24
considered by relevant authorities of the OAS, reports of non-compliance with a Court
judgment are not directly known or debated by the OAS General Assembly, or by the
Permanent Council or by its Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs. The latter
confines itself to discussing and issuing a draft resolution for the Permanent Council,
which is later submitted to the General Assembly, concerning the annual report on
tne work of the Court. However, neither the specific non-compliance of the case at
hand nor, consequently, the defense arguments of the State are heard or debated.
31.
Undoubtedly, the best solution would be to adopt a protocol for amending the
procedural provisions of the American Convention, as the Court in due time proposed.
For the moment, however, failing a long-term solution, a short-term solution must be
found, making it possible for the OAS appropriate authorities to debate the reports on
the non-compliance with judgments pronounced by the Court, which in many cases
could allow for such judgments to be promptly and fully complied with and to be
closed by the Court. This would enhance the Inter-American human rights system,
which erroneously appears to be ineffective as a result of the above data. (supra para.
29).
32.
Even though on several occasions the Court has informed the General
Assembly that it has failed to receive information from a given State concerning its
compliance with a judgment or provisional measures,42 only in 1995 did the General
Assembly urge a State (i.e., Suriname) to inform the Court of the fulfillment of the
judgments in the cases of Aloeboetoe and Gangaram Panday (supra para. 9), which
constitutes irrefutable proof of the statements in this separate opinion in the case of
Caesar vs. Trinidad and Tobago, which deserves full consideration from the States
Party to the American Convention.
33.
In order to stop this from happening over and over again, the most immediate
solution would be for the CJPA to create a permanent working group to consider the
non-fulfillment reports pronounced by the Court and for its members to receive
written and oral reports from the Court, the Commission and the victims’
representatives, and defense arguments or explanations the States Party may have,
with a view to refer the relevant recommendations to the CJPA, to the Permanent
Council and ultimately to the General Assembly.
34.
Although the OAS is an essentially political entity, the great political issues i.e.,
those concerning the legal and political principles that gave birth to the organization
42
Cf. Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos
Humanos, 1990, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.23 doc.12, pp. 15 and 16; Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Informe Anual de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 1991, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.25 doc.7, p. 9;
Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos,
1994, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.31 doc.9, pp. 18 and 19; Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la
Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 1996, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.35 doc.4, p. 27; Inter-American Court
of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 1997,
OEA/Ser.L/V/III.39 doc.5, pp. 29 and 30; Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte
Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 1998, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.43 doc.11, pp. 32-35; Inter-American Court
of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 1999,
OEA/Ser.L/V/III.47 doc.6, pp. 37-45; Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte
Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 2000, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.50 Doc.4, pp. 39-44; Inter-American Court of
Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 2001, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.54
doc.4, pp. 46-55; Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte Interamericana de
Derechos Humanos, 2002, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.57 doc.5, pp. 21, 25, 26, 32, 35, 45 and 46; Inter-American
Court of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 2003,
OEA/Ser.L/V/III.61 doc.1, pp. 44-46; and Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Informe Anual de la Corte
Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, 2004, OEA/Ser.L/V/III.65 doc.1, pp. 24 and 25.
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