8 4. Article 1(1) of the Convention establishes the duty of States parties to respect the rights and freedoms recognized therein and to ensure their free and full exercise to all persons subject to their jurisdiction. 5. The purpose of provisional measures in domestic legal systems (domestic procedural law) in general, is to preserve the rights of the parties to a dispute, thereby ensuring that execution of the judgment on the merits is not obstructed or otherwise prejudiced by their actions pendente lite. 6. Under the International Law of Human Rights, urgent and provisional measures serve a further purpose, which is to protect fundamental human rights, thereby avoiding irreparable harm to persons. 7. The information presented by the Commission in this case reveals prima facie, a threat to the life and integrity of the persons of the members of the Kichwa indigenous community of Sarayaku and its defenders. On a number of occasions, when protective measures were called for, this Court has ordered provisional measures based on the standard of prima facie assessment of a case and on the basis of presumptive evidence.1 8. The Inter-American Commission has adopted precautionary measures that have not produced the needed effects; to the contrary, recent events indicate that the members of the Sarayaku Kichwa indigenous community and their defenders are in grave peril. 9. Heretofore, the Court has ordered protection of a group of people not previously named, but who are identifiable and whose identity can be determined, and who are in grave peril by virtue of the fact that they belong to a given community.2 In the instant case, as the Commission has indicated, the Kichwa indigenous community of Sarayaku, composed of approximately 1200 persons, is an organized community located in a specific geographic area comprising the villages of Shiguacoca, Chontayaku, Sarayakillo, Cali Cali, Teresa Mama, Llanchama and Sarayaku Centro, in the province of Pastaza. Its members are identifiable and can be named. Furthermore, as they are all members of that community, they are exposed to the same threat of aggression against the integrity of their person and lives. This Court therefore deems that provisional measures must be ordered to protect all members of the Kichwa indigenous community of Sarayaku. 10. To effectively ensure the rights recognized in the American Convention, the State Party has an obligation, erga omnes, to protect all persons subject to its jurisdiction. As this Court has previously held, this general obligation applies not 1 Cf., inter alia, Case of the Gómez-Paquiyauri Brothers. Provisional Measures. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of May 7, 2004, ‘Considering’ sixteen; Case of Bámaca-Velásquez. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of November 20, 2003, ‘Considering’ twelve; and Matter of Marta Colomina and Liliana Velásquez. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of September 8, 2003, ‘Considering’ five. 2 Cf., inter alia, Matter of The Communities of Jiguamiandó and Curbaradó. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of March 6, 2003, ‘Considering’ nine; Matter of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of June 18, 2002, ‘Considering’ eight; and Matter of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of November 24, 2000, ‘Considering’ seven. See also, Case of the Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community. Judgment of August 31, 2001, Series C No. 79, para. 149.