Conventionality Control: guidelines for its application in the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Abstract

The “conventionality control” established in 2006 in the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has undergone some important clarifications. In its rulings from the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, the Court has defined the state actors that are obligated to apply it, has established the need for it when dealing with majoritarian decisions in democratic contexts and has established the role of the Court in verifying the conventionality control that States claim to have exercised domestically. This article covers the origin, evolution and application of the so-called “conventionality control” as a measure designed to assure compliance with the state obligations to respect, ensure and conform domestic legislation to international law, which are all found in the American Convention on Human Rights.