92
on both the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages caused. The reparations cannot
imply enrichment or detriment for the victims or their successors.231
199. Pursuant to the evidence gathered during the proceeding, and in the light of
foregoing criteria, the Court proceeds to analyze the relief sought by the Commission
and by the representatives, as well as the considerations of the State in respect of
the reparations, with the purpose of determining, in the first place, who the
beneficiaries of the reparations are, in order to subsequently determine the
reparations for the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, and lastly, of determing
the costs and expenses.
200. The Court will now summarize the arguments regarding the reparations filed
by the Inter-American Commission, by the representatives and by the State.
Allegations by the Commission
201.
As regards to reparations, the Commission alleged that:
Regarding the beneficiaries
a)
The persons entitled to receive reparation are the indigenous
Sawhoyamaxa Community and its members. The violations have been in
detriment of an Indigenous Community that, due to its cultural identity, must
be considered from a collective and an individual standpoint;
b)
the reparations in the instant case reach a special dimension due to
the collective nature of the rights that the State has violated, in detriment of
the Community and its members. Action by the State, contrary to
international law, has affected not only the victims as individuals, but the
existence of the Community itself;
Regarding the pecuniary damages
c)
the Court must determine in equity the amount to compensate the
consequential damages and loss of earnings suffered by the members of the
Indigenous Sawhoyamaxa Community due to the violations of their human
rights;
Regarding the non-pecuniary damages
d)
the State must pay an amount in equity as compensation for the nonpecuniary damages caused to the victims in the instant case “by the
suffering, anguish, and indignities to which they have been subjected during
those years in which they had been waiting for an effective response to their
territorial claims;”
e)
the Sawhoyamaxa Community fabric has been especially affected by
the death of several of its members as a consequence of the deplorable living
conditions in which it dwells;
231
Cf. Case of Acevedo-Jaramillo et al, supra note 3, para. 297; López- Álvarez Case, supra note 3,
para. 181, and Case of the Pueblo Bello Massacre, supra note 3, para. 229.