IACHR Plans to Publish Friendly Settlement Report on the Case of Amanda Graciela Encaje and Family, Concerning the International Responsibility of the Argentine State for the Judiciary's Failure to Investigate her Murder

November 10, 2021

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Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) plans to approve the friendly settlement agreement in Case 13,595—Amanda Graciela Encaje and Family, Argentina, and to publish the relevant report. This agreement was signed on July 12, 2021, by the State and by representatives of the victim and her family. The petition that was filed before the IACHR in 2008 concerns the State's international responsibility for violations of Amanda Graciela Encaje's rights concerning the judiciary's failure to effectively investigate the events that surrounded her murder in 1992 and to establish who perpetrated that murder.

The Commission commended the State of Argentina for acknowledging in the friendly settlement report its international responsibility for violating the human rights to life, personal integrity, judicial protection and guarantees, honor and dignity, and equality before the law. The agreement sets concrete measures to ensure reparation of the harm caused to Amanda Graciela Encaje's family. These measures include the creation of a sculpture to honor the victim and her family; an analysis of the feasibility of reopening the criminal cases concerning the homicides of Amanda Encaje and Néstor Vivo; the creation of the position of an Official Defense Counsel for Victims; the creation of a Crime Victims Observatory; the adoption of protocols to ensure adequate preservation of evidence and objects that are seized in raids; the implementation of a Provincial Gene Bank; and the adoption of measures to publicize this friendly settlement agreement.

All the measures that have been agreed remain pending, given that the parties have jointly decided to defer the implementation of this agreement until after it is approved. The IACHR commends both parties on their good disposition and their constant collaborative dialogue to design an agreement that enables the victim's family to attain comprehensive reparation. The Commission asks the State to continue to work toward fulfilling its international obligations based on this agreement until full implementation is attained and stresses its commitment to monitoring and supporting this friendly settlement process.

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. 299/21

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