Constitutional Court
Overturns Executive
Order That Would Permit
Manufacture of Weapons
The Sala Constitucional
(Constitutional Court)
Or Sala IV as it is
often referred to, has
ruled that Executive
Order (Decreto Ejecutivo)
33240-S (Decreto de
Armas) signed on August
23, 2006, by Costa Rican
president, Oscar Arias
and the ministra de
Salud, Luisa Ávila, is
unconstitutional.
The Court considers the
order would permit the
fabrication of weapons
used in war, which
violates a number of
Costa Rican laws.
The Court said the
contested Order
establishes a series of
specifications for the
extraction of materiasl
for weapons and
ammunition, and that the
Ministerio de Salud, may
grant permits to develop
them, which are in
breach of international
agreements adopted by
Costa Rica on nuclear
non-proliferation as
well as obligations
undertaken by the
country through its
intervention in the case
concerning the "legality
of the use or threat of
use of nuclear weapons".
The action by brought to
the Sala IV by Roberto
Zamora Bolaños.
The magistrates feel
that the Order is
detrimental to the
fundamental right of
Costa Ricans to peace
embodied in the
Declaration of the Right
of Peoples to Peace,
adopted by the General
Assembly of the United
Nations in resolution
39/11 of November 12,
1984.
The Court ruling is
declarative and
retroactive to the
effective date to the
Order, without prejudice
to rights acquired in
good faith. |
