3 their efforts to learn the truth about the facts, the concealment of the corpse of Mr. Bámaca Velásquez, and the official refusal to provide the requested information, “clearly constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” (para. 165). Taking into account the meaning of the words and the characteristics of the facts and their impact on the victims, it is evident, in my opinion, that the treatment inflicted was cruel and inhuman. However, there would evidently be those who would question calling it degrading, a qualifier that would correspond to another type of treatment, the characteristic of which would possibly be its humiliating or offensive effectiveness. 9. It is clear that progress in the general conditions of life, and the impact this has on the development of the culture and sensitivity of the individuals who are part of it, may entail an evolution in the way in which certain treatment is perceived and, consequently, how it is characterized. Accordingly, its nature could vary in relation to the persons who suffer it at a specific time and in a specific place: cruel and inhuman treatment, and even degrading treatment, might then become torture, owing to its characteristics and its effect on the victim. II. RECOGNITION OF JURIDICAL PERSONALITY 10. The Court considers that Article 3 of the Convention was not violated in the case referred to in this judgment. This article establishes that “every person has the right to recognition as a person before the law” and it is, therefore, in order to declare it so. Although the lack of evidence about a fact merely supports the conclusion that it has not been proved, putting on record the absence of support for a claim in the judgment on merits - in this case, the lack of support for the declaration that the right to the recognition of juridical personality has been violated - should be translated into an explicit declaration with regard to the absence of violation of the respective right. 11. In order to reach the conclusion affirmed by the Court, we need to examine the meaning of the right embodied in Article 3: recognition of the juridical personality; that is, recognition of a fact that pre-existed the act of the person recognizing it. This fact is the juridical personality, which, in turn, implies the capacity of the individual to be a juridical person, because of this same fundamental condition. And the latter is characterized as the possibility of being the subject of obligations and the holder of rights. 12. The juridical personality that interests us here is that of the human being, the physical person, in the terms of Article 1(2) of the Convention which states: “For the purposes of this Convention, “person” means every human being”. The concept contained in Article 3 of the said Convention should be understood through a systematic interpretation of all the legislation applicable to the matter on the American continent, which suffices to indicate its scope. Thus, the need to relate the said Article 3 to its antecedent - and source (natural and necessary reference) Article XVII of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, which precisely under the heading “Right to recognition of juridical personality and civil rights”, establishes that “[e]very person has the right to be recognized everywhere as a person having rights and obligations and to enjoy the basic civil rights”. As can be seen, the juridical personality also involves precisely this capacity to be the subject of rights and obligations, holder of the juridical consequences of a certain situation: the condition of a human being, who must be recognized and developed normatively - by the system of laws.