V Inter-American System
| Author | Cecilia Medina |
| Published date | 01 June 1995 |
| Date | 01 June 1995 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/016934419501300209 |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
Human Rights News
V INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM
Cecilia Medina
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
There have been a number
of
decisions of the Court concerning preliminary exceptions
which are important to report because in them the Court elaborates on certain procedural
provisions of the Convention.'
Case Cayara vs Peru. In a previous issue of the NQHR (Vol. 11,
No.2,
1993, p. 222)
there was a very brief report on the Cayara Case, informing our readers that the Court
had declared the case inadmissible, because of having been presented after the three-
month period set forth in Article 51(1) of the American Convention. Further information
was given in NQHR, Vol. 12,
No.4,
1994, p. 465. This case was a very important one,
because on the one hand it dealt with the awesome results of a military operation in the
district
of
Cayara and, on the other hand, because one can see very clearly the procedural
problems in which the Commission finds itself. Peru presented 12 preliminary exceptions
before the Court. In order to understand the main issue it is useful to describe the
sequence of events which formed the basis of the exceptions presented by Peru:
in February 1991 the Commission approved Report 1/91 on Cases 10.264, 10.206,
10.276 and 10.446, all of them containing various complaints of human rights violations
committed in the district of Cayara;
the report was sent to the Government on 1 March 1991, but the Government
apparently received it on 5 April 1991;
the Government requested an extension of 60 days to make observations of the Report
and the Commission granted it;
on 27 May 1991 the Government observed that it had never received proper
notification of the replies given by two of the complainants (Americas Watch and
Amnesty International) and that therefore the procedure was null, requesting the
Commission to fully comply with its Regulations and the American Convention before
sending the case to the Court;
on 3 June 1991 the Commission sent a fax to the Court containing the first
presentation
of
the Cayara Case. The presentation itself was dated 30 May 1992;
on 7 June 1991 the dossier of the case arrived at the Court;
on 12 June 1991 the Executive Secretariat of the Commission called the Court
announcing that a member
of
the staff would visit the Court (which is in Costa Rica,
while the Commission is in Washington, DC) to discuss the possible withdrawal of the
case;
by note dated 20 June 1991, the Commission informed the Court that, at the request
of Peru, it had decided to withdraw the case to reconsider it and eventually present it
again before the Court;
on 20 June 1991 the Commission informed the Government about the withdrawal and
sent the Government the replies of Americas Watch and Amnesty International which it
had failed to transmit before;
The first important decision on preliminary exceptions was passedin the CaseNeira Alegria et al vs Peru.
See NQHR, Vol. 10,
No.2,
1992, pp. 218-221.
189
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