highest level. The requirement of “urgency” signifies that the risk or threat involved must be
imminent, and this requires the response to remedy it be immediate. Lastly, with regard to the
damage, there must be a reasonable probability that it will occur and it should not affect legal
rights or property that can be repaired. 23
8.
The standard of assessment prima facie in a matter and the application of presumptions
when dealing with the need for protection have led this Court to order measures on different
occasions. 24 Although, when ordering provisional measures, this Court has sometimes
considered it essential to individualize the persons who are at risk of suffering irreparable
damage in order to grant them measures of protection, 25 at other times, the Court has ordered
the protection of a group of persons who have not been identified by name previously, but who
can be identified and determined and who are in a situation of grave danger because they
belong to a group or community. 26
9.
Furthermore, the Court recalls that, in order to determine whether a situation of extreme
gravity and urgency of avoiding irreparable damage exists, it is possible to assess all the
political, historical, cultural or any other factors or circumstances that affect the beneficiaries or
that place them in a situation of vulnerability at a specific moment and at risk of having their
rights violated. This situation can increase or decrease over time depending on innumerable
variables. 27
10.
In other cases, the Court has ordered the protection by provisional measures of a group
of persons who have not been identified by name previously, provided that they could be
identified and determined and were in a situation of grave danger because they belonged to a
group or a community. 28 In several of these cases, the beneficiary community was organized
and located in a specific geographical place, and its members could be individualized and
identified. The relevant factor when ordering provisional measures in several of these cases was
that, because they formed part of the said community, they were all in a similar situation of risk
of suffering attacks on their personal integrity and their life, as well as being forced to displace
from their territory.
23
Cf. Matters of the Monagas Detention Center (“La Pica”), Capital Region Penitentiary Center Yare I and Yare II
(Yare Prison), Central Occidental Region Penitentiary Center (Uribana Prison), and Capital Detention Center El Rodeo I
and el Rodeo II. Provisional measures with regard to Venezuela. Orders of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of
November 24, 2009, third considering paragraph, and Matter of Belfort Istúriz et al., eighth considering paragraph.
24
Cf., inter alia, Case of Caballero Delgado and Santana. Request for provisional measures with regard to
Colombia. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of December 7, 1994, third considering paragraph, and
Matter of the Socio-educational Unit. Provisional measures with regard to Brazil. Order of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights of February 25, 2011, fifth considering paragraph.
25
Cf. Case of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian Origin in the Dominican Republic. Request for provisional
measures with regard to Dominican Republic. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of August 18, 2000,
eighth considering paragraph, and Matter of the Ciudad Bolívar Detention Center “Vista Hermosa Prison,” seventeenth
considering paragraph.
26
Cf., inter alia, Matter of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. Provisional measures with regard to
Colombia, Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of November 24, 2000, seventh considering paragraph,
and Matter of the Ciudad Bolívar Detention Center “Vista Hermosa Prison,” seventeenth considering paragraph.
27
Cf. Matter of Carpio Nicolle, twenty-sixth considering paragraph, and Matter of Alvarado Reyes et al. Provisional
measures with regard to Mexico, Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of May 15, 2011, twentieth
considering paragraph.
28
Cf. Case of Luisiana Ríos et al. (Radio Caracas Televisión–RCTV). Provisional measures with regard to
Venezuela. Order of the Court of September 12, 2005, eleventh considering paragraph; Matter of the Peace Community
of San José de Apartadó. Provisional measures with regard to Colombia. Order of the Court of June 18, 2002, eighth
considering paragraph, and Matter of the Communities of the Jiguamiandó and of the Curbaradó. Provisional measures
with regard to Colombia. Order of the Court of March 6, 2003, ninth considering paragraph.
14