implementation of studies and projects to prevent and mitigate damage (Section 2). 77. Third, to date the Court has not had the opportunity to rule on whether, or to what extent, it is desirable to interpret the Pact, specifically Articles 1(1), 4(1) and 5(1) in connection with the principles that arise from international environmental law such as the obligations to prevent environmental damage and to cooperate with third States affected by any damage, as recognized, for example, in Articles 12 and 13 of the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region. This request for an advisory opinion provides the Court with an opportunity to do this (Section 3). SECTION 1: INTERPRETATION OF ARTICLE 1(1) OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (OBLIGATION TO RESPECT RIGHTS) A. The text of Article 1(1) 78. Article 1(1) stipulates that: “The States Parties to this Convention undertake to respect the rights and freedoms recognized herein and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms, without any discrimination for reasons of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic status, birth, or any other social condition.” 79. This provision establishes two obligations with regard to the rights and freedoms recognized in the Pact: an obligation “to respect” and another obligation “to ensure.” 49 Bearing in mind the facts described in Chapter 2, this request for an advisory opinion seeks to clarify the scope of the two obligations contained in Article 1(1) of the Pact; that is, to respect and to ensure the human rights recognized in this instrument in the case of damage to the marine environment that could interfere with the full exercise and enjoyment of the rights and freedoms of the inhabitants of the coasts and islands of the Wider Caribbean Region. In particular, it seeks to determine whether these obligations benefit the inhabitants of the coasts, of one or several islands, or of an archipelago, when the execution of major infrastructure projects by a State Party to the Wider Caribbean Region Convention and to the Pact of San José could harm the rights of the inhabitants of these coasts, of this or these islands, or of the said archipelago. B. Scope of the State obligations under the American Convention 80. The obligation to respect the rights and freedoms recognized in the Pact consists in complying with this provision (either by abstaining from acting or by providing a service), while the obligation to ensure entails “the obligation of the States Parties to organize the government apparatus and, in general, all the structures through which public power is exercised so that they 49 ICourtHR, Case of Velasquez Rodriguez v. Honduras. Merits. Judgment of July 29, 1988. Series C No. 4, para. 164. 60