[IntLawProfessors] Looking for sign-ons to amicus curiae brief for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

[Don Anton]

>>> <groups at asil.org> 22/08/12 9:09 >>>
New Discussions for Tuesday August 21 2012

08/21/12 - Cesare Romano
Looking for sign-ons to amicus curiae brief for the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights
link:
http://www.asil.org/interest-groups-discussions.cfm?setGroup=13&mode=view&topic=637&authstring=415492965295
Dear colleagues,

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:
http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2011/091.asp; and the
application to the Court:
http://www.cidh.oas.org/demandas/12.361Eng.pdf.

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.

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.

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".

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.

Prof. Cesare P.R. Romano
Joseph W. Ford Fellow
Director, International Human Rights Clinic,
Loyola Law School Los Angeles
919 Albany street
90015 Los Angeles, CA
Tel: 213-736.8198
Email: cesare.romano at lls.edu




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