39. The Inter-American Commission has competence ratione materiae to examine the substance of the petition since it describes alleged violations of rights enshrined in the American Convention and the American Declaration. 40. The IACHR has competence ratione loci to hear the petition since it alleges violations of rights protected by the American Convention occurring within the territory of a state party thereto. It also has competence ratione temporis to examine the complaint since the alleged incidents took place when the general obligation of respecting and ensuring the rights set out in the Convention were already in force for the State, following Nicaragua’s ratification of the American Convention on Human Rights on September 25, 1979. B. Other requirements for admissibility 1. Exhaustion of domestic remedies 41. Article 46(1)(a) of the American Convention states that for a complaint lodged with the Inter-American Commission to be admissible under Article 44 of the Convention, the remedies available under domestic law must have first been pursued and exhausted in accordance with generally recognized principles of international law. This requirement is intended to facilitate the domestic authorities’ examination of the alleged violation of a protected right and, if appropriate, to resolve it before it is brought before an international venue. 42. The prior exhaustion requirement applies when the national system does in fact offer resources that are available, adequate, and effective for remedying the alleged violation. Thus, Article 46.2 stipulates that the requirement need not be observed when domestic legislation does not afford due process of law for the protection of the right in question, if the alleged victim was denied access to the remedies offered by domestic law, or if there was an unwarranted delay in issuing judgment on those remedies. As stated in Article 31 of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure, when the petitioner invokes one of those exceptions, it falls to the State to demonstrate that the domestic remedies have not been exhausted, unless it is clearly evident from the record. 43. In the case at hand, the State claims that the petitioner had the opportunity to file all the remedies afforded by domestic jurisdiction under the law at that time in force and, if that did not happen, that was simply because “no desire to file those remedies was expressed to the Nicaraguan 9