Rochac Hernández et al. v. El Salvador
Key Judgment
Legal Relevance
Keywords: Obligation to Prevent | Children/Youth | Deprivation of Liberty | Juridical Personality | Systemic Practice | Right to Know the Truth
Themes: Search | Persons and Groups Affected | Related Crimes
The State of El Salvador acknowledged its international responsibility, which included full acceptance of the facts. The Court stated that it was the State's responsibility to protect the civilian population in the armed conflict and especially children, who are in a situation of greater vulnerability and at risk of seeing their rights affected. In this case, state agents used state structures and facilities to perpetrate the enforced disappearance of the children. The agents removed them from their homes and held them illegally, violating their right to remain with their nuclear family. The Court found that this impacted their right to identity - which comprises several elements, including, but not limited to, nationality, name and family relations.
Judgment Date
October 14, 2014
Country
El Salvador
Judicial Body
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Articles violated
Article 1(1) [ACHR], Article 3 [ACHR], Article 4(1) [ACHR], Article 5 [ACHR], Article 5(1) [ACHR], Article 5(2) [ACHR], Article 7(5) [ACHR], Article 7(6) [ACHR], Article 8(1) [ACHR], Article 11(2) [ACHR], Article 17 [ACHR], Article 19 [ACHR], Article 25 [ACHR]
Facts of the Case
Between December 1981 to August 1982, five children (Mr. José Adrián Rochac Hernández, Mr. Santos Ernesto Salinas, Ms. Emelinda Lorena Hernández, Mr. Manuel Antonio Bonilla and Mr. Ricardo Abarca Ayala) all between the ages of ten months and thirteen years disappeared in the course of different counter-insurgency operations during the armed conflict in El Salvador. These acts were part of a systematic state-wide pattern of enforced disappearances of children.
Links to cases cited within
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- Blake v. Guatemala
- Goiburú et al. v. Paraguay
- Anzualdo Castro v. Peru
- Heliodoro Portugal v. Panama
- Contreras et al. v. El Salvador
- Serrano Cruz Sisters v. El Salvador
- Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña v. Bolivia
- Gómez Palomino v. Peru
- Castillo Páez v. Peru
- Ticona Estrada et al. v. Bolivia
- Tiu Tojín v. Guatemala