14
obstacles of the dogmas of the past, as well as the current inadequacies and
ambiguities of the law of treaties, so as to bring us closer to the plenitude of the
international protection of the human being.
41.
Within the legal situation created in the Blake versus Guatemala case before
the Inter-American Court, this latter has, however, succeeded, in the present
Judgment on reparations as well as in the previous Judgment on the merits of the
case, to contribute - in relation to a specific aspect - to the jurisprudential treatment
of the crime of forced disappearance of person, to the extent that it gives precision
to, and consolidates, the position of the relatives of the disappeared person also as
victims and titulaires of the rights protected by the American Convention on Human
Rights. All those who were withdrawn from the protection of the law - the
disappeared person as well as his relatives - form, thus, the "injured party", in the
sense of Article 63(1) of the American Convention, as recognized in the present
Judgment on reparations of the Court.
42.
This position finds full support in contemporary doctrine and case-law. The
Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power
(United Nations, 1985)36 affirms that "the term `victim' also includes, where
appropriate, the immediate family or the dependents of the direct victim and the
people injured by interceding to give assistance to the suffering victims or to prevent
the victimization" (paragraph 2 in fine). In the African continent, in the K. Achuthan
(on behalf of A. Banda) versus Malawi case (1994), the African Commission on
Human and Peoples' Rights accepted that the petitioner acted on behalf of his fatherin-law, and established a violation of Articles 4, 5, 6, 7(1)(a)(c) and (d), and 26, of
the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights37.
43.
In the European continent, already in 1970 the old European Commission of
Human Rights sustained, in the X versus Federal Republic of Germany case, that the
term "victim" meant "not only the direct victim or victims of the alleged violation but
also any person who would indirectly suffer prejudice as a result of such violation or
who would have a valid personal interest in securing the cessation of such
violation"38. This understanding was also advanced by the Commission in other
Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International de La Haye (1971) pp. 320-324. E. Suy, "The
Concept of Jus Cogens in Public International Law", Papers and Proceedings of the Conference on
International Law (Lagonissi/Greece, 03-08.04.1966), Geneva, C.E.I.P., 1967, pp. 17-77; Ch. de Visscher,
"Positivisme et jus cogens", 75 Revue générale de Droit international public (1971) pp. 5-11; A. Verdross,
"Jus Dispositivum and Jus Cogens in International Law", 60 American Journal of International Law (1966)
pp. 55-63; U. Scheuner, "Conflict of Treaty Provisions with a Peremptory Norm of International Law", 27
and 29 Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (1967 and 1969) pp. 520-532 and
28-38, respectively; H. Mosler, "Ius Cogens im Völkerrecht", 25 Schweizerisches Jahrbuch für
internationales Recht (1968) pp. 1-40; K. Marek, "Contribution à l'étude du jus cogens en Droit
international", Recueil d'études de Droit international en homage à P. Guggenheim, Geneva, IUHEI, 1968,
pp. 426-459.
36.
Adopted by resolution 40/34 of the General Assembly of the United Nations, of 29.11.1985.
37.
Communication n. 64/92, in ACHPR, Decisions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples'
Rights, 1986-1997, Series A, vol. I, Banjul, 1997, pp. 63 and 68.
38.
Application n. 4185/69, decision of 13.07.1970, in: Collection of Decisions of the European
Commission of Human Rights, vol. 35, pp. 140-142; la applicant - wife of a person detained in an asylum
for the mentally ill - considered herself an "indirect victim" of the detention of her husband pursuant to
decisions of the German tribunals.