Washington College of Law
Center For Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
RESOLUTION No. 24/86
CASE 8097 (HONDURAS)
April 18, l986
HAVING SEEN:
- Resolution No. 32/83, approved by the Commission at its 61st Session (October l983),
whereby, pursuant to the provisions of Article 42 (formerly Article 39) of its Regulations, it
decided
to presume to be true the facts that are the subject matter of this case, consisting in the arrest and
disappearance of Professor SAUL GODINEZ CRUZ on July 22, l982, in Choluteca, Honduras; it
recommended to the Government of Honduras that it adopt the pertinent measures on the
situation
examined, i.e.: a) that it order a complete and impartial investigation to determine the persons
responsible for the facts reported; b) that it punish the persons responsible for those events; and c)
that
it inform the Commission of the measures taken to implement those recommendations, which was
communicated to the Government of Honduras in its note of October 11, l983.
- That in its note of December 1, l983 (Official Letter No. 1543) the Government of
Honduras
submitted observations on Resolution 32/83 requesting its reconsideration since an investigation
by a
(special) Investigating Commission was under way for the purpose of clarifying the complaints
about
alleged violations of human rights, establishing responsibilities for the events and punishing the
persons
responsible therefor, and offering to send to the Commission the reports on the results of the
work of
that Special Investigating Commission.
- That the Government of Honduras has not provided the information offered on the
results
of the work of the Special Investigating Commission or that which the IACHR requested it to
provide
in order enable it to continue studying the case.
- That, therefore, the request for reconsideration of Resolution 32/83 is unfounded and
lacks
information other than that already examined by the Commission that could warrant
reconsideration
of the decision adopted at the 61st session.
- That the Government of Honduras has not implemented the recommendations of the
Commission.
CONSIDERING:
- That from the information presented in this case, both by the above-mentioned
government
and by the petitioner, it is inferred that neither the person whose rights allegedly have been
violated nor
the persons petitioning in his name and on his behalf have not had access to the remedies of the
domestic law of Honduras or were prevented from exhausting them.
- That in the case that is the subject matter of this resolution, the Commission has not
been
able, by reason of the nature of the complaint, to apply the friendly settlement procedure provided
for
in Article 48, paragraph 1, f, of the American Convention on Human Rights and in
Article 45 of its
Regulations.
- That, since the friendly settlement procedure is not applicable, the Commission
pursuant to
the provisions of Article 51, paragraph 1, of the Convention, gives its opinion and conclusions on
the
issue submitted to it for consideration.
- That the Commission, at its 67th session (April l986), pursuant to the provisions of
Article
51, paragraph 1 of the Convention and paragraph 3 of that article and, in addition, since all the
periods
set for the above-mentioned government to implement the recommendations contained in
Resolution
32/83 have expired, has decided that the State of Honduras has not taken appropriate measures
for
remedying the situation examined.
- That, in addition, since the friendly settlement procedure is not applicable to the case
that
is the subject matter of this resolution, the Commission may, pursuant to Article 50 of its
Regulations,
submit the case to the Inter-American Courts of Human Rights, if the government has not
implemented
the recommendations made; and
- That on September 9, l981, the Government of Honduras declared its recognition of
the
jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in accordance with Article 62 of the
Convention.
THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS,
RESOLVES:
- To publish in all its parts, Resolution 32/83 as well as the text of this Resolution
pursuant to
Article 63 g) of the Commission's Regulations.
- To refer the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the purposes
provided
for in Article 63, paragraph 1, of the Convention and therefore that the Court may decide that
there has
been a violation of the rights to life (Article 1), to humane treatment (Article 5) and personal
liberty
(Article 7) of the American Convention on Human Rights; that the consequences of the situation
that
has constituted the violation of those rights should be repaired and that fair compensation be
should be
granted to the injured party or parties.
- To transmit this Resolution to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, to the
petitioner,
and to the Government of Honduras, in accordance with the provisions of Article 50, paragraph
1, of
the Regulations of the Commission.
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