added the presumed violation of Articles 4(1), 5(1), and 7 of the Convention, in relation to
Articles 1(1) and 2 thereof. The State rejected the violation of all these rights. In this
regard, the Court observes that a dispute exists between the parties regarding the rights
that were allegedly violated in this case. The Court will now proceed to interpret the
American Convention in order to determine the scope of the rights to personal integrity and
to private and family life, as relevant to decide the dispute.
142. Article 11 of the American Convention requires the State to protect individuals
against the arbitrary actions of State institutions that affect private and family life. It
prohibits any arbitrary or abusive interference with the private life of the individual,
indicating different spheres of this, such as the private life of the family. Thus, the Court has
held that the private sphere is characterized by being exempt from and immune to abusive
or arbitrary interference or attacks by third parties or by public authorities. 223 In addition,
this Court has interpreted Article 7 of the American Convention broadly when indicating that
it includes a concept of liberty in a broad sense as the ability to do and not do all that is
lawfully permitted. In other words, every person has the right to organize, in keeping with
the law, his or her individual and social life according to his or her own choices and beliefs.
Liberty, thus defined, is a basic human right, inherent in the attributes of the person, that is
evident throughout the American Convention. 224 The Court has also underscored the
concept of liberty and the possibility of all human beings to self-determination and to
choose freely the options and circumstances that give meaning to their life, according to
their own choices and beliefs. 225
143. The scope of the protection of the right to private life has been interpreted in broad
terms by the international human rights courts, when indicating that this goes beyond the
right to privacy. 226 The protection of private life encompasses a series of factors associated
with the dignity of the individual, including, for example, the ability to develop his or her
own personality and aspirations, to determine his or her own identity and to define his or
her own personal relationships. The concept of private life encompasses aspects of physical
and social identity, including the right to personal autonomy, personal development and the
right to establish and develop relationships with other human beings and with the outside
world. 227 The effective exercise of the right to private life is decisive for the possibility of
223
Cf. Case of the Ituango Massacres v. Colombia. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs.
Judgment of July 1, 2006 Series C No. 148, para. 194, and Case of Atala Riffo and daughters v. Chile. Merits,
reparations and costs. Judgment of February 24, 2012. Series C No. 239, para. 161.
224
Cf. Case of Chaparro Álvarez and Lapo Íñiguez. v. Ecuador. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and
costs. Judgment of November 21. 2007. Series C No. 170, para. 52.
225
Cf. Case of Atala Riffo and daughters v. Chile, para. 136. Mutatis mutandi, Case of Chaparro Álvarez and
Lapo Íñiguez. v. Ecuador. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 21, 2007.
Series C No. 170, para. 52.
226
227
Cf. Case of Atala Riffo and daughters v. Chile, para. 135.
Cf. Case of Rosendo Cantú et al. v. Mexico. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment
of August 31, 2010. Series C No. 216, para. 119, and Case of Atala Riffo and daughters v. Chile, para. 162. See
also: ECHR, Case of Dudgeon v. United Kingdom (No. 7525/76), Judgment of 22 October 1981, para. 41; Case of X
and Y v. The Netherlands (No. 8978/80), Judgment of 26 March 1985, para. 22; Case of Niemietz v. Germany,
(No. 13710/88), Judgment of 16 December 1992, para. 29; Case of Peck v. United Kingdom (No. 44647/98),
Judgment of 28 January 2003. Final, 28 April 2003, para. 57; Case of Pretty v. United Kingdom (No. 2346/02),
Judgment of 29 April 2002. Final, 29 July 2002, para. 61. (“The concept of [‘]private life[’] is a broad term not
susceptible to exhaustive definition. It covers the physical and psychological integrity of a person […]. It can
sometimes embrace aspects of an individual's physical and social identity […]. Article 8 also protects a right to
personal development, and the right to establish and develop relationships with other human beings and the
outside world […]. Although no previous case has established as such any right to self-determination as being
contained in Article 8 of the Convention, the Court considers that the notion of personal autonomy is an important
principle underlying the interpretation of its guarantees.”)