"THIS article examines the question of whether the Inter-American system of human rights has effectively applied article 4(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter "American Convention" or "Convention"),' which protects the right to life from the moment of conception and, if so, to what extent. The paper carries out a critical assessment of the Inter-American system's current application of article 4(1), which stands out among other international human rights treaties for its explicit recognition that human life begins at conception and for its unequivocal protection of the unborn child's right to life in utero.[...]"
" [...] This Article examines the nature of the Baby Boy resolution, its potential legal effects, the legal weight it actually has in the Inter-American system, and whether it created a treaty exception to the right to life for voluntary abortion. It concludes that Baby Boy did not validly create an abortion exception to the right to life in the Inter-American system on human rights. It also demonstrates that Baby Boy is not an authoritative interpretation of the Declaration or the Convention, has no precedential value on abortion in the Inter-American system of human rights, and therefore neither Latin American states nor the Inter-American Court on Human Rights have a duty to follow the Commission's decision therein."
" [...] Even though all of the information presented in this Article may support an argument for the existence of an emerging norm of customary international law in favor of the unborn child's right to life, 9 an analysis of whether current state practice and opinio juris rise to the level of regional customlo is beyond the scope of this Article, which instead focuses on treaty interpretation only. [...] "
"[...] This article urges the United States to pay its true debt to the Inter-American Human Rights System by fully engaging the System and by finally ratifying the American Convention on Human Rights. First, the article addresses regional criticisms over U.S. exceptionalism within the Inter-American System. Second, the article describes how this criticism has prompted increased support for the creation of alternatives to the Inter-American Human Rights System that would exclude U.S. participation. Third, it addresses the principal apprehensions to U.S. ratification of the American Convention and argues that such concerns are not insurmountable. Finally, the article concludes that ratification of the American Convention by the United States is necessary to prevent further erosion of the Inter-American Human Rights System and of U.S. leadership in the region. [...] "
" [...] The protection of human rights in the Americas is first and foremost a responsibility of every state. But what happens if a state fails to adequately protect the human rights of its own citizens? What if the local police brutally tortures and causes the disappearance of a citizen? What if guerrillas or paramilitaries massacre an entire indigenous village with the support and encouragement of the state's military forces? What if a state helps protect the business interests of a multinational corporation by killing local union leaders and ignoring local and international environmental standards?What if corrupt judges and weak judicial systems promote impunity for such violations? Where can these and other human rights victims seek justice against their own State? In addition to the United Nations, citizens of the Americas have two very important resources at their disposal where they can seek international justice: 1) the inter-American system of protection and promotion of human rights of the Organization of American States ("OAS"),and 2) the federal courts of the United States of America. [...] "
"The Spanish version of the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights often states that this tribunal's assessment of evidence is ruled by saia crilica, a notion which has received several translations in the English version of the Court's case law. This concept has a clear meaning in the Hispanic civil law tradition. Sana critica is a system for evaluating the weight of evidence whereby a court or tribunal is not constrained by the evidentiary rules of legal proo but must judge in accordance with the rules of logic and experience, and state the grounds for its evaluation. For a better understanding of sana critica or sound judicial discretion, this paper will refer to the other systems used for the weighing of evidence in the Hispanic legal tradition, especially to the oft-loathed method of legal proof, which requires the judge to give a previously defined weight to specific items of evidence."
"[...] The goal of this Article is to review the development of human rights in the Americas so that it may be possible to analyze specific aspects of this protective system that need serious repair. [...]"
