SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE JACKMAN I have voted in favor of this judgment because I am in complete agreement with the conclusions reached by the Court, as well as with the operative paragraphs. Nevertheless, I feel obliged to put on record a certain level of disagreement with the ratio decidendi of the Court in relation to the violation by the State of Nicaragua (“the State”) of the rights embodied in Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights (“the Convention”), to the detriment of the YATAMA candidates. The specific focus of this opinion is the Court’s analysis (in paragraphs 214 to 229 of this judgment) of the State’s responsibility in relation to Article 23(1)(b) of the Convention. I propose to consider this analysis, taking into account the provisions of Article 1(2) and Article 2. Article 1(2) establishes that: 2. For the purposes of this Convention, "person" means every human being. Article 23(1)(b) establishes that: 1. Every citizen shall enjoy the following rights and opportunities: [...] b. to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters; and Article 2 stipulates that: Where the exercise of any of the rights or freedoms referred to in Article 1 is not already ensured by legislative or other provisions, the States Parties undertake to adopt, in accordance with their constitutional processes and the provisions of this Convention, such legislative or other measures as may be necessary to give effect to those rights or freedoms. The principal arguments of this judgment concerning the violation of political rights (Article 23) and the right to equal protection of the law (Article 24) committed by the State can be summarized as follows: (1) The 2000 Electoral Act only permitted participation in electoral processes through political parties, a form of organization alien to the customs, organization and culture of the “indigenous and ethnic” communities of the Atlantic Coast (para. 214). (2) There is no provision of the American Convention that allows it to be established that citizens should belong to a political party in order to stand as candidates for public office. The Convention recognizes that, for electoral purposes, other forms of political organization may be appropriate and even necessary to attain common goals, by encouraging or ensuring the participation of specific groups (para. 215). (3) According to domestic laws, the State is obliged to respect the forms of organization of the communities of the Atlantic Coast. The State has not demonstrated the existence of an urgent public interest that would justify the requirement for YATAMA to become a political party so that its members can