AN APPROACH TO THE CONCEPTS OF VICTIMS, HARMED PER-SONS, AND BENEFICIARIES WITHIN THE INTER-AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM

Abstract

This work addresses the issue of victims within the Inter-American human rights system, through a review of the main international legal instruments and the jurisprudence of the inter-American human rights system. The work is emphatic in pointing out that the inter-American system uses some terms such victim, alleged victim, injured persons, beneficiary, which should not be treated as synonyms even though there is a correlation between the two. It shoul be noted that each of these terms operates at different procedural moments within the system and addresses specific characteristics. The work has also focused on clarifying when the term collective and individual victim should be used, special emphasis is placed on the circumstances by which it occupies a category and on the types of repartion that should exist, which is why this paper analyzes the jurisprudential precedents of the inter-American court and the specific rules within inter-American procedural law.