12
separation of children from their families as part of a counterinsurgency strategy, there were other
20
reasons, including taking children to give them up for adoption.
According to the evidence received, the possible destinations of the children after they had been
21
separated from their families and disappeared can be broken down as follows: (1) adoptions
through a formal process within the judicial system, with the majority assigned to foreign families,
22
mainly in the United States, France and Italy; (2) “de facto” adoptions or “appropriations,”
consisting of cases in which Salvadoran families took custody of the children but never formalized
23
24
the adoption; (3) cases of “appropriation” by soldiers, who included the children in their families
as if they were their own, although in most cases the children were used for domestic or agricultural
25
tasks; (4) children raised in orphanages without guardians, in which those in charge of them did
26
27
not try to find their parents, and (5) children who grew up on military bases. In addition, although
it has not been proved in a court of law, the Search Association has compiled evidence indicating
20
Corte I.D.H., Caso Contreras y otros Vs. El Salvador. Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 31 de agosto de
2011 Serie C No. 232, párr. 51. Citando. Cf. Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La paz en construcción, supra note 34, (evidence file,
volume IV, attachment 5 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folios 2619/15); Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La problemática
de niñas and niños desaparecidos…, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume IV, attachment 10 to the pleadings, motions and
evidence brief, folio 3207/12); Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, Report on El Salvador, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume V,
attachment 12 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 3541), and Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La problemática de la niñez
desaparecida en El Salvador, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume V, attachment 13 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief,
folio 3584).
21
Corte I.D.H., Caso Contreras y otros Vs. El Salvador. Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 31 de agosto de
2011 Serie C No. 232, párr. 51. Citando. Cf. Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La paz en construcción, supra note 34, (evidence file,
volume IV, attachment 5 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 2619/28); Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La problemática de
niñas and niños desaparecidos…, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume IV, attachment 10 to the pleadings, motions and evidence
brief, folio 3207/22), and Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, Report on El Salvador, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume V, attachment 12
to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 3541). See also, Case of the Serrano Cruz Sisters, supra note 29, para. 48.6).
22
Corte I.D.H., Caso Contreras y otros Vs. El Salvador. Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 31 de agosto de
2011 Serie C No. 232, párr. 51. Citando. Cf. Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La paz en construcción, supra note 34, (evidence file,
volume IV, attachment 5 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 2619/31), and Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La
problemática de niñas and niños desaparecidos…, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume IV, attachment 10 to the pleadings,
motions and evidence brief, folio 3207/25).
23
Corte I.D.H., Caso Contreras y otros Vs. El Salvador. Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 31 de agosto de
2011 Serie C No. 232, párr. 51. Citando. Cf. Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La paz en construcción, supra note 34, (evidence file,
volume IV, attachment 5 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 2619/32), and Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La
problemática de niñas and niños desaparecidos…, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume IV, attachment 10 to the pleadings,
motions and evidence brief, folio 3207/26).
24
Corte I.D.H., Caso Contreras y otros Vs. El Salvador. Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 31 de agosto de
2011 Serie C No. 232, párr. 51. Citando. Cf. Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La paz en construcción, supra note 34, (evidence file,
volume IV, attachment 5 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 2619/32), and Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La
problemática de niñas and niños desaparecidos…, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume IV, attachment 10 to the pleadings,
motions and evidence brief, folio 3207/25).
25
Corte I.D.H., Caso Contreras y otros Vs. El Salvador. Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 31 de agosto de
2011 Serie C No. 232, párr. 51. Citando. Cf. Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La problemática de la niñez desaparecida en El Salvador,
supra note 34, (evidence file, volume V, attachment 13 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 3584).
26
Corte I.D.H., Caso Contreras y otros Vs. El Salvador. Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 31 de agosto de
2011 Serie C No. 232, párr. 51. Citando. Cf. Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La paz en construcción, supra note 34, (evidence file,
volume IV, attachment 5 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 2619/66).
27
Corte I.D.H., Caso Contreras y otros Vs. El Salvador. Fondo, Reparaciones y Costas. Sentencia de 31 de agosto de
2011 Serie C No. 232, párr. 51. Citando. Cf. Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La paz en construcción, supra note 34, (evidence file,
volume IV, attachment 5 to the pleadings, motions and evidence brief, folio 2619/34), and Asociación Pro-Búsqueda, La
problemática de niñas and niños desaparecidos…, supra note 34, (evidence file, volume IV, attachment 10 to the pleadings,
motions and evidence brief, folio 3207/22).