CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE DIEGO GARCÍA-SAYÁN WITH THE ORDER ON MONITORING COMPLIANCE WITH JUDGMENT IN THE CASE OF BLANCO ROMERO ET AL. v. VENEZUELA OF NOVEMBER 22, 2011 1. The matter of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the InterAmerican Court” or “the Court”) monitoring compliance with its own judgments is one of its most relevant prerogatives for the protection of human rights. The Court has exercised this prerogative since its first decisions, and it is a mechanism of fundamental relevance to ensure compliance with them. Thus, the stage of monitoring compliance with judgment has become a central element of the protection of the human rights of the individual in the Americas. Not only because it guarantees, in the case to which the State is a party, “that the injured party be ensured the enjoyment of his right or freedom that was violated; that the consequences of the measure or situation that constituted the breach of such right or freedom be remedied 1 and that fair compensation be paid to the injured party,” but also because its practical effects extend to the other States Parties, promoting the full exercise of human rights. 2. An assessment of the procedure of monitoring compliance with the judgments adopted by the Court, enhanced by holding hearings in this regard, leads me to affirm 2 It has given this that this tool has become a crucial and successful mechanism. stage a new momentum, facilitating and encouraging significant progress in the implementation of measures to ensure compliance with the Court’s decisions in its 1 2 Article 63 of the American Convention on Human Rights. Since 1989, the Court’s consistent practice has been to request reports from the States. Generally, this commences with a first report that must be provided to the Court one year after the judgment has been delivered. Then, the observations of the victims or their representatives and of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights are required. Once the relevant and necessary information has been obtained, the Court issues an order evaluating the degree of progress made in complying with its decisions and making any necessary stipulations to guide compliance with the measures that remain pending. Although this procedure was conducted in writing, as of 2007, an innovative mechanism was put in practice by the Court, consisting in holding hearings on monitoring compliance with judgments. During these hearings, the parties are able to report directly on their positions and to react to them, and the Court is able “to suggest alternatives for settling the dispute, to call attention to non-compliance based on unwillingness, and to encourage all those involved to work together to establish timetables for compliance, and even to make its premises available to the parties so that they can have the discussions that are often difficult to organize in the State concerned” (Cf. 2010 Annual Report of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, p. 10). This practice has been consolidated in Article 69(3) of the Court’s current Rules of Procedure, which expressly establish the possibility that the Court may convene a hearing when it finds this pertinent (Cf. Rules of Procedure approved by the Inter-American Court at its eighty-fifth regular session held from November 16 to 28, 2009).