Inter-American system of promotion and protection of human rights; such a task
corresponds, as has been previously stated, to the States.19 The Court is, on the other
hand, an autonomous entity in the exercise of its functions, which necessitates an
extremely strict adherence to the norms which regulate it, guaranteeing in this way
judicial impartiality and security.
Conclusion.
Certainly, with all that has been noted, it is not being asserted that the mechanism for
monitoring compliance with judgments enshrined in the Rules of Procedure is not
useful, or even, in certain cases, effective. Neither is it being espoused that it is
inappropriate or that it contradicts that which is set out in the Convention or the
Statute. On the contrary, what is being affirmed is, on the one hand, that its
application does not relieve the Court of its duty laid out in Article 65 of the Convention
and 30 of the Statute, and on the other hand, that the mechanism has been
established precisely to carry out with those duties.
Note that in this regard, monitoring entails “exercising a superior’s inspection in work
done by others,”20 which for the Court, corresponds simply to that provided for, among
others, in the Rules of Procedure:,21 to become informed, particularly through the
request for reports on compliance with judgments and “once…having all the pertinent
information, it shall determine the state of compliance, and it shall emit the resolutions
that it deems necessary.” That, and no other, is and ought to be the object of the
regulatory mechanism, and never the evasion or delaying of the fulfillment of that
ordered in Article 65 of the Convention and Article 30 of the Statute. The objective of
these norms is the enabling of the General Assembly of the OAS to adopt the decisions
it deems necessary with regard to noncompliance with the judgments of the Court, and
to that it ought to adhere.
One additional remark: Undoubtedly, in light of the objective indicated, one could
estimate that the identification before the General Assembly of the OAS by the Court of
those cases in which, during the preceding period, compliance with judgments has not
been achieved does not preclude the exercise of the right of the Court to continue
employing, in appropriate cases, the regulatory mechanism of monitoring compliance
with judgments. That is to say, it does not exclude the possibility that the Court
continue, in the periods that follow, with the regulatory procedure of respective
supervision; an event in which it ought to indicate, in the following year’s annual
report, whether the previously reported state of noncompliance persists, and, in this
way, contribute to the objective mentioned above. Namely, that the General Assembly
of the OAS act, if it considers it pertinent, according to its responsibilities in this
matter.
f) to take action on petitions and other communications pursuant to its authority under the provisions of Articles 44
through 51 of this Convention; and
g) to submit an annual report to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States.”
19
See Note Nº 9.
20
Dictionary of the Spanish Language, Real Academia Española, 2001 edition.
21
Art. 69.
8