Colombian Administrative Litigation and the Inter-American Human Rights System: Reflections on Their Mutual Implications

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show the development of the Colombian remedy of direct reparation in respect to the Inter–American Human Rights System (IAHRS). In this sense, it will be asserted –from an analysis of its purpose– that said remedy has acquired a status of complementary effectiveness on the criminal proceedings in cases where State responsibility is judged from its duties under articles 4 and 5 of the American Convention in relation to article 1.1 of that treaty. On one hand, the contentious–administrative jurisdiction is the appropriate setting to adjudicate responsibility to the State as a moral entity (independent an autonomous from both its agents and private citizens that compromise that State ́s responsibility) and, on the other hand, the jurisprudence of that jurisdiction has made possible the realization of the principle of restitutio in integrum for victims of human rights violations at the Colombian domestic level.