7 2. With respect to matters not yet submitted to it, the Court may act at the request of the Commission. […] 4. The provision established in Article 63(2) of the Convention confers an obligatory character to the State’s adoption of the provisional measures ordered by this Tribunal, as the basic legal principal of international State liability, supported by international jurisprudence, provides that States must fulfill their treaty obligations in good faith (pacta sunt servanda).2 5. The present request for provisional measures is not related to a case currently before the Court, but rather originated in information presented before the Inter-American Commission by the Venezuelan Prison Observatory. For this reason, the President does not have information concerning whether the facts before the Tribunal make up part of a contentious case proceeding in the Inter-American system, nor whether a complaint on the merits related to this request may have been lodged before the Inter-American Commission.3 6. In international human rights law, provisional measures are not only of a precautionary nature, in the sense that they preserve a legally cognizable situation, but also a fundamentally protective one as they seek to safeguard human rights and avoid irreparable damage to persons. The measures are applied as long as the basic requirements of extreme gravity, urgency, and the need to prevent irreparable harm to persons are met. Thus, provisional measures are transformed in a true jurisdictional guarantee of a preventive nature.4 7. The Court finds it necessary to clarify that, in view of the precautionary character of provisional measures, it is possible to order them - even when a contentious case does not currently exist in the Inter-American system - in exceptional circumstances that, prima facie, may result in a serious and urgent harm to one’s human rights. To that end, the Court shall undertake an assessment of the problem posed, the effectiveness of State actions in response to the situation described, and the degree of defenselessness in which 2 Cf. Matter of James et al. Provisional Measures regarding Trinidad and Tobago. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of June 14, 1998, Considering clause six; Matter of the Communities of Jiguamiandó and Curbaradó. Provisional Measures regarding Colombia. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of August 30, 2010, Considering clause four; and Matter of Alvarado Reyes et al. Provisional Measures regarding Mexico. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of May 26, 2010, Considering clause five. 3 Cf. Matter of Guerrero Larez. Provisional Measures regarding Venezuela. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of November 17, 2009, Considering clause six; and Matter of Natera Balboa. Provisional Measures regarding Venezuela. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of February 1, 2010, Considering clause five. 4 Cf. Case of “La Nación” Newspaper. Provisional Measures regarding Costa Rica. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of September 7, 2001, Considering clause four; Matter of the Communities of Jiguamiandó and Curbaradó, supra note 2, Considering clause five; and Case of Caballero-Delgado and Santana. Provisional Measures regarding Colombia. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of February 3, 2010, Considering clause four.