the process of adopting, the guardianship was revoked from the first family and awarded to the second one. 3. The petitioners allege that in November 2009, the biological parents declared their will to assume responsibility for the child. Since then, domestic proceedings have taken so long that until now the jurisdictional authorities have not decide upon the guardianship and custody of the child L.M., who continues under in the guardianship of the couple and has no contact with his biological parents. 4. The State has requested the Commission to declare the petition inadmissible due to nonexhaustion of domestic remedies, and since the jurisdictional authorities are currently revising the legal actions that are pursued, in accordance with the procedural time limits established in the Paraguayan law. Likewise, it alleges that the facts described therein do not characterize violations of rights protected by the Convention. 5. It should be noted that on June 17, 2010, before the filing of the petition, a request for precautionary measures was submitted to the IACHR by the petitioners in favor of the child L.M., which were awarded by the Commission. After the reception of this petition, on May 23, 2011, the Commission submitted a request for provisional measures before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which were also granted. 6. According to Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention, as well as in Articles 30 and 36 of its Rules of Procedure, and after having analyzed the position of the parties, the Commission decided to declare the petition admissible. Therefore, the IACHR decides to notify its decision to the parties and to continue its examination of the merits of the case in relation to the alleged violations of Articles 5, 8, 17, 19 and 25, in relation to Article 1.1 of the American Convention. Likewise, the Commission decided to notify the parties of this decision, to publish 1 At the request of the petitioners, the child’s identity is withheld; therefore, he is identified with letters L.M. Likewise, at the request of the petitioners, the identity of the people involved in the domestic proceedings is also withheld, as the alleged biological family of the child and those who have acted as “foster family”. 1