32
XV
CONCERNING ARTICLE 51(2)
106. The Commission requested that the Court rule that Guatemala violated
Article 51(2) of the Convention by refusing to "comply with the Commission's
recommendations contained in the Report 5/95".
107. The State pointed out that the Commission submitted this case for a
decision by the Court and that, consequently, it did not prepare the second report
referred to in Article 51 of the American Convention, so that it cannot accuse
Guatemala of violating Article 51(2) of the Convention.
*
*
*
108. On this point, the Court, in application of the criterion already established
(Loayza Tamayo Case, supra 50, para. 82), concludes that violation of Article
51(2) of the Convention may not be raised in a case which, like this one, has
been submitted for the consideration of the Court, in as much as the report
referred to in that article does not exist. However, in connection with Article 50,
the Court has already indicated that
Article 33 of the American Convention provides that the Inter-American
Commission is an organ which is competent, together with the Court, "to hear cases
relating to the fulfillment of the commitments undertaken by the States Parties", so
that, with ratification of that Convention the States Parties undertake to heed the
recommendations approved by the Commission in its reports (Loayza Tamayo Case,
supra 50, paras. 80 and 81).
XVI
VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 5
109.
Article 5 of the American Convention establishes that:
1.
Every person has the right to have his physical, mental, and moral integrity
respected.
2.
No one should be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading
punishment or treatment. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with
respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
3.
Punishment shall not be extended to any person other than the criminal.
4.
Accused persons shall, save in exceptional circumstances, be segregated
from convicted persons, and shall be subject to separate treatment appropriate to
their status as unconvicted persons.
5.
Minors while subject to criminal proceedings shall be separated from adults
and brought before specialized tribunals, as speedily as possible, so that they may be
treated in accordance with their status as minors.
6.
Punishments consisting of deprivation of liberty shall have as an essential
aim the reform and social readaptation of the prisoners.
110. In the brief containing its final arguments, the Commission claimed that
the forced disappearance directly impaired Mr. Nicholas Blake's physical integrity
and the mental integrity of his relatives, who lived through a tragic and
protracted experience caused by his disappearance. The family made more than
twenty-one trips to Guatemala, more than half of them after March 1987. During
those visits they did not receive any cooperation from the Guatemalan
authorities.