17. Once the new government was installed in power, the new legislature approved and subsequently ratified a series human rights treaties. In particular, the members of Congress unanimously approved the American Convention on Human Rights and deposited the respective instrument of ratification on August 21, 1990. 18. The Government of Chile deposited its instrument of ratification with the OAS subject to the following declarations and reservations: a. The Government of Chile declares that it recognizes, for an indefinite period of time and on the condition of reciprocity, the competence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to receive and examine communications in which a State Party alleges that another State Party has committed a violation of the human rights established in the American Convention on Human Rights, as provided for in Article 45 of the Convention. b. The Government of Chile declares that it recognizes as legally binding the obligatory jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in cases dealing with the interpretation and application of this Convention pursuant to Article 62. On formulating said declarations, the Government of Chile notes that the recognition of jurisdiction it has accepted refers to situations occurring subsequent to the date of deposit of this instrument of ratification, or, in any event, to circumstances which arose after March 11, 1990 (cuyo principio de ejecución sea posterior). [Emphasis in the State’s response] Likewise the Government of Chile, on accepting the competence of the InterAmerican Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declares that these organs, in applying Article 21(2) of the Convention, shall refrain from judgments concerning the concept of public use or social interest cited in cases involving the expropriation of an individual’s property. 19. Chile notes that the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties specifically permits the ratification of an international treaty with a reservation that is in conformity with the object and purpose of the treaty. Chile maintains that the reservation arises from the position of democratic governments that it is necessary to resolve human rights violations that occurred in the recent past at the domestic level. In that context, the Chilean State has undertaken a number of initiatives such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (“The Rettig Commission”), Law No. 19,123 on reparation for the victims of human rights violations, the Dialogue Table (La Mesa de Diálogo), and the recently-created Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture. The State emphasized that it did not intend to discount the usefulness of the international community in dealing with these situations, but that it was convinced that the Chilean people and their democratically- elected organs were the appropriate ones to attempt to treat the wounds left by the violations of human rights committed during the military regime. 20. Consequently, Chile requested the Commission to declare this complaint inadmissible, along with 13 others that it responded to at the same time, on the grounds that they involved “facts prior to the date of deposit of the instrument of ratification” and “which arose prior to March 11, 1990”. IV. ANALYSIS OF ADMISSIBILITY A. Competence of the Commission Ratione Materiae, Ratione Personae,Ratione Temporis, and Ratione Loci 21. The Commission has competence ratione materiae, in that the petitioners allege violations of rights protected in the American Convention that, if proven, could constitute violations of Articles 1(1), 8(1), 8(2)(h), 9, 11(1), 24, 25, and 27(2) of the American Convention. 5