state is internationally responsible for violating international treaties that allocate no such function, the Commission can observe that certain acts or omissions that violate human rights, pursuant to the treaties that they do have competence to apply, also violate other international instruments for the protection of the individual... [Provided] there is a similarity between the content of [other treaties] and the provisions of the American Convention and other international instruments regarding non-derogable human rights (such as the right to life and the right not to be submitted to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment), the relevant provisions [...] may be taken into consideration as elements for the interpretation of the American Convention.23 This reasoning is based on the rules of interpretation set out in Article 29 of the American Convention.24 It should therefore be concluded that, if deemed appropriate, the Commission has the authority to invoke standards enshrined in other treaties in interpreting the provisions of the American Convention. 42. In fact, for the specific determination of state responsibility under Article 22 of the American Convention, the Inter-American Court has ruled that the problem of forced displacements must be analyzed in light of international human rights law and international humanitarian law and, in the case of Colombia, also in light of the emergence of the phenomenon in the context of the internal armed conflict.25 43. Thus, the Court has found that the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, issued in 1998 by the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General26 are of particular relevance in defining the content and scope of Article 22 of the Convention in situations of internal displacement. It has furthermore stated that given the situation of internal armed conflict in Colombia, the rules applicable to displacements contained in Protocol II of the 1949 Geneva Conventions are particularly useful. Specifically, Article 17 of Protocol II prohibits the displacement of civilian populations for conflict-related reasons, except when so required for the security of those civilians or for imperative military reasons; even so, in the latter case, “all possible measures shall be taken in order that the civilian population may be received under satisfactory conditions of shelter, hygiene, health, safety and nutrition.” In connection with this, the Inter-American Court has also followed the guidelines established by the Constitutional Court of Colombia whereby “also, in the Colombian case, the observance of these rules by the parties in the conflict is of particular urgency and importance, since the armed conflict underway in the country has seriously affected the civilian population, as seen, for example, in the alarming data on forced displacements.”27 B. Admissibility requirements 1. Exhaustion of domestic remedies 23 I/A Court H. R., Bámaca Velásquez Case. Judgment of November 25, 2000. Series C No. 70, paras. 208 and 209. 24 Article 29 of the American Convention provides that: “No provision of this Convention shall be interpreted as: (a) permitting any State Party, group, or person to suppress the enjoyment or exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized in this Convention or to restrict them to a greater extent than is provided for herein; (b) restricting the enjoyment or exercise of any right or freedom recognized by virtue of the laws of any State Party or by virtue of another convention to which one of the said states is a party; (c) precluding other rights or guarantees that are inherent in the human personality or derived from representative democracy as a form of government; or (d) excluding or limiting the effect that the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other international acts of the same nature may have.” 25 See: I/A Court H.R., Case of the Ituango Massacres. Judgment of July 1, 2006. Series C No. 148, paras. 208 and 209; I/A Court H.R., Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre,” Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C No. 134, para. 171; I/A Court H.R., Case of the Moiwana Community. Judgment of June 15, 2005. Series C No. 124, paras. 113 to 120. 26 United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, February 11, 1998. 27 Constitutional Court of the Republic of Colombia, Judgment C-225/95 of May 18, 1995, para. 33, quoted by the Inter-American Court in the Case of the Ituango Massacres, Judgment of July 1, 2006, Series C No. 148, para. 209. 10