B.1.1 The Ad Hoc Interinstitutional Commission and other
measures taken to free the territory of the Punta Piedra Garifuna
community of encumbrances
235. The Court reiterates that the Punta Piedra Garifuna community received two
property titles in 1993 and 1999. However, part of the territory titled to them was
owned by third parties; in other words, the territory was titled without the State having
freed it of encumbrances. In this case, the obligation to provide clear title has been
considered an obligation ex officio of the State, as this Court has established (supra
para. 186).
236. In this regard, even though Honduras has ratified ILO Convention No. 169, the
Court notes that the State has not proved that the administrative, judicial or other
domestic remedies that existed at the time of the facts were compatible, or applied in
keeping, with the relevant standards in order to ensure the right to property of the Punta
Piedra community by protecting its full use and enjoyment. However, the Court notes
that, in this situation and as an example of its efforts to comply with its obligation to
free the territory titled to the Punta Piedra community of encumbrances, the State
created an Ad Hoc Interinstitutional Commission as a conciliation mechanism in order
to achieve a peaceful, consensual and out-of-court solution to the problem and also
undertook to respect a series of agreements adopted also by the inhabitants of the
Punta Piedra and Rio Miel communities in an undertaking dated December 13, 2001.
237. Specifically, in this undertaking the Honduran State recognized that it “[was]
obliged to free the land of encumbrances for the Punta Piedra community by paying
the inhabitants of Rio Miel for improvements”; that INA “should diligently seek a lot
where the compensated families could be relocated,” and that, “to follow up on the
agreements made herein, [the Inter-Institutional] Commission was authorized to
prepare a list of requests and a work schedule […] [to] guarantee a solution to the
conflict […].” 256
238. Also, the purpose of holding subsequent meetings, signing the 2006
memorandum of understanding and creating an Interinstitutional Commission in 2007,
was to implement the said agreements in order to comply with the State’s obligation
ex officio to free the land titled of encumbrances (supra para. 111). The State even
recognized in its final arguments that, since the title had a land ownership defect, the
State was obliged to resolve this (supra para. 40).
239. In this regard, the Court will refer to the suitability and effectiveness of the
conciliation mechanisms available at the time of the events, in particular the creation of
the 2001 Ad Hoc Interinstitutional Commission and the conciliation agreements adopted.
The Court has established that the existing remedies must be adequate and suitable,
which means that “the function of these remedies, within the domestic legal system,
must be suitable to protect the legal situation violated. Numerous remedies exist in all
legal systems, but not all of them are applicable in every circumstance. […] A norm is
meant to have an effect and should not be interpreted in such a way as to negate its
effect or to lead to a result that is manifestly absurd or unreasonable.” 257
Cf. Undertaking signed on December 13, 2001, supra (evidence file, folio 32).
Case of Velásquez Rodríguez, Merits, supra para. 64 and Case of Brewer Carias v. Venezuela.
Preliminary objections. Judgment of May 26, 2014. Series C No. 278, para. 86.
256
257
68