E.
Supplementary means
69.
With regard to the supplementary means for the interpretation of treaties,79 it should
be underlined that, during the 1969 Inter-American Specialized Conference on Human Rights
at which the definitive text of the Convention was adopted, two articles were proposed on this
matter. One was Article 26 as it appears in the Convention. This article was adopted. 80
70.
The other proposed article, number 27, indicated:
“Monitoring Compliance with the Obligations. The States Parties shall transmit to the InterAmerican Commission of Human Rights a copy of each of the reports and studies that they
submit annually to the Executive Committees of the Inter-American Economic and Social
Council and the Inter-American Council for Education, Science and Culture, in their respective
fields, so that the Commission can verify their compliance with the obligations determined
previously, which are the essential basis for the exercise of the other rights enshrined in this
Convention.”
71.
It should be noted that the said draft article 27, which was not adopted,81 referred to
“reports and studies” for the Commission to verify whether the States were complying with
the said obligations and, therefore, distinguished between, on the one hand, “the obligations
determined previously,” obviously in Article 26 – in other words, those relating to the rights
derived from “the economic, social, educational, scientific, and cultural standards set forth in
the Charter of the Organization of American States as amended by the Protocol of Buenos
Aires” and, on the other hand, “the other rights enshrined in this Convention”; that is, the
“civil and political rights.”
72.
Thus, the adoption of Article 26 was not intended to incorporate the economic, social
and cultural rights into the protection system established in the Convention. The only intention
was that compliance with the obligations concerning those rights should be submitted to the
examination of the OAS organs, considering that this compliance was the basis for the exercise
of the civil and political rights. Moreover, as indicated, this proposal was not adopted. This
confirms that the States Parties to the Convention had no intention whatsoever of including
the economic, social and cultural rights in the protection system that the Convention does
establish for the civil and political rights.82
IV.
THE OAS CHARTER
73.
Consequently, since Article 26 refers to “the economic, social, educational, scientific,
and cultural standards set forth in the Charter of the Organization of American States as
amended by the Protocol of Buenos Aires,” in order to understand the scope of the article it is
79
Art. 32 of the Vienna Convention: “Supplementary means of interpretation. Recourse may be had to supplementary
means of interpretation, including the preparatory work of the treaty and the circumstances of its conclusion, in order
to confirm the meaning resulting from the application of article 31, or to determine the meaning when the
interpretation according to article 31:
(a) leaves the meaning ambiguous or obscure; or
(b) leads to a result which is manifestly absurd or unreasonable.”
Actas de la Conferencia Especializada Interamericana sobre Derechos Humanos, November 7 to 22, 1969,
OEA/Ser.K/XVI/1.2, p. 318.
80
Actas de la Conferencia Especializada Interamericana sobre Derechos Humanos, November 7 to 22, 1969,
OEA/Ser.K/XVI/1.2, p. 448.
81
Concurring opinion of Judge Alberto Pérez Pérez, Case of Gonzales Lluy et al. v. Ecuador. Preliminary objections,
merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of September 1, 2015.
82
19