9 CONSIDERING: 1. That Colombia has been a State Party to the American Convention since July 31, 1973 and recognized the jurisdiction of the Court, pursuant to Article 62 of the Convention, on June 21, 1985. 2. That Article 63(2) of the American Conventions provides that, in cases of “extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons,” the Court may, in matters not yet submitted to the Court, upon a request by the Commission, adopt such provisional measures as it deems pertinent. 3. That under the terms of Article 25(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court: [a]t any stage of the proceedings involving cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court may, at the request of a party or on its own motion, order such provisional measures as it deems pertinent, pursuant to Article 63(2) of the Convention. 4. That under International Human Rights Law, provisional measures are not only precautionary insofar as they preserve a juridical situation, but fundamentally protective because they protect human rights. Inasmuch as the basic requirements of extreme gravity and urgency are met, together with that of preventing irreparable damage to persons, the provisional measures become a true preventive jurisdictional guarantee.1 5. That the Commission has described a situation of extreme gravity and urgency that is in accordance with the requirements of Article 63(2) of the American Convention with respect to the members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, as well as persons providing services to that Community and who suffer attacks and grave acts of aggression against their lives and their right to humane treatment. 6. That this Court has studied the reports submitted by the State (supra Having seen 5.), as well as its arguments at the public hearing held on June 13, 2002, in which it did not object to the information on the facts described by the Commission in the instant case, and positively expressed its willingness to implement the measures (supra Having seen 11.). 7. That it has also taken into account the observations of the Commission to the reports submitted by the State (supra Having seen 6.), as well as its arguments at the aforementioned public hearing, in which it referred to various grave events that have taken place in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, despite the provisional measures ordered, and which affect both members of the Community and persons who provide services to it (supra Having seen 10.), points to which the State raised no objection. 1 See Gallardo Rodríguez Case, Provisional Measures. February 14, 2002 Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights, fifth considering; “La Nación” Newspaper Case, Provisional Measures. December 6, 2001 Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, fourth considering; and “La Nación” Newspaper Case, Provisional Measures. May 21, 2001 Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, fourth considering.