An Overview of the Inter-American Court's Evaluation of Evidence

Abstract

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) has the solemn responsibility of protecting human rights recognized in the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR). When doing so, the IACtHR significantly engages in evidentiary assessments. This chapter analyses some principles and rules of evidence applied by the IACtHR. It assesses their coherence, the extent to which they are applied consistently, and whether they are successful in ensuring fair trial. In the course of such analysis, this chapter confronts the IACtHR’s practices with some classical elements of evidence, such as admissibility, the burden of proof, and presumptions. One of the conclusions of this chapter is that, in some cases, the IACtHR’s commitment to the application of the rights established in the ACHR may have led it to be somewhat dismissive of rules of evidence. This may have a negative impact on due process, and could result in a system of evidence that, by its lack of coherence, may raise concerns as to the rigour of the IACtHR’s jurisprudence.

Keywords: Inter-American Court, Human Rights, evidence, burden of proof, standard of proof, sana critica