18.
In exercising its jurisdiction to interpret procedural provisions of the American
Convention, the Court has adopted fundamental decisions for the inter-American system.
One decision was that the Tribunal is the competent body to monitor compliance with its
own judgments. Indeed, on the sole occasion that a State challenged the Court's authority
to carry out such monitoring, the Court stated that:
when adopting the provisions of Article 65 of the Convention, [t]he intention of the
States was to grant the Court the authority to monitor compliance with its rulings, and
that the Court would be responsible for informing the OAS General Assembly, through
its annual report, of cases in which the decisions of the Court had not been complied
with, since it is not possible to apply Article 65 of the Convention unless the Court
monitors compliance with its decisions.
To determine the scope of the provisions of Articles 33, 62(1), 62(3) and 65 of the
American Convention, and also Article 30 of the Statute of the Court, and to comply
adequately with the obligation to monitor compliance with its decisions, the Court has
respected the interpretation guidelines set forth in the American Convention and the
1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and also took into consideration the
nature and superior common values which the Convention is inspired by.16.
19.
Another important decision taken by the Court concerns the alleged "withdrawal" by
a State of the recognition of the jurisdiction of the Court. In various judgments issued
against said State, the Court stated that:
According to Article 31(1) of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,
[...] a treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the
ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and
in the light of its object and purpose
[…]
An interpretation of the Convention done “in good faith in accordance with the
ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in light of
its object and purpose” leads this Court to the view that a State Party to the American
Convention can only release itself of its obligations under the Convention by following
the provisions that the treaty itself stipulates. In the instant case, under the
Convention, the only avenue the State has to disengage itself from the Court’s binding
contentious jurisdiction is to denounce the Convention as a whole [...]; if this happens,
then the denunciation will only have effect if done in accordance with Article 78, which
requires one year’s advance notice.
Article 29(a) of the American Convention provides that no provision of the Convention
shall be interpreted as permitting any State Party, group, or person to suppress the
enjoyment or exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized in the Convention or to
restrict them to a greater extent than is provided for therein. Any interpretation of the
Convention that allows a State Party to withdraw its recognition of the Court’s binding
16
Case of Baena Ricardo et al. v. Panama. Competence. Judgment of November 28, 2003. Series C No. 1,
para. 90 and 91.
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