IACHR Congratulates State of Mexico on Full Compliance with Friendly Settlement Agreement on Petition P-1275-04A, Juan Luis Rivera Matus

March 10, 2021

Washington, DC—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announced its decision to declare full compliance with Friendly Settlement Report No. 23/20 on Petition P-1275-04A, Juan Luis Rivera Matus, concerning Chile, which it will cease to monitor.

The case relates to the Chilean State's international responsibility for the arbitrary detention, torture, and forced disappearance of Juan Luis Rivera Matus in 1975. The petitioning party alleged that the State had violated the rights enshrined in articles 4 (right to life), 5 (the right to humane treatment), 8 (the right to a fair trial), and 25 (judicial protection) of the American Convention on Human Rights.

On January 31, 2020, the parties signed a friendly settlement agreement that was approved by the IACHR on April 13, 2020. In the process of ascertaining whether this agreement had been implemented, the IACHR assessed the actions taken by the Chilean State to comply with the commitments it had taken on and corroborated that the State had made the corresponding compensation payments to the victim's next of kin.

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 friendly settlement 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 Chilean state has made to reach solutions through the individual petition and case system's friendly settlement mechanism and congratulates it on having fully implemented this friendly settlement agreement. It also wishes to congratulate the petitioning party on the efforts it made to move the friendly settlement process forward.

The IACHR is a principal and autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate derives from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR is composed of seven independent members who are elected by the OAS General Assembly in their personal capacity, and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 058/21