A condição de defensor de direitos humanos: uma análise das sentenças da Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos (2000-2020)

Abstract

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights was created in 1979 with the purpose of, as a contentious advisory body, enforcing the terms of the American Convention on Human Rights (1969). Inserted in the American scenario, the Court has faced, in its more than half a century of existence, the peculiarities of the region in which it operates, which are especially reflected in the characteristics of the victims and the violations analyzed in its sentences. In this sense, this paper proposes to investigate the condition of a specific category of victim in the cases analyzed by the Court: human rights defenders. The main objective of this work is to analyze this category of petitioner based on the sentences issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights between 2000 and 2020. We seek to understand, through a qualitative analysis of case studies based on the jurisprudence of the Court in conjunction with Inter-American human rights norms, how the Court views these petitioners and how their status as human rights defenders affects the analysis of the violations perpetrated against these victims. Moreover, this paper also seeks to understand the effects of this recognition for the States Parties to the American Convention on Human Rights that are subject to the Court's jurisdiction. Thus, the aim is to draw an overview of the development of the inter-american international jurisprudence on the subject, delimiting its evolution, the criteria analyzed by the Court and the consequences of recognizing the aforementioned condition.