CONSIDERING THAT:
1.
Peru ratified the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter also “the
American Convention” or “the Convention”) on July 28, 1978, and, pursuant to its
Article 62, accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court on January 21, 1981.
2.
Article 63(2) of the American Convention establishes that “in cases of extreme
gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the
Court shall adopt such provisional measures as it deems pertinent, in matters it has
under consideration. With respect to a case not yet submitted to the Court, it may act
at the request of the Commission.” This provision is, in turn, regulated by Article 27 of
the Court’s Rules of Procedure.1
3.
Article 63(2) of the Convention requires that, for the Court to order provisional
measures three conditions must be met: (i) “extreme gravity”; (ii) “urgency,” and (iii)
that their purpose is to “avoid irreparable damage to persons.” These three conditions
coexist and must be present in any situation in which the Court’s intervention is
requested. Similarly, the three conditions must persist for the Court to maintain the
protection ordered. If one of them has ceased to be applicable, the Court must assess
the pertinence of continuing the protection ordered.2
4.
Based on its competence, in the context of provisional measures the Court
must consider only those arguments that are strictly and directly related to the
extreme gravity, urgency and need to avoid irreparable damage to persons. Thus, in
order to decide whether the provisional measures should remain in force, the Court
must analyze whether the situation of extreme gravity and urgency persists that
resulted in their adoption, or whether new circumstances, which are equally grave and
urgent, warrant maintaining them. Any other matter may only be submitted to the
consideration of the Court by means of the corresponding litigation.3
5.
The Court recalls that these provisional measures were granted at the request
of the Inter-American Commission in the context of petition P-366-09, only in order to
“permit the Commission […] to examine and rule on [the said] petition,” which was
declared admissible in Report No. 151/10 of November 1, 2010.4
6.
The State requested the immediate lifting of these provisional measures
because the situation of extreme gravity and urgency to avoid irreparable damage had
1
Rules of Procedure approved by the Court at its eighty-fifth regular session held from November 16
to 18, 2009.
2
Cf. Case of Carpio Nicolle. Provisional measures with regard to Guatemala. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of July 6, 2009, fourteenth considering paragraph; Matter of Certain
Venezuelan Penitentiary Centers. Provisional measures with regard to Venezuela. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of July 6, 2011, fourth considering paragraph, and Matter of the Urso
Branco Prison. Provisional measures with regard to Brazil. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights of August 25, 2011, third considering paragraph.
3
Cf. Matter of James et al. Provisional measures with regard to Trinidad and Tobago. Order of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights of August 20, 1998, sixth considering paragraph; Case of Rosendo
Cantú et al. Provisional measures with regard to Mexico. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
of July 1, 2011, tenth considering paragraph, and Matter of the Urso Branco Prison, supra note 2, fourth
considering paragraph.
4
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report on Admissibility No. 151/10 of November 1,
2010, para. 46.
2