The Flexibility of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights when Granting Pecuniary Reparations

Abstract

The Inter-American Court grants compensations and costs in almost every case it decides. The Court has defined some basic issues about such reparations but makes exceptions in many cases. This study analyses these situations in order to prove that the Inter-American Court is flexible enough for responding to the peculiarities of the different cases that are lodged before it, such as when the victim is an indigenous community or when it conditions some payments. It also demonstrates that the Court is able to evolve as it learns from its own experiences in the matter of compensations and costs, such as when it incorporated in its case law the order to grant future expenses that may be generated during the phase of monitoring compliance with the Court’s judgements.