The Inter-American Court of Human Rights during its XLIV Regular Session, that started on May 23 and will end on June 4, 1999, sent the following letter to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Mr. César Gaviria Trujillo:

28 May 1999

Mr. Secretary General:

We feel ourselves duty-bound to write to Your Excellency to ask that you bring the contents of this letter to the attention of the authorities of the Twenty Ninth Regular Session of the General Assembly of the OAS, after they are elected on Monday next, 7 June, in Guatemala City.

Article 65 of the American Convention on Human Rights establishes that

[t]o each regular session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States the Court shall submit, for the Assembly's consideration, a report on its work during the previous year. It shall specify, in particular, the cases in which a state has not complied with its judgments, making any pertinent recommendations.

Consequently, Mr. Secretary General, it falls to the General Assembly to take formal note of the recommendations which the Court makes in its Annual Report concerning non-compliance with its decisions, and to issue such comments as it may consider pertinent

In its 1998 Annual Report the Court notified the General Assembly of the failure by the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to comply with its Orders on Provisional Measures in the James et al. Cases. It therefore requested the highest political organ of the Organisation to urge the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to comply with these Orders. As of this date, States Parties to the American Convention on Human Rights have complied with the decisions of the Court, Trinidad and Tobago being the sole exception.

It is a matter of profound concern to the Court to note that, in the operative part of the recommendations concerning its 1998 Annual Report, which the Commission on Juridical and Political Matters and the Permanent Council of the Organisation are forwarding to the General Assembly, no mention is made of the Court's recommendation to which reference has been made.

As Your Excellency is aware, the new structure of the General Assembly is such that the Reports of the Specialised Organs (Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Juridical Committee) are no longer presented orally by the respective Presidents. Since the General Assembly will be receiving for consideration only the Resolution approved by the Permanent Council, it will be precluded from considering and commenting on the recommendation made by the Court, as required by Article 65 of the American Convention, since that recommendation has been omitted by both the Commission on Juridical and Political Matters and the Permanent Council

This circumstance affects the very essence of the Inter-American System of human rights protection, which finds its most telling expression in the binding nature of the judgements issued by the jurisdictional organ, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

As has been acknowledged by Your Excellency among others, the protection of human rights is the most important function of the Organisation of American States. It must, therefore, be considered to be a matter of high priority for the Member States of the OAS.

We have decided to write to Your Excellency after two notes on the subject addressed to the President of the Permanent Council produced no result. Copies of the said notes are enclosed with this letter.

The Court is of the view that this issue, which is of fundamental importance for the Organisation and the Inter-American System, should receive the benefit of a pronouncement by the General Assembly, the highest organ of the Organisation.

Because of the delicacy of the present matter, we have decided to forward copies of this letter to all Ministers of Foreign Relations of the Member States of the Organisation, as well as to their Permanent Representatives to the OAS in Washington D.C., United States of America.

We avail ourselves of this opportunity to renew to Your Excellency the assurances of our most distinguished consideration.

Juez Hernán Salgado Pesantes
Presidente

Juez Antônio A. Cançado Trindade
Vicepresidente

Juez Máximo Pacheco Gómez

Juez Oliver Jackman

Juez Alirio Abreu Burelli

Juez Sergio García Ramírez

Juez Carlos Vicente de Roux

San José, 24 May 1999

Mr. President:

We have the honour to refer to the draft Resolution on the observations and recommendations to the Annual Report of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The said draft Resolution was presented to Your Excellency by the Commission on Juridical and Political Affairs, in order to be considered by the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States during its next Regular Session.

In its Annual Report, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights informed the General Assembly, pursuant to Article 65 of the American Convention on Human Rights, that the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has not complied with its Orders on Provisional Measures in the James et al. Cases. Further, it requested that the General Assembly urge the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to comply with the said Orders.

When studying the draft Resolution that will be submitted to the General Assembly, the Court noted with some surprise that, whilst its second “considering” makes mention to Article 65 and to the duty of the Court to report the cases in which a State fails to comply with its judgements, the operative exhortation to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to comply with the Orders of the Court has been omitted.

The Court considers that, in order to safeguard the effectiveness of the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights, it is of the utmost significance that the highest organ of the Organisation consider and support its Orders.

Therefore, we request Your Excellency that an operative paragraph by which the General Assembly urges the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to comply with the Orders on Provisional Measures issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the James et al. Cases be included in the draft Resolution to be submitted to the General Assembly, in compliance with Article 65 of the American Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, this Court will highly appreciate the submission of the instant note to the Permanent Council during its next session, to be held on 26 May 1999.

Please accept, Your Excellency, the renewed assurances of our highest and distinguished consideration.

Hernán Salgado Pesantes
Presidente

Antônio A. Cançado Trindade

Máximo Pacheco Gómez

Oliver Jackman

Alirio Abreu Burelli

Carlos Vicente de Roux Rengifo

San José, 25 May 1999

Mr. President:

We have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your note of 24 February (rectius 24 May) 1999, addressed to the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Judge Hernán Salgado-Pesantes, in response to this Court's note of the same date.

To that respect, we reiterate to Your Excellency that the Court esteems that it is convenient that the Permanent Council consider and decide upon the inclusion of an operative paragraph relating to Trinidad and Tobago's failure to comply with its Orders for this Tribunal.

Please accept, Your Excellency, the renewed assurances of our highest and distinguished consideration.

Hernán Salgado Pesantes
Presidente

Antônio A. Cançado Trindade

Máximo Pacheco Gómez

Oliver Jackman

Alirio Abreu Burelli

Sergio García Ramírez

Carlos Vicente de Roux Rengifo

The composition of the Court for this Regular Session will be: Hernan Salgado-Pesantes (Ecuador), President; Antônio A. Cançado-Trindade (Brazil), Vice-President; Maximo Pacheco-Gomez (Chile); Oliver Jackman (Barbados); Alirio Abreu-Burelli (Venezuela); Sergio Garcia-Ramirez (Mexico) and Carlos Vicente de Roux-Rengifo (Colombia). The Secretary of the Court, Manuel E. Ventura-Robles, and the Deputy Secretary, Renzo Pomi, will also be present.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution of the Organization of American States established in 1979. The Court is composed of jurists of the highest moral standing and competence in the area of human rights. Judges are elected by the OAS General Assembly and cannot exercise their functions for more than two six-year terms.

For further information, please address all requests to:

Manuel E. Ventura-Robles

Secretary, Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Apartado 6906-1000

San Jose, Costa Rica

Telephone: (506) 234-0581, Fax: (506) 234-0584

E-Mail: corteidh@racsa.co.cr

San José, 1 June, 1999.