the rule of conflict and of the rule of policy) ultimately tend to converge toward the
basic dichotomy between the substantive and procedural theses.10
13.
Both in that study and in others I have always insisted on the need to
establish a distinction between the emergence and the implementation
(enforcement, mise-en-oeuvre) of the international responsibility of the State. In
the sphere of responsibility of the State for damages caused to foreigners, the rule
of domestic remedies has often been given a substantive nature (especially in the
practice of several States), perhaps due to its preventive nature vis-à-vis
discretional exercise of diplomatic protection; instead, in the sphere of international
protection of human rights, the formulation of said rule takes on the form of a
procedural condition of admissibility of international claims or petitions 11
(integrating domestic remedies in the international process of reparation of human
rights violations).
14.
This being so, in my opinion there can be no doubt that, in International
Human Rights Law, the international responsibility of the State arises at the very
moment of violation of the rights of the human person, that is, as soon as the
international wrongful act attributable to the State occurs. In the framework of the
Inter-American Convention on Human Rights, the international responsibility of the
State may be generated by acts or omissions of any branch or body or agent of the
State, whatever its or his hierarchy, that violates the rights protected by the
Convention.12 This has been the clear understanding of the Inter-American Court,
which today constitutes its jurisprudence constante on the matter.13
15.
Yet despite the clarity of the matter, unfortunately there has continued to be
controversy, as I mentioned in my Separate Opinion (para. 4) in the Myrna Mack
versus Guatemala case (2003), about the very moment of emergence of the
responsibility of the State (perhaps due to the different contexts in which the rule
of domestic remedies has been invoked 14), - and this can be seen in the various
positions adopted on the matter by the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights and by the representatives of the victims in the instant case of the Gómez
Paquiyauri Brothers versus Peru (2003).
16.
It is, therefore, appropriate to insist in the instant case on the specific point
made before. As I underlined in my Concurring Opinion in the case of "The Last
Temptation of Christ" (2001), with respect to Chile,
“(…) in the present context of the international protection of human
rights, - fundamentally distinct from that of discretionary diplomatic protection at interState level,15 - the rule of domestic remedies is endowed with a procedural rather than
10
.
See A.A. Cançado Trindade, "The Birth of State Responsibility and the Nature of the Local Remedies
Rule", 56 Revue de droit international de sciences diplomatiques et politiques - Sottile (1978) pp. 157-188.
11
.
Ibid., p. 176.
12
.
See Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I-A Ct of HR), case of “The Last Temptation of Christ”
versus Chile, Judgment of 05.02.2001, Series C, n. 73, p. 47, para. 72; and see Concurring Opinion of Judge
A.A. Cançado Trindade, p. 76, para. 16, and see pp. 85-87, paras. 31-33.
13
.
See I-A Ct of HR, case of the “Street Children” (Villagrán et al. versus Guatemala, Merits),
Judgment of 19.11.1999, Series C, n. 63, p. 89, para. 220; I-A Ct of HR, case of the “Five Pensioners”
versus Peru, Judgment of 28.02.2003, Series C, n. 98, para. 163; I-A Ct of HR, Case of Juan Humberto
Sánchez versus Honduras, Judgment of 07.06.2003, Series C, n. 99, para. 142.
14
Such as the fundamentally different contexts of international protection of human rights and
diplomatic protection.
15
The basic differences in the context require that application of the rule of domestic remedies, in
the sphere of international protection of human rights, pay special attention to the human person’s need
for protection. Said rule is far from being an unchangeable or sacred principle of international law, and
nothing hinders its application with greater or lesser rigor in different contexts. After all, domestic
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