9
In its compliance with this obligation, the Paraguayan State must take into account
Article 14 (3) of Agreement 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in
Independent Countries, which establishes the need to establish appropriate
procedures in the framework of the national legal system to address the land claims
of the peoples involved. These are the grounds for my partly concurring vote
regarding operative paragraph one of the Judgment.
25.
With regard to the alleged violation of Article 4 of the American Convention
(Right to Life) the application filed by the Inter-American Commission asserts that
the State of Paraguay failed to comply, to the detriment of the Yakye Axa
Community, with the obligation to ensure the right to life embodied in Article 4 of the
American Convention, to the detriment of eight members of the indigenous
community, duly identified by that community, and that the State “has placed all
members of the community in a situation of constant risk,” affecting their enjoyment
and exercise of basic human rights, through continuation of a situation of
vulnerability of the community.17 Said Article 4 (1) of the Convention establishes
that:
Every person has the right to have his life respected. This right shall be protected by law
and, in general, from the moment of conception. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of
his life.
26.
The application states that the H. Inter-American Court has established that
the right to life is a basic human right, crucial for exercise of the other human rights,
and that it encompasses not only the right of every human being not to be arbitrarily
deprived of his or her life, but also the right of access to conditions that ensure a
decent existence. Regarding this right, the Court has in fact stated:
“Owing to the fundamental nature of the right to life, restrictive approaches to it are
inadmissible. In essence, the fundamental right to life includes, not only the right of every
human being not to be deprived of his life arbitrarily, but also the right that he will not be
prevented from having access to the conditions that guarantee a dignified existence.
States have the obligation to guarantee the creation of the conditions required in order
that violations of this basic right do not occur and, in particular, the duty to prevent its
agents from violating it.”18
27.
Interpretation of the right to life in a way that encompasses positive
measures of protection for the indigenous peoples to enjoy the right to a decent life
is based on international jurisprudence and doctrine, and it entails new steps forward
in International Human Rights Law.
The Inter-American Court has pointed out that the duty of the State to take positive
steps must be a high priority precisely in connection with protection of the life of the
more vulnerable persons, such as members of indigenous communities.
This
17
Application by the Inter-American Commission. Main brief regarding the
petition. Summary Doc.,
para. 2.
18
I-A Court of HR. Villagrán Morales et al. Case (“Street Children” Case),
Judgment of November 19, 1999, para. 144.
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