The Inter-American Court and Constitutionalism in Latin America

Abstract

The development of international human rights law has been one of the most important legal advances of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to date. Latin America has played a significant role in this evolution. Tribunals such as the Constitutional Court of Colombia have faced specific situations where they have had to decide to make use of substantive instruments found in the affirmation of juridical pluralism, but within the framework of human rights laws and specifically within the approach and perspective of the corresponding Inter-American jurisprudence. International human rights obligations establish limits to an unrestricted juridical pluralism. The challenge is to respect plurality and affirm nondiscrimination compatible with respect for international obligations. This is the common denominator within which juridical pluralism is inserted and limited, and it is reflected in the approach inferred from the decisions of the Constitutional Court -- not to impose a Western vision, but to establish substantive criteria that the state must guarantee and society must respect.