Convention, which, as has been established by this Court, can be complied with in
different ways depending on the specific right that the State must guarantee and on the
specific needs for protection. 85 This obligation implies a duty for States Parties to
organize all the structures through which the public power is governed, in such a way as
to be capable of legally ensuring the free and full exercise of human rights.86 As part of
this obligation, the State has the juridical duty to “[r]easonably prevent human rights
violations and to seriously investigate, with the means within its reach, the violations
committed within its jurisdiction in order to identify those responsible, impose upon
them the appropriate punishments, and guarantee the victim an appropriate reparation.”
87
99.
The duty to prevent covers all juridical, political, administrative, and cultural
measures that promote the safeguarding of human rights. 88 With regard to individuals
deprived of liberty, the State is in a special position for guaranteeing the rights of the
detained.89 Thus, deprivation of liberty in legally recognized centers and the existence of
a registry of detainees constitute fundamental safeguards, inter alia, against enforced
disappearance.90
100. As one of the goals of enforced disappearance is to prevent the exercise of legal
remedies and the appropriate procedural guarantees, when a person has been subjected
to kidnapping, detention, or any form of deprivation of liberty in which the victim cannot
access the remedies available, it is crucial for relatives or other associated persons to be
able to access judicial proceedings or remedies that are fast and effective as a means of
establishing the detainee’s whereabouts or the detainee’s state of health, or to identify
the authority that ordered the deprivation of liberty or carried it out. 91
101. In consideration of the foregoing and of the acknowledgment of responsibility
made by the State and the evidence brought before the Tribunal, the Court will
categorize the facts of the detention and later disappearance of Iván Eladio Torres
Millacura.
102. The case file does not indicate that the detention of Mr. Torres Millacura that took
place in the late hours of October 2, 2003, and the early hours of October 3, 2002, was
carried out under Law 815 of the Province of Chubut, nor that it was carried out for
reasons based on Article 10, subparagraph b) of that law. However, given that the
Commission alleged that this law had been applied and that the State acknowledged
85
Cf. Case of the Mapiripán Massacre V. Colombia, supra note 16, paras. 111 and 113; Case of Ibsen
Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña V. Bolivia, supra note 17, para. 62, and Case of Gelman V. Uruguay, supra note 76,
para. 76.
86
Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez V. Honduras, supra note 21, para. 166; Case of Radilla Pacheco V.
México, supra note 23, para. 142, and Case of Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña V. Bolivia, supra note 17, para.
62.
87
Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez V. Honduras, supra note 21, para. 174; Case of Radilla Pacheco V.
México, supra note 23, para. 142, and Case of Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña V. Bolivia, supra note 17, para.
62.
88
Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez V. Honduras, supra note 21, para. 175; Case of Gomes Lund et al.
(Guerrilha do Araguaia) V. Brazil, supra note 70, para. 106, and Case of Gelman V. Uruguay, supra note 76,
para. 77.
89
Cf. Case of Neira Alegría et al. V. Perú. Merits. Judgment of January 19, 1995. Series C No. 20, para.
60; Case of Vélez Loor V. Panamá, supra note 32, para. 198, and Case of Vera Vera et al. V. Ecuador, supra
note 17, para. 42.
90
Cf. Case of Anzualdo Castro V. Perú, supra note 71, para. 63; Case of Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña
V. Bolivia, supra note 17, para. 63, and Case of Gelman V. Uruguay, supra note 76, para. 77.
91
Cf. Case of Anzualdo Castro V. Perú, supra note 71, Case of Gomes Lund et al. (Guerrilha do
Araguaia) V. Brazil, supra note 70, para. 107, and Case of Gelman V. Uruguay, supra note 76, para. 185. The
Article X of the Convention on Forced Disappearance makes reference to this obligation.
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