Preliminary Objections Judgment in Chirinos Salamanca v. Venez. & Related Documents: Venezuela’s Retroactive Un-Denunciation of the American Convention on Human Rights (Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. & Inter-Am. C.H.R.)

Abstract In Chirinos Salamanca v. Venezuela , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights held that the 2019 re-ratification of the American Convention on Human Rights by the opposition-controlled 2015 National Assembly of Venezuela retroactively nullified former president Nicolás Maduro’s denunciation of the Convention that had taken effect in 2013. The judgment builds upon the Court’s jurisprudence on the pro persona and democratic principles, opens the door for other cases claiming violations during a particularly repressive period under Maduro, and invites expanded scrutiny by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. It also raises complicated questions about government recognition and representation before international organizations and courts, the ability to give retroactive effect to treaty obligations, and the permissibility of human rights treaty denunciations.