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<BODY style="MARGIN: 4px 4px 1px; FONT: 10pt Segoe UI"><BR><BR>>>> <groups@asil.org> 22/08/12 9:09 >>><BR>New Discussions for Tuesday August 21 2012<BR><BR>08/21/12 - Cesare Romano<BR>Looking for sign-ons to amicus curiae brief for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights<BR>link: <A href="http://www.asil.org/interest-groups-discussions.cfm?setGroup=13&mode=view&topic=637&authstring=415492965295">http://www.asil.org/interest-groups-discussions.cfm?setGroup=13&mode=view&topic=637&authstring=415492965295</A><BR>Dear colleagues,<BR><BR>The International Human Rights Clinic at Loyola Law School Los Angeles is looking for individuals or organizations to sign on to an amicus curiae brief it prepared for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The case is: Gretel Artavia Murillo et al. v. Costa Rica (also known as the “In Vitro Fertilization” case) case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. See, the IA Commission press release: <A href="http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2011/091.asp;">http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2011/091.asp;</A> and the application to the Court: <A href="http://www.cidh.oas.org/demandas/12.361Eng.pdf.">http://www.cidh.oas.org/demandas/12.361Eng.pdf.</A><BR><BR>The case arises out of a total ban on In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) by Costa Rica in effect since 2000. Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the world to ban IVF and the only one in the Americas. Costa Rica justifies the ban arguing that IVF causes the destruction of human embryos’ which, it claims, are protected life under Article 4 of the American Convention on Human Rights (Right to Life). It is an unprecedented case, at the cutting edge of modern ethical and scientific concerns, one that has the potential to significantly affect the development of international human rights law.<BR><BR>The case has been brought before the Inter-American Court by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights arguing that Costa Rica’s ban is an excessive measure that violates articles 11.2 (Prohibition of Arbitrary or Abusive Interference with Privacy) and 17.2 (Right to Marry and to Raise a Family) and 24 (Right to Equal Protection) of the American Convention.<BR><BR>In our brief we urged the Court to avoid entering into the difficult terrain of defining when life begins and rather approach the case through the lens of Article 29 of the Convention (Interpretative Parameters of the Convention), in particular paragraph (a) ""No provision of this Convention shall be interpreted as … permitting any State Party … to suppress the enjoyment or exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized in this Convention or to restrict them to a greater extent than is provided for herein" and (b) "No provision of this Convention shall be interpreted as … permitting any State Party … restrict the enjoyment or exercise of any right or freedom recognized … by virtue of another convention to which one of the said states is a party".<BR><BR>Hearings will take place before the IA Court on September 5-6, 2012. Those interested in reading and, eventually, signing on should contact Prof. Romano (details below) no later than September 1, 2012.<BR><BR>Prof. Cesare P.R. Romano<BR>Joseph W. Ford Fellow<BR>Director, International Human Rights Clinic,<BR>Loyola Law School Los Angeles<BR>919 Albany street<BR>90015 Los Angeles, CA<BR>Tel: 213-736.8198<BR>Email: cesare.romano@lls.edu<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR></BODY></HTML>