to grant scholarships for university studies in public education establishments in Guatemala
to the daughters and sons of the direct victims who request this. These scholarships should
also cover the payment of the material required to carry out these studies. The victims must
advise whether they wish to access these scholarships within three monts of notification of
this judgment. This measure must be complied with within one year of notification of the
judgment.
B.3. Guarantees of non-repetition
B.3.1. Arguments of the Commission and the parties
221. The Commission asked the Court to order the State: (i) to provide free,
comprehensive and uninterrupted health care and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS
who are unable to afford it; (ii) to implement genuine and effective mechanisms of
supervision and periodic monitoring of public hospitals to ensure that comprehensive health
care is being provided to people with HIV/AIDS, who cannot afford it, and (iii) to implement
training programs for public hospital staff to ensure that they perform their duties in a way
that is compatible with internationally recognized standards and those described in the
Merits Report.
222. Meanwhile, the representatives asked the Court to order the State, first, to take
measures to ensure adequate and comprehensive care to people living with HIV in
Guatemala. Such measures should include: (i) the creation of a database and consolidated
information system on the HIV epidemic; (ii) diagnosis of the legal and administrative
barriers that prevent a permanent supply of antiretroviral drugs, and the adoption of
measures based on this diagnosis, and (iii) reinforcement of the Comprehensive Care Units
so that the right to health can be ensured in an effective manner. They also asked that
health officials be given training on the human rights of people living with HIV, and that the
State ensure the early diagnosis of all pregnant women, effectively and universally, by
testing to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Lastly, they asked that an HIV/AIDS
awareness-raising campaign be organized in the departments where the victims live.
223. The State indicated that, if the Court decided that it was internationally responsible
for failing to ensure any of the rights recognized in the Convention, it should take into
account that, with the exception of reparation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, it
had already adopted the necessary measures to insure all the surviving victims in this case,
as well as all the other people who are infected and who live in Guatemala, and had
implemented mechanisms of non-repetition.
B.3.1. Considerations of the Court
224. The Court takes note of and assesses positively the legislative measures and public
policies that the State has adopted to combat the HIV epidemic in Guatemala. Nevertheless,
and taking into consideration the violations that occurred in this case, the information
available concerning the lack of medical treament for a sector of the population living with
HIV in Guatemala, and the Goals and targets assumed by the States under the 2030
Agenda (supra para. 109), the Court finds it pertinent to order the following measures of
reparation as guarantees of non-repetition.252
252
The Court notes that, in the Agenda 2030, the UN General Assembly adopted a plan of action with Goals
and targets to be specified by each Member State, in order to take into account inequalities among the countries
and to realize the human rights of all human beings on the planet more rapidly. To this end, it indicated that it is
essential to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” Also, to achieve the Goals, the
different levels of development and capacities of the States must be taken into account, and effective measures
74