especially regarding enforcement of final judgments delivered in labor proceedings, through a
subsequent, differentiated procedure aired before a specialized court—the Labor and Pension
Collection Court. It added that the request for changes in laws and regulations to make the
national treasury the ultimate guarantor for the enforcement of final judgments against any public
institution would cause the Court to interfere in the political and administrative affairs of a
sovereign State.
222. The Court notes that current legislation governing the execution of labor judgments is Law
No. 20,022 of May 30, 2005, which calls for a subsequent, differentiated procedure aired before
a specialized court called the Labor and Pension Collection Court empowered to act on its own
motion. This legal structure makes it possible to correct some of the violations that this judgment
has established regarding the right to judicial protection and the right to a speedy process.
223. The Court recognizes and values the progress that the State has already made to guarantee
non-recurrence and, as it has done in other cases, urges it to continue implementing such
measures. Therefore, regarding the requests to adopt measures of non-recurrence, the Court
deems that the delivery of this judgment and the reparations ordered in this chapter are sufficient
and appropriate to redress the violations suffered by the victims.
F.
Compensatory damages
224. Pecuniary damage was covered in the section on measures of restitution. As other
compensatory measures, the Commission asked in general terms for full redress of the
violations, including nonpecuniary damages.
225. The representatives asked, as nonpecuniary damages, for each of the victims to be
compensated in the amount of USD 25,000.00 “for their great suffering and that of their families”
caused by noncompliance with the judicial verdict.
226. The State, in turn, argued that the amount requested for nonpecuniary damages was
unjustified. It held, in general terms regarding compensatory redress, that these damages could
be considered “debilitating reparations,” defining this concept as “severe impairment of the
State’s ability to satisfy human rights obligations.” It deemed that the amount requested by the
representatives “is unprecedented and extremely high” and would total over USD 110 million,
which alone, according to the State, would be equivalent to nearly a quarter of the country’s 2020
judicial budget. It added that the outlook was even more difficult in the setting of the pandemic.
It therefore asked the Court to consider these factors when determining reparations that would
not be debilitating, both because of the material consequences on government assets affected
hereby, and because this case could have systemic consequences for other cases in the context
of the “historical debt.”
227. The Court has developed the concept of nonpecuniary damage in its case law and has
established that this can encompass pain and suffering caused to the direct victims and their
loved ones, harm to values of great importance to the individuals, and changes of a nonpecuniary
nature in the living conditions of the victims or their relatives.455 In this specific case, several of
the victims had described in their statements how the breach of their right to property had
worsened the quality of their lives, among other things, making it difficult to purchase
medications.456
455
Cf. Case of the “Street Children” (Villagrán Morales et al.) v. Guatemala. Reparations and Costs. Judgment of
May 26, 2001. Series C No. 77, para. 84, and Case of Vera Rojas et al. v. Chile, supra, para. 181.
456
For example, victim Ramona Ilufi Luna said, in testimony attached to the pleadings and motions brief, that,
because the money owed to her has not been paid, her children need to pay for her medicines because her money
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