- 15wish, re-establishment of the given name and surnames given to them by their biological family. Also, the State has not conducted a diligent investigation that would allow the next of kin to know the truth about what happened to Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz and their whereabouts. 179. Furthermore, the Court observes that the State should have taken into account the specific circumstances of Erlinda Serrano Cruz, following El Salvador's acceptance of the Court's jurisdiction, given that the specific obligations arising from Article 19 of the Convention are added to the general obligations of protection, because, in June 1995, Erlinda would have been 17 or 18 years old. 180. Consequently, the Court considers that the State has violated Articles 17 and 18 of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof, to the detriment of Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz and of their next of kin, and also Article 19 of this treaty in relation to the preceding article, to the detriment of Erlinda Serrano Cruz. * * * 7. In my opinion, if the Court had ruled as stated above on the violation of Articles 17, 18 and 19 of the Convention, it would not have lost the historical opportunity of referring to the right to an identity, which is being developed progressively by international human rights law, in a case such as this one, in which both Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz and their family represent just one example of the problem of the loss of the right to identity, because the rights to the protection of the family and to a name have been violated. 8. Finally, I consider it important to emphasize that, despite the lack of concern that the State has shown over all this time with regard to the adoption of effective measures to try and trace and find those who disappeared during the armed conflict, I retain the hope that El Salvador will comply with the commitment that it made before the Court during the public hearing and in its final written arguments in this case, when it stated that it would make every effort to investigate what happened to Ernestina and Erlinda, to trace them, to determine their whereabouts, and to identify those responsible for what happened to them through a judicial investigation and “by an investigation into the facts,” and will also implement its “firm decision” to “promote the reunification of the Salvadoran families who were separated as a result of this conflict, in order to know the truth.” If the State complies with these commitments that it assumed before the Court, it will help the disappeared persons and their next of kin recover their identity and, should they be found alive, it will lead to their subsequent reunification and to the recovery of family relations, as well as, if applicable, to the re-establishment of the given name and surnames assigned to them by their biological families, which will have a beneficial impact on Salvadoran society as a whole. Manuel E. Ventura Robles Judge