The hierarchy of treaties on Human Rights in the constitution and jurisprudence of Nicaragua

Abstract

The incorporation of international treaties on human rights in the Constitution of Nicaragua (Articles 46 and 71) has led to various interpretations of its legal status in the domestic law, because of the ambiguity of those Articles. The most recent jurisprudence of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court has understood that the mentioned treaties are at the same constitutional level, by contrast, the international treaties of Article 182 that are located under constitutional level. However, the Constitutional Chamber left unfinished the hierarchical status of treaties excluded from the list in Article 46, which could find a solution in the axiological and progressive interpretation of the norm, from the interpretive criteria of international standards and jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. That is, adopting criteria similar to those of the Chambers and Constitutional Courts of Argentina, Colombia and Costa Rica.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/derecho.v0i15.1029

Revista de Derecho No.15 2011 pp.73-94