176. The Court notes the holding in the case of Velasquez Rodrigues v.
Honduras in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) that:
The State is obligated to investigate every situation involving a violation of
the rights protected by the Convention. If the State apparatus acts in such a
way that the violation goes unpunished and the victim's full enjoyment of such
rights is not restored as soon as possible, the State has failed to comply with
its duty to ensure the free and full exercise of those rights to the persons
within its jurisdiction. The same is true when the State allows private persons
or groups to act freely and with impunity to the detriment of the rights
recognized by the Convention.52
177. The IACtHR further held that:
The duty to investigate, like the duty to prevent, is not breached merely because
the investigation does not produce a satisfactory result. Nevertheless, it must
be undertaken in a serious manner and not as a mere formality preordained to
be ineffective. An investigation must have an objective and be assumed by the
State as its own legal duty, not as a step taken by private interests that depends
upon the initiative of the victim or his family or upon their offer of proof, without
an effective search for the truth by the government. This is true regardless of
what agent is eventually found responsible for the violation. Where the acts of
private parties that violate the Convention are not seriously investigated, those
parties are aided in a sense by the government, thereby making the State
responsible on the international plane.53
178. The Commission, in Amnesty International v. Sudan, held that where larger
patterns of violence were occasioned by unidentified individuals, even
during civil war, States are under the duty to conduct independent, properly
resourced investigations and that even if executions were not committed by
forces of the government, it has a responsibility to protect all people within
its jurisdiction.54
52
IACtHR, Velasquez Rodriguez v. Honduras, Judgment of 29 July 1988 (Judgment), § 176.
Idem, § 177.
54 ACHPR, Amnesty International and Others v. Sudan Communication Number 48/90. 50/91, 52/91,
89/93, §§ 44-45.
53
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