49. The two last cases that in which two hearings were held in each one were those of Cantos versus Argentina (Judgment of 11.28.2002) and 19 Tradesmen versus Colombia (Judgment of 07.05.2004). The proceedings of Interpretation of the Judgment do not necessarily exclude the holding of public hearings: for example, v.g., the Judgment of Interpretation in the case of Cesti Hurtado versus Peru, which was duly preceded by a public hearing (on 01.25.2001). 50. There seems to be statistics for everything, except for reason and persuasion. From 1990 and until the end of 2006, the Inter-American Court had issued 19 Judgments of Interpretation; of this total, nine Judgments of Interpretation were issued only in the two-year period of 2005-2006. The total of requests for interpretation of Judgments seems to have accompanied the decrease of the total of public hearings before the Court. In short, I allow myself to insist that there seems to be statistical graphs for everything except for reason and persuasion. Statistical graphs do not impress me at all; I have a real aversion for them. 51. And in this I enjoy good company. The historian Arnold J. Toynbee, known for his profound erudition, has criticized, for more than three years, the “statistical approach” and the “quantification” that were going on to dominate in the contemporary world and that, in his opinion, have a very limited value in “human affairs". For him, "the permanent and regular element in human affairs is human nature, - the whole psychosomatic unity of a human being."40 He confessed that, in the final part of his monumental A Study of History, he experienced "a sense of awe and wonder at human destiny, and human affairs in general, in which the historian is on common ground with the poet or the visual artist. So perhaps he is half-way between the scientist and the poet. (...) I am very conscious of the tragedy of human events (...). When I study history I try to penetrate beyond the human phenomena to what lies behind them. (...) My curiosity leads me on to be curious about the nature and meaning of destiny (if there is such a thing), about existence as a whole. (...) For me history is a way of entering into and trying to comprehend the universe. Every human being has a feeling that life is mysterious, and every human being is to some extent trying to comprehend the incomprehensible."41 52. Each human rights case submitted to the consideration of this Court is a universe in itself, which, in my opinion, reveals – some with greater density – the uncertainties and mysteries that surround human existence, the inquiries on the alleged destination, and the tragedy of the human condition. An international court is called upon to hear and issue a ruling on facts that frequently reveal violence and injustice that victimize so many human beings on a daily basis. In effect, human nature does not seem to have changed throughout the centuries. 53. It is hard for me to escape from the impression that, submitting the noble work of an international human rights tribunal such as this Court, to quantifications and statistical graphs, is an improper trivialization of the mission reserved to it. An additional brief . Toynbee on Toynbee, Oxford, University Press, 1974, pp. 26-27. . Ibid., pp. 28, 38, and 40. 40 41 15

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