8
V.
The Emerging of the State’s International Responsibility
and the Principle of Proportionality.
29.
In the proceedings of the present case (written and oral phases), there is a
detail in the arguments presented before the Court that cannot go unnoticed. With
the best of the intentions – to seek justice, - the Inter-American Commission of
Human Rights made emphasis of the lack of proportionality in the use of force by
the state agents in the incursion of the Prison of Castro Castro, while the
representation of the victims and their next of kin highlighted as the central matter
the illegality of the original act (aggravated by the intent). This leads me to a brief
recapitulation of the origin or emergence of the State’s international responsibility.
30.
Actually, I had already examined the matter of the origin of the State’s
international responsibility in my Concurring Opinion (paras. 1-40) in the case of
“The Last Temptation of Christ” (Olmedo Bustos et al. versus Chile, Judgment of
02.05.2001); it is not my intention to repeat here the vast considerations
developed by me in this sense in that Concurring Vote, but leave in this Concurring
Vote this very brief reference to them. There I stated an understanding in the sense
that the international responsibility of a State Party in a human rights treaty arises
exactly at the time on which an international illegal fact – act or omissionimputable to said State occurs (tempus commisi delicti), in violation of its
obligations under the treaty in question.
31.
After referring again to the matter in my Concurring Opinion (para. 4) in the
case of Myrna Mack Chang versus Guatemala (Judgment of 11.25.2003), I allowed
myself to reiterate, in my Concurring Opinion (para. 14, and cf. paras. 11-18), in
the case of the Gómez Paquiyauri Brothers versus Peru (Judgment of 07.08. 2004),
my understanding in the sense that
"(...) In International Law on Human Rights, the State’s international
responsibility arises exactly when the violation of the rights of a human being occurs,
that is, at the time when the international illegal act attributable to the State occurs.
Within the framework of the American Convention on Human Rights, the State’s
international responsibility may arise due to acts or omissions of any power or body or
agent of the State, regardless of their hierarchy, that violates the rights protected by
the Convention. 20"
32.
In synthesis, in my opinion, there cannot be any doubt, according to the
most lucid doctrine on International Law; that the State’s international
responsibility (as a subject of International Law) arises when the illegal act (act or
omission), which violates an international obligation, attributable to the State
occurs. 21 In the cas d'espèce, the State’s international responsibility arose at the
time of the armed incursion (with animus agressionis) of armed state agents to the
Prison of Castro Castro.
.
Cf. Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), case of “The Last Temptation of Christ”
versus Chile, Judgment of 02.05.2001, Series C, n. 73, p. 47, para. 72; and cf. Concurring Opinion of
the Judge A.A. Cançado Trindade, p. 76, para. 16, and cf. pp. 85-87, paras. 31-33.
20
.
F.V. García Amador, Principios de Derecho Internacional que Rigen la Responsabilidad - Análisis
Crítico de la Concepción Internacional, Madrid, Escuela de Funcionarios Internacionales, 1963, p. 33;
Roberto Ago, "Second Report on State Responsibility", Yearbook of the [U.N.] International Law
Commission (1970)-II, pp. 179-197; A.A. Cançado Trindade, "The Birth of State Responsibility and the
Nature of the Local Remedies Rule", 56 Revue de Droit international de sciences diplomatiques et
politiques - Ginebra (1978) pp. 165-166 and 176; P.-M. Dupuy, "Le fait générateur de la responsabilité
internationale des États", 188 Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International de La Haye (1984)
pp. 25 y 50; J. Crawford, The International Law Commission's Articles on State Responsibility Introduction, Text and Commentaries, Cambridge, University Press, 2002, pp. 77-78.
21