5 Osman versus the United Kingdom (1998), that in certain circumstances it is necessary to consider the "positive obligation on the authorities to take preventive operational measures to protect an individual whose life is at risk from the criminal acts of another individual".21 15. In brief, as shown by the aforementioned international jurisprudence, in each and every circumstance the State has an obligation of due diligence, to avoid irreparable damage to persons under its jurisdiction, including relations among individuals –all the more so when these lead to a pattern of systematic violence. The provisional measures adopted by the Inter-American Court in recent cases22 reveal that it is possible and feasible to act, in situations of recurring violence, with respect to the members of a human collectivity, strictly within the framework of the Law, reaffirming the primacy of the latter over indiscriminate use of force. And they attest to the current process of humanization of international law (toward a new jus gentium) also regarding application of provisional measures of protection. All this reveals that human awareness (the ultimate source of all Law) has awoken to the need to protect the human person against violations of the rights of the human person by the State and also by private third parties. 16. At the Institut de Droit International, I have argued that exercise of the emerging right to humanitarian assistance must emphasize the persons who are the beneficiaries of said assistance, rather than the potential for action of the agents that are materially able to provide it. The ultimate basis for exercise of said right lies in the inherent dignity of the human person; human beings are truly entitled to the rights protected, as well as to the very right to humanitarian assistance, and the vulnerable situations in which they find themselves –especially in face of harassment and threats of chronic violence- highlight the need for compliance with the erga omnes obligations to provide protection of the rights inherent to them. 17. In my opinion, the development of and due compliance with said erga omnes obligations are indispensable to end systematic violence and impunity. Furthermore, those entitled to the rights protected (or their legal representatives) are most able to identify the basic needs for humanitarian assistance, which is a response, based on the Law, to the new needs for protection of the human person. Insofar as international legal capacity and personality are definitively reinforced, beyond any doubt, the right to humanitarian assistance may gradually become actionable.23 18. The current phenomenon of expansion of said international legal personality and capacity,24 in turn, is a response -as shown by recent cases before this Court pertaining to members of human collectivities- to a pressing need of the international community in our times. Finally, the doctrinal and case-law development of the erga omnes obligations to provide protection to the human person, in each and every 21 . ECtHR, Case of Osman versus the United Kingdom, Judgment of 28.10.1998, Series A, n. 1050, para. 115. 22 . See, e.g., note (1), supra. 23 . See A.A. Cançado Trindade, "Reply [- Assistance Humanitaire]", 70 Annuaire de l'Institut de Droit International - Session de Bruges (2002-2003) n. 1, pp. 536-540. 24 . See A.A. Cançado Trindade, El Acceso Directo del Individuo a los Tribunales Internacionales de Derechos Humanos, Bilbao, University of Deusto, 2001, pp. 9-104.

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