by Dana Repka, late December 2024.
San Salvador, a group of supporters of Beatriz watch a live
broadcast of the Court hearing on 22 March 2023.
Photo: Marvin Recinos/AFP/Getty Images
Summary of the IACHR judgment, translated into English, by Dana Repka, 20 December 2024
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights announced that they would deliver their judgment in the case Beatriz et al. v. El Salvador on 20 December 2024, at 2pm Central American time.
The colleagues from Amigues por Beatriz believed this was a positive sign, as the Court decided to release the judgment before their recess. The judgment was broadcast live on the Court’s social media channels: https://www.youtube.com/@CorteIntDH and https://www.facebook.com/CorteIDH
Below are the key points of the judgment from the live transmission. The full decision will be published soon. As a quick first impression: the focus was heavily on the right to health, while they avoided addressing abortion explicitly. Additionally, the remedies they offered seemed somewhat weak… Still, achieving condemnation of the State of El Salvador was no small feat.
Beatriz et al. v. El Salvador
Judgment by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights:
Summary of Key Points, 20 December 2024
Resolutions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights:
Declarations of State Responsibility:
1. By majority (5 votes in favor and 1 partially dissenting):
-The State was declared responsible for violating personal integrity, private life, and health, in accordance with Articles 5, 11, and 22 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), in relation to the obligations to respect and guarantee rights and to adopt provisions of domestic law (Articles 1.1 and 2), as well as for failing to fulfill the obligations under Article 7.a of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women (Belém do Pará Convention), to the detriment of Beatriz.
2. Unanimously:
-The State was found responsible for violating the right to judicial protection under Article 25, American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) in relation to Article 1.1 of the same Convention, to the detriment of Beatriz.
-The State was found responsible for violating personal integrity (Article 5.1 ACHR), in relation to Article 1.1 of the same instrument, to the detriment of Beatriz’s mother, her mother’s husband, Beatriz’s life partner, the father of her child, and Beatriz’s child.
The Court ordered reparatory measures:
1. Unanimously:
-The judgment itself constitutes a form of reparation. In addition:
-The State must provide free medical, psychological, and psychiatric treatment to the victims through its healthcare institutions.
-The State must make the publications indicated in the judgment.
2. By majority (5 votes in favor and 1 partially dissenting):
-The State must adopt the necessary regulatory measures to establish guidelines and action protocols for medical and judicial personnel in cases of pregnancies that endanger the health and life of women. This includes adapting existing protocols, issuing a new protocol, or any other document providing legal certainty in such situations.
-The State must implement a sensitization plan aimed at healthcare personnel involved in maternity services, judicial operators, and other relevant State officials.
3. Compensation and supervision:
-The State must pay the amounts set forth in the judgment as compensation.
-Within one year of notification of the judgment, the State must submit a report to the Court on the measures adopted to comply with the judgment.
-The Court will supervise the full compliance with the judgment in accordance with its powers established under the ACHR.