17
effect of releasing the denouncing Party from its obligations under the Convention in
respect of "any act which, being capable of constituting a violation of such obligations,
may have been performed by it before the date at which the denunciation became
effective". On its turn, in a similar line of thinking, the 1999 Inter-American Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities
determines (Article XIII) that a denunciation of it "shall not exempt" the State Party
from the obligations imposed upon it under the Convention in respect of "any action or
omission prior to the date on which the denunciation takes effect".
52.
And the American Convention on Human Rights (Article 78) only admits
denunciation "at the expiration of a five-year period from the date of its entry into
force", and by means of "notice given one year in advance". Moreover, such a
denunciation shall not have the effect of releasing the denouncing State Party from the
obligations contained in the Convention with respect to "any act that may constitute a
violation of those obligations" and that "has been taken by that State prior to the
effective date of denunciation". The issue of the effects of denunciation, within such
limits, became a central one in recent cases concerning Trinidad and Tobago under the
American Convention on Human Rights.
53.
Trinidad and Tobago became a Party to the American Convention on Human
Rights on 28.05.1991, and accepted the Inter-American Court's jurisdiction in
contentious matters on that same date. Later on, on 26.05.1998, it denounced the
American Convention; pursuant to Article 78 of the Convention, such denunciation
began to have effects one year later, on 26.05.1999. One day before this date the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights filed before the Court the Hilaire case;
subsequently, after that date, it lodged with the Court the Constantine et allii case (on
22.02.2000) and the Benjamin et allii case (on 05.10.2000), - the three of them
concerning Trinidad and Tobago.
54.
As they pertained to acts taken by that State prior to the date of its
denunciation, the Court retained jurisdiction and took cognizance of the cases
(pursuant to Article 78(2) of the Convention), and rendered its Judgments on
preliminary objections in the three cases on 01.09.2001, dismissing an undue
restriction formulated by the State in its instrument of acceptance of the Court's
compulsory jurisdiction (reiterated in the three cases in the form of a preliminary
objection). That restriction would have limited the Court's jurisdiction to the extent that
its exercise would be consistent with the national Constitution; the Court considered it
incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention, and an attempt to
subordinate this latter to the national Constitution, what would be inadmissible64.
55.
The Court then ordered the joinder of the three cases and their respective
proceedings (on 30.11.2001), and delivered its Judgment on the merits, finding
violations of the American Convention, on 21.06.2002. Parallel to that, also after the
denunciation by Trinidad and Tobago became effective (on 26.05.1999), the Court
ordered successive Provisional Measures of Protection, from 27.05.1999 to 02.12.2003,
in the case James et allii versus Trinidad and Tobago (as they also pertained to acts
taken by the State prior to the date of its denunciation of the Convention). All these
decisions of the Court remain binding upon the respondent State; its denunciation of
the Convention does not have the sweeping effect that one might prima facie tend to
64
. IACtHR, pars. 93 and 98-99 of the Court's Judgment in the Hilaire case; and pars. 84 and 89-90 of the
Court's Judgments in the Benjamin et allii and the Constantine et allii cases.
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