IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Congratulates the State of Mexico on Its Full Compliance with the Friendly Settlement Agreement Signed Regarding Case 12.813, Blanca Olivia Contreras Vital and One Other
April 22, 2020
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announced its decision to declare full compliance with Friendly Settlement Report No. 81/15 on Case 12.813, Blanca Olivia Contreras Vidal and Roberto Clemente Álvarez Alvarado, concerning Mexico.
The case relates to violations of due process against Blanca Olivia Contreras Vital and Roberto Clemente Álvarez Alvarado, who did not have an adequate defense team and thus were given arbitrary sentences during criminal proceedings against them. In Admissibility Report No. 13/11, the IACHR concluded that it was competent to hear the case regarding the alleged violations of the rights enshrined in articles 7 (right to life) and 8 (right to a fair trial) of the American Convention on Human Rights.
On October 5, 2012, the parties signed a friendly settlement agreement that was approved by the IACHR on October 28, 2015. During the process of verifying the implementation of the friendly settlement agreement, the IACHR assessed the actions taken by the Mexican state to comply with the commitments it had taken on in the agreement in question and corroborated that the state had disbursed the corresponding sums of money to provide comprehensive reparation for the damage that the victims were caused; provided scholarships to cover the education of the son of one of the victims; provided psychotherapeutic treatment for the son of one of the victims; and provided one of the beneficiaries of the agreement access to an employment-related training course on customer service run by the Bécate program, as a result of which the person in question received economic support and was hired by a local company. Likewise, the state of Mexico provided support to enable Ms. Blanca Olivia Contreras Vital and Mr. Roberto Clemente Alvarado to obtain housing.
The IACHR monitored the development of this friendly settlement closely and was extremely appreciative of both parties’ efforts during the negotiation process for the friendly settlement agreement and the subsequent follow-up stage. By virtue of the information provided by the parties during the process of monitoring implementation of the agreement, the IACHR ruled that this had been fully complied with and thus decided to end its monitoring of the compliance process.
The IACHR applauds the efforts that the Mexican state has made to reach solutions through the individual petition and case system’s friendly settlement mechanism and congratulates it on having fully implemented the agreement described here. It also wishes to congratulate the petitioning party on the efforts it made to move the friendly settlement process forward.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 085/20