103 XI ARTICLE 19 OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION IN COMBINATION WITH ARTICLES 4(1), 5(1), 22(1) AND 1(1) OF THAT CONVENTION (RIGHTS OF THE CHILD) Pleadings of the Commission 147. The Inter-American Commission did not allege violation of Article 19 of the American Convention in the application. However, in its final pleadings the Commission pointed out that “the facts acknowledged by the State substantiate both its international responsibility for the violation of Articles 4(1), 5(1) and (2) and 7 (1) and (2) of the American Convention to the detriment of approximately 49 fatal victims […] and for lack of due judicial elucidation of the facts, reparation of their effects, and consequent abridgment of Articles 8(1), 19, 22, 25 and especially 1(1), which are still part of the dispute.” Pleadings of the representatives: 148. With regard to Article 19 of the American Convention the representatives pointed out that: a) the protection measures that minors require of their family, of society and of the State must be ensured with no discrimination and must be applied more efficiently in cases in which the children are in an additional situation of vulnerability. Furthermore, the scope of said protection measures must be understood comprehensively, and it requires both positive and negative obligations by the State; b) in accordance with the American Convention, as well as with other international instruments, the State has the obligation to adopt special measures for children in armed conflicts. In the instant case it did not do so, as minors Hugo Fernando Martínez Contreras and Diego Armando Martínez Contreras required special protection. At the time of the facts they were doubly vulnerable because of their situation as children and because they found themselves in the midst of an armed conflict; c) the agents acted deliberately when the children were taken and when they did not take any steps to return them to their families; d) of the 19 next of kin mentioned in this proceeding, 9 were minors at the time of the facts. These children’s development has been seriously affected by their displacement, by having to stop schooling to begin to work or to care for their younger siblings, or by having to separate from their families to study, by undergoing hunger, by lack of medical care or adequate housing, among other situations, which constitute violations of the rights of the child. In accordance with the Convention, as well as with other international instruments, the State has the obligation to take special measures for children. Colombia did not fulfill this duty, as it did not prevent the displacement, it did not protect the children during the displacement, it did not provide adequate humanitarian assistance, it did not ensure their return, resettlement or reinsertion under dignified and safe conditions; and