95
281. In relation to that indicated by the State, the representatives states that
following a 2007 study in the General Archive of the University of the Republic that
found 32 repositories with documentation of human rights violations (five private
and 27 public), which, in regards to access “in 30% of the cases is free and without
restrictions, and in 50% of the cases it is restricted, which means, that permission
must be requested and the request must be justified, and this can be denied.” In the
great majority of the cases, the standards used to allow or deny the request, is not
clear.” They noted that the existing legal framework (Law of the National Archive
System of 2007, Law of Protection of Personal Information of 2008 and the Law of
Access to Public Information of 2008) has not been regulated and a public policy
which would comply with international standards has not been designed. Therefore,
they requested that the State authorize, without restrictions, the access to the
records and other information in the hands of institutions and employees or former
employees of the State, with the objective of collaborating with the criminal
investigations to clarify the human rights violations.”
282. The Court positively values that there exists a law, which in Uruguay protects
the right to access public information, as informed by the State. Although the
application of this norm has not been made in favor of the victims in the present
case, the Court has noted that one of the limitations to progress with the
investigation is the information concerning the serious violations of human rights
taken place during the dictatorship which rests in different national security archives
that are found to be dispersed and whose control is not adequate. 320 Given that this
information could be useful for the employees who execute the judicial investigations
concerning the facts of the present case, the State should adopt the appropriate and
adequate measures to guarantee the technical and systematical access to this
information, means that should be supported by the appropriate assigned budget.
iv.
Others claims
283. The Commission requested that the State be ordered “[t]o create an effective
internal mechanism, with binding legal powers and with authority over all bodies of
the State, to ensure full compliance with that ordered in the Court’s judgment.”
284. The State expressed that, in compliance with the constitutional system of
Uruguay, the Nation adopt a form of government of a democratic republic; that the
Branches of government mentioned in the Constitution are the Executive Branch, the
Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch, and that, at the same time, each one of
them exercises a predominant legal function, be it administrative, legislative, or
jurisdictional, which conceptually implies the separation of powers among the
different systems in those bodies and the consequences entailed from this form of
organization.” It also stated that Uruguay is a country that prides itself on being
respectful of International Law as well as of the jurisdictional judgments which is in
consonance with its best tradition, thus its commitment to comply with the Court’s
judgment in the current case is not in any possible way doubtful; therefore, Uruguay
stated that there is no need to create “domestic mechanism[s]” to that effect.
285. The Court finds that the Commission did not support, neither in general terms
or given the particularities of this case, in any specific circumstance, its request with
320
Expert Report of Mr. Gerardo Caetano rendered during the public hearing before the InterAmerican Court.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents