Part I State Obligations and Rights Protected, Ch.I General Obligations, Art.2: Domestic Legal Effects

Abstract

This chapter examines Article 2 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), which prescribes and requires specific conduct from States Parties regarding the domestic implementation of the rights and freedoms enshrined. Article 2 is located in the first chapter of the ACHR, entitled “General obligations”; it cannot be read without referring to the pivotal Article 1. Both provisions illustrate the principle of subsidiarity of the inter-American system, according to which the State is primarily in charge of the domestic implementation of human rights. Accordingly, in combination with Article 2 of the ACHR, States may be required to adopt positive measures in order to ensure rights and freedoms as to amend or reverse discriminatory situations to the detriment of certain groups of persons. Therefore, under certain circumstances, the provisions may be invoked in conjunction before the inter-American organs. The jurisprudence on Article 2 is pivotal in the transformative potential of the American Convention within the domestic systems of the States Parties.