2
Congressional Employees(Aguado-Alfaro et al.) v. Peru, which issues, in my view,
bear the most relevance, namely: (a) performance of conventionality control; (b)
conventional obligations of protection as obligations of result; (c) the engagement of
State responsibility at the domestic-law and international-law levels; and (d) access to
justice and the extension of the material scope of jus cogens. The stage has therefore
been set for the formulation of my considerations and final advice.
II.
Performance of Conventionality Control.
6.
It took more than a couple of centuries for domestic public law to reach a point
of cohesion and get arranged into a hierarchy such that it now has a mechanism to
control the “constitutionality” of laws and administrative decisions.2 This control has
become a means for the protection of the rights of citizens in general and, a fortiori, of
all persons subject to state jurisdiction, in a State in which the Rule of Law prevails.3
Such evolution of domestic law did, inevitably, have an effect on international-law
scholars, who took note of such developments.4 Starting in the mid 20th century, this
got labeled the “internationalization” of constitutional law while, more recently, over
the past two decades, there has been talk of the “constitutionalization" of
International Law.
7.
Both currents of thought have fostered greater cohesion in the legal system, as
well as greater interaction between the international and domestic legal systems in
the protection of human rights.5 In the context of such broader doctrinal dimension, it
was recognized that, at the international level proper, human rights treaties present a
“constitutional” dimension, which is herein referred to not in connection with its
position within the hierarchy of domestic legal norms - domestic law being, anyway, a
hostage of the provisions of national constitutions and therefrom projecting, with
certain variations, onto the international sphere – but, rather, in the much more
advanced sense that, in the international sphere proper, they constitute a
constitutional legal system of respect for human rights.
8.
In reference to the European Convention on Human Rights, the European
Court of Human Rights actually used the phrase "constitutional instrument of
European public order (`instrument constitutionnel de l'ordre public européen')" in the
Case of Loizidou v. Turkey (Preliminary Objections, 1995, para. 75), and the InterAmerican Court started to address that issue in this Case of the Dismissed
Congressional Employees(Aguado-Alfaro et al.) v. Peru (merits and reparations,
2
.
Cf., e.g., M. Cappelletti, Judicial Review in the Contemporary World, N.Y., BobbsMerrill Co., 1971, pp.16-24 and 85-100; M. Fromont, La justice constitutionnelle dans le
monde, Paris, Dalloz, 1996, pp. 21-22 and 75-76.
3
.
M. Cappelletti, La Justicia Constitucional (Estudios de Derecho Comparado), Mexico,
UNAM, 1987, p. 239.
4
.
Cf., e.g., B. Mirkine-Guetzévitch, "Le droit constitutionnel et l'organisation de la
paix", 45 Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International de La Haye (1933), pp.667774; P. de Visscher, "Les tendances internationales des constitutions modernes", 80 Recueil
des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International de La Haye (1952), pp.511-578; A. Cassese,
"Modern Constitutions and International Law", 192 Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit
International de La Haye (1985) pp.331-476. In an inspired monograph published in 1944,
the visionary Greek legal scholar Nicolas Politis argued that "les règles du droit des gens
peuvent, moyennant certaines conditions, faire l'objet d'un contrôle juridictionnel"; N. Politis,
La morale internationale, N.Y., Brentano's, 1944, p. 67.
5
.
Cf. A.A. Cançado-Trindade, "Co-Existence and Co-Ordination of Mechanisms of
International Protection of Human Rights (At Global and Regional Levels)", 202 Recueil des
Cours de l'Académie de Droit International de La Haye (1987) pp. 9-435.