1 REPORT No. 49/10 PETITION 509-00 ADMISSIBILITY CARLOS ARTURO UVA VELANDIA COLOMBIA March 18, 2010 I. SUMMARY 1. On October 5, 2000, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission”) received a petition presented by Horacio Perdomo Parada (hereinafter “the petitioner”) alleging the responsibility of the Republic of Colombia (hereinafter “the State,” “the Colombian State” or “Colombia”) for the death of Carlos Arturo Uva Velandia at the hands of a member of the Armed Forces, in the municipality of Hato Corozal, department of Casanare, on June 21, 1995, the failure to clarify the responsibility of the State in the facts, and the consequent lack of any compensation for damages to the parents and siblings of the alleged victim. 2. The petitioner alleged that the State was responsible for violation of the rights to life, humane treatment, the prohibition on slavery and servitude, personal liberty, judicial guarantees, and the protection of honor and dignity established in Articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11 of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter the “Convention” or the “American Convention”), in relation to the duty to ensure the rights set forth at Article 1(1) of the same treaty, and Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. The petitioner argues that the requirement of prior exhaustion of domestic remedies is satisfied pursuant to Article 46(1)(a) of the American Convention. For its part, the State alleged that the petitioners’ claims were inadmissible considering that they had failed to comply with the requirement of prior exhaustion of domestic remedies established at Article 46(1)(a) of the American Convention, as well as the failure to state acts that tend to establish a violation of the American Convention. 3. After analyzing the parties’ positions and compliance with the requirements set out at Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention, the Commission decided to declare the claim admissible for the purposes of examining the alleged violation of Articles 4(1), 5, 7, 8 and 25 in conjunction with Article 1(1) of the American Convention, and decided to declare as inadmissible the alleged violations of Articles 6 and 11 of the American Convention and Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, to notify the parties of the report, to order its publication, and to include it in its Annual Report to the OAS General Assembly. II. PROCESSING BEFORE THE COMMISSION 4. The IACHR registered the petition as number P509-00 and after making a preliminary analysis, on January 6, 2009, it proceeded to transmit a copy of the pertinent parts to the State, giving it two months to submit information in keeping with Article 30(3) of the Rules of Procedure. In response, the State asked for a 30-day delay to submit its observations, which was granted by the IACHR. The State submitted its observations on April 15, 2009, and these were transmitted to the petitioner for comment. The IACHR received the observations from the petitioner on May 22, 2009, which were passed on to the State, with one month to submit its observations. On June 29, 2009, the State submitted its final observations. III. THE PARTIES’ POSITIONS A. The petitioner 1 In keeping with Article 17(2) of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure, Commissioner Rodrigo Escobar Gil, of Colombian nationality, did not participate in the debate or decision in the instant case.