30.
In this context, the domestic courts are called on to play a crucial role, because they
are one of the principle vehicles for the State to be able to convert the obligations contained
in the international human rights treaties into domestic law, by applying them in their
jurisprudence and daily proceedings. 24 Evidently, not only must they guarantee rights by
ensuring the effectiveness of domestic judicial remedies, but they must also put in practice
the binding decisions of the Inter-American Court that interpret and define the international
laws and standards for the protection of human rights. 25
31.
The active participation of the domestic courts in guaranteeing human rights creates
a favorable environment for reinforcing their capacity to use procedures and criteria that are
increasingly in conformity with international laws and standards for human rights protection,
and this ensures the enhanced implementation of those laws and standards at the domestic
level.
32.
Consequently, one of the main purposes of the interaction between the international
and national bodies of laws is to improve the national protection systems. This encourages
the national jurisdictional organs to deal with violations of rights and to do whatever is
possible to repair them, if they occur. “In the international guarantee there is a general
interest, in addition to a merely subjective one, to foster the effectiveness of the State
system. International protection should not act as a substitute for domestic protection; its
function is to complete and promote the latter’s increased effectiveness.” 26
33.
The highest courts of Latin America have been nourishing themselves from the
Court’s case law in a process that can be referred to as the “nationalization” of international
human rights law. 27 For this important process of interaction between the region’s national
and international courts to take place, in which the former are called on to apply
international human rights law and observe the provisions of the Inter-American Court’s
case law, constant incentives must be provided for the substantive dialogue that allows this.
Within the framework of the different types of actions that encourage this dialogue, the
Inter-American Court’s decision to assess positively the measures taken in the domestic
sphere to make reparation for the pecuniary damage constitute an important step on this
path.
Diego García-Sayán
Judge
24
GARCÍA-SAYÁN, Diego, “Una Viva Interacción: Corte Interamericana y Tribunales Internos”, in The Inter-American
Court de Derechos Humanos: Un Cuarto de Siglo: 1979-2004, Corte Interamericana of Human Rights, San José, Costa
Rica, 2005, p. 330.
25
GARCÍA-SAYÁN, Diego, “Una Viva Interacción: Corte Interamericana y Tribunales Internos”, op. cit., p. 330, and
Diego García-Sayán “Justicia interamericana and tribunales nacionales”, op. cit., p. 379.
26
PEREZ TREMPS, Pablo, “Las garantías constitucionales y la jurisdicción internacional en la protección de los derechos
fundamentales”, in Anuario de la Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Extremadura, No. 10, 1992, p. 81.
27
GARCÍA-SAYÁN, Diego, “Una Viva Interacción: Corte Interamericana y Tribunales Internos”, op. cit., p. 325-331.
8
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