-72in accordance with article” 20 of this Convention;
c)
“Suyapa Serrano Cruz hid the facts stated before the national court, as
regards the intervention of the Salvadoran Red Cross or [the] ICRC, which
refer to both children having been delivered to these organizations by the
Army”;
d)
There is evidence concerning another child of 7 years old who was also
abandoned and then picked up by the Armed Forces and delivered to the
Salvadoran Red Cross. “[F]rom what this child said, it can be inferred that it is
probable that a child of 7 years old is unable to recall his own name under
certain circumstances”; and
e)
There is evidence that “some effort was made to reunite the Serrano
Cruz children with their mother.” The Salvadoran Red Cross explained that its
files were destroyed in the 1986 earthquake and the International Committee
of the Red Cross stated that “there is no information regarding the children in
its files in Geneva.”
Considerations of the Court
125. The Court will not rule on the alleged violations of Articles 17, 18 and 19 of
the Convention, because it does not have jurisdiction to rule on possible violations
arising from facts or acts that occurred prior to June 6, 1995, or that began to be
executed before that date on which El Salvador deposited the instrument accepting
the Court’s jurisdiction with the OAS General Secretariat, as decided by the Court in
the judgment on preliminary objections (supra para. 21).
X
VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 4 (RIGHT TO LIFE) OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION
IN RELATION TO ARTICLE 1(1) THEREOF
Arguments of the Commission
126. With regard to Article 4 of the Convention in relation to Article 1(1) thereof,
the Commission indicated that:
a)
The State had not responded specifically to the violations of the
American Convention. To this day, the “whereabouts [of Ernestina and
Erlinda] are unknown or whether they are alive or dead.” “The hope that
Ernestina and Erlinda are alive is supported by children in similar cases who
have been found.” This matter has no precedent in the Court’s history;
consequently, the intervention of the inter-American system for the protection
of human rights has special relevance. “By October 8, 2004, the Asociación
Pro-búsqueda had found 247 ‘children,’ who are now adults, and who were
taken into custody by the Armed Forces […], remained disappeared for many
years and, following and intensive search operation organized by the [said]
Association, in which State entities played no part, were found and reunited
with their families and their true identities;