11
grow and strengthen even more as the universal juridical conscience awakens towards
their complete conceptual refinement. As I explained at the beginning of this Opinion,
International Human Rights Law has transformed the conception itself of these
measures32 —from precautionary to protective—, thus revealing the current historical
process of humanization of Public International Law33 also in this specific field.
However, this process is still in progress.
28.
It is necessary to proceed resolutely in this direction. It is imperative, in these
days, that the next step be the development of their legal framework, and, within such
framework, of the legal consequences of non-compliance with or violation of
provisional measures of protection, as autonomous remedies. In my view, the victims
occupy, both in this context of prevention as well as in the decision on the merits (and
possible reparations) of the cases, a truly central position, as subjects of International
Human Rights Law and contemporary Public International Law with international legal
standing.34
VII.
Problems Derived from the Coexistence of Precautionary
Measures and Provisional Measures of Protection in Light of the
Imperative of Individuals’ Direct Access to International Justice
29.
I will now address the last issue of my reflections, which I state in this Separate
Opinion, constrained under the merciless pressure of time in the current insanely fast
paced work environment of this Court: I am making reference to the problems derived
from the coexistence of the Inter-American Commission’s precautionary measures and
the Inter-American Court’s Provisional Measures, in light of the imperative of
individuals’ direct access to international justice. I have addressed this issue (which
reflects one of the current gaps of the Inter-American human rights system) in more
detail in my recent Separate Opinions in the Court’s Orders concerning Provisional
Measures of protection in the Matters of Mery Naranjo et al. regarding Colombia (of
September 22, 2006) and of Gloria Giralt de García Prieto et al. regarding El Salvador
(of September 26, 2006).
30.
In my Separate Opinions in these two recent matters, I repeated what I have
pointed out both in recent joint meetings between the Inter-American Court and the
Inter-American Commission, and in several public hearing held before this Court, and
in the Court’s deliberations, that in situations of extreme gravity and urgency, it is best
to refer requests for Provisional Measures of protection directly to the Court, without
32
.
A.A. Cançado Trindade, “Address by the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights”, in
Compendium of Provisional Measures (June 2001-July 2003), Volume No. 4, Series E, San José de Costa
Rica, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 2003, pp. V-XXII.
33
.
Cf. A.A. Cançado Trindade, "La Humanización del Derecho Internacional y los Límites de la Razón de
Estado" (The Humanization of Internacional Law and the Limits of the Reason of the State), 40 Revista da
Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - Belo Horizonte/Brazil (2001) pp. ; A.A.
Cançado Trindade, "General Course on Public International Law - International Law for Humankind: Towards
a New Jus Gentium", Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International de La Haye (2005), (in print).
34
.
A.A. Cançado Trindade, "The Procedural Capacity of the Individual as Subject of International
Human Rights Law: Recent Developments", in K. Vasak Amicorum Liber - Les droits de l'homme à l'aube du
XXIe siècle, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1999, pp. 521-544; A.A. Cançado Trindade, "A Consolidação da
Personalidade e da Capacidade Jurídicas do Indivíduo como Sujeito do Direito Internacional", 16 Anuario del
Instituto Hispano-Luso-Americano de Derecho Internacional - Madrid (2003) pp. 237-288.
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