has a particular negative impact on older persons, including the victims in this case, which places
them in a position of greater vulnerability, implying a reinforced obligation to respect and
guarantee their rights.449
206. With respect to the argument that the amount of compensation requested in the instant
case would prove debilitating, this Court has emphasized that the obligation to abide by its
judgments derives from a basic principle of law on the international responsibility of the State,
backed by international case law, according to which the States must abide by their international
convention-based obligations in good faith (pacta sunt servanda) and cannot invoke domestic
concerns as a reason not to assume international responsibility that has been established.450
Furthermore, the amounts set forth in this chapter correspond to the State’s pre-existing
obligations that, violating its Convention-based commitments, it has not fulfilled for over twentyfive years.
207. Finally, regarding the interest rate used to calculate the updated amounts owed, according
to Article 63 of the Chilean Labor Code, which has not been amended since the time the events
of this case took place:
Monies that employers owe to workers for compensation, indemnification or any other item, to which
employees are entitled for their services, shall be paid in amounts readjusted using the same
percentage by which the Consumer Price Index has changed as determined by the National Bureau of
Statistics, between the month prior to when the payment 4should have been made and the month
prior to when it is actually made.
The same readjustment shall be applied to advances, installments or partial payments made by the
employer.
The amounts set forth paragraph one of this article, readjusted as described therein, shall earn the
maximum interest rate permitted for operations readjustable to the date when the obligation was
incurred.451
208. Thus, to bring the amounts up to date, domestic law itself clearly states that the maximum
interest rate permitted for readjustable operations must be used. This was why the
representatives had submitted, together with their pleadings and motions brief, the financial
report, “Current estimate of amounts outstanding for failure to comply with judicial findings
delivered in the case of the teachers by the courts of Chañaral, Vallenar, Parral, Cauquenes and
Chanco” prepared by Claudio Bonilla, Guísela Gallardo and Gonzalo Polanco,452 which gives an
update on the amounts owed, with a methodology consisting of the readjustment based on the
Consumer Price Index (CPI), application of the interest rate described in Article 63 of the Labor
Code, and the different installments already paid by the municipalities under the payment plans
signed with the victims. The Court therefore deems that these estimates provide an accurate, fair
means to determine the amounts still owed to the victims, with no need to resort once again to
the domestic courts, thus honoring the reinforced obligation to respect and guarantee the rights
449
Cf. Case of Poblete Vilches v. Chile, supra, para. 127, and Case of Órdenes Guerra et al. v. Chile. Monitoring
compliance with judgment. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, July 21, 2020, considering paragraph
15.
450
Cf. International Responsibility for the Promulgation and Enforcement of Laws in Violation of the Convention
(Arts. 1 and 2 of the American Convention on Human Rights). Advisory Opinion OC-14/94 of December 9, 1994.
Series A No. 14, para. 35, and Case of Órdenes Guerra et al. v. Chile. Monitoring compliance with judgment, supra,
Considering paragraph 19.
451
Cf. Report “Current estimate of amounts outstanding for failure to comply with judicial findings delivered in
the case of the teachers by the courts of Chañaral, Vallenar, Parral, Cauquenes and Chanco” supra, (evidence file,
folio 9341).
452
Cf. Report “Current estimate of amounts outstanding for failure to comply with judicial findings delivered in
the case of the teachers by the courts of Chañaral, Vallenar, Parral, Cauquenes and Chanco” supra, (evidence file,
folios 9329 to 9469).
68
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