4 3. Article 27 of the Rules of the Court1 provides: 1. At any stage of the proceedings involving cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court may, at the request of a party or on its own motion, order such provisional measures as it deems pertinent, pursuant to Article 63(2) of the Convention. […] 3. In contentious cases already submitted to the Court, the victims or alleged victims or their duly accredited representatives, may present directly to the Court a request for provisional measures in relation to to the object of the case. […] 4. That Article 1(1) of the Convention establishes the general obligations of the State Parties to respect the rights and liberties protected in it and to guarantee their free and full exercise to each person that is subject to its jurisdiction, which are imposed not only in relation to the power of the State but also in relation with the actions of third persons.2 5. That under International Human Rights law, provisional measures are not only precautionary, in the sense of preserving a juridical situation; they are also safeguards inasmuch as they protect human rights. When the requisite basic conditions of extreme gravity and urgency are present and when necessary to prevent irreparable harm to persons, provisional measures become a true jurisdictional guarantee that is preventive in nature.3 6. That the regulation established in Article 63(2) of the Convention confers an obligatory character to the adoption, on the part of the State, of the provisional measures that this Tribunal orders, so that according to the basic principle of the law of international responsibility of the State, supported by international jurisprudence, the States must comply with their convention obligations in good faith (pacta sunt servanda).4 1 Rules of Procedure the Court approved in the LXXXV Ordinary Period of Sessions, held November 16-28, 2009. 2 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez. Provisional Measures regarding Honduras. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of January 15, 1988, Considering third; Case of the Rochela Massacre. Provisional Measures regarding Colombia. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of November 19, 2009, Considering fourth, and Matter of Guerrero Larez. Provisional Measures regarding Venezuela. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of November 17, 2009, Considering thirteenth. 3 Cf. Case of Herrera Ulloa. Provisional Measures regarding Costa Rica. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of September 7, 2001, Considering fourth; Matters of Matter of Monagas Judicial Confinement Center ("La Pica"); Matter of Yare I and Yare II Capital Region Penitentiary Center; Matter of the Penitentiary Center of the Central Occidental Region (Uribana Prison), and Matter of Capital El Rodeo I & El Rodeo II Judicial Confinement Center. Provisional Measures regarding Venezuela. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of November 24, 2009, Considering sixth and Matter of Guerrero Larez, supra note 2, Considering fourth. 4 Cf. Matter of James et al. Provisional Measures regarding Trinidad and Tobago. Order of the InterAmerican Court on Human Rights of June 14, 1998, Considering sixth; Matter of the Communities of Jiguamiandó