4
and apply criteria to repair a violation. This allows the domestic organs and institutions
to enhance their ability to use procedures and criteria that accord with international
standards concerning human rights. Evidently, the States “do not enjoy unlimited
discretionary authority and it will correspond to the organs of the inter-American
system, within the framework of their respective competences, to exercise subsidiary
and complementary control.”11
14.
Once the State’s international responsibility has been declared, it is incumbent
on the Inter-American Court to comply with the obligation imposed on it by Article
63(1) of the Convention, to rule “if appropriate, that the consequences of the measure
or situation that constituted the breach of such right or freedom be remedied and that fair
compensation be paid to the injured party” (emphasis added). To comply with this
obligation, the Court must verify that the reparations awarded in the domestic sphere
conform to the international obligations and order measures to repair the damage that
was not repaired adequately at the domestic level. The Court must assess whether it is
appropriate to require the State to pay additional compensation, if compensation had
been established by the domestic courts. It is not appropriate to require this measure
when the State, through its domestic organs, has established and executed fair
compensation that repairs the damage caused.
15.
Consequently, the rulings of the Inter-American Court concerning reparations
do not depend on and are not limited by the mechanisms or standards established
under the domestic legal system, or by what has been decided by the domestic organs.
When verifying the conformity of the reparations awarded at the domestic level, the
Court does not have such restrictions. To the contrary, it is the final interpreter of the
international obligation to make reparation in relation to human rights but, at the same
time, it has the obligation to recognize and encourage, if applicable, the steps taken
under domestic law that are in accord with international law.
II.
Compensatory damages for pecuniary harm
16.
In international human rights law, compensatory damages have been
considered the form of reparation par excellence to compensate the pecuniary harm
resulting from the violation of human rights.
17.
Under comparative domestic law, loss of income is one of the basic elements
that almost all legal systems include as a matter that requires the damage to be
compensated.12 Clearly, there are procedural differences and diverse criteria as
regards how to determine the loss and the amounts awarded. It should also be
recognized that, at times, the development of the right to reparation in the domestic
sphere, owing to State responsibility for the violation of human rights, has been
influenced by international human rights law.
18.
Even though it is evident under international human rights law that the States
are obliged to establish an effective remedy that permits making reparation for human
rights violations, international laws do not expressly regulate the parameters that the
11
Cf. Zambrano Vélez et al. v. Ecuador. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of July 4, 2007. Series C
No. 166, para. 47.
12
SHELTON, Dinah, Remedies in International Human Rights Law, Second Edition, Oxford University Press,
New York, 2005, pp. 35-36.
Seleccionar párrafo de destino3
Conectar a un párrafo
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Añadir a la tabla de contenidos