-91regulations on the functions or the working methods of the commission in order to
fulfill its mandate, but merely indicated that these would be determined in its
internal organizational and operational regulations.” The Court was not informed of
whether the respective regulations had been issued.
184. The Court will now make some observations on the parameters that a
national commission to trace young people who disappeared when they were
children during the armed conflict should comply with, and how it should function.
The State could comply with this measure of reparation through the “interinstitutional commission to trace children who disappeared as a result of the armed
conflict in El Salvador,” if it adheres to the parameters established by the Court to
comply with this measure, or it could create a new commission that complies with
the parameters.
185. The decree that created the above-mentioned commission stipulated that “its
purpose was to collaborate, together with the public institutions involved or
responsible for the protection of children, in tracing children who were separated
involuntarily from their next of kin” (supra para. 48(13)). However, the Court
observes that the function of the commission cannot be limited to “collaboration”;
rather it must take the initiative to adopt the necessary measures to investigate and
collect evidence about the possible whereabouts of the young people who
disappeared when they were children during the armed conflict, and thereby
facilitate the determination of what happened and family reunification.
186. In this regard, the Court emphasizes that, when implementing initiatives
aimed at tracing and locating disappeared children and facilitating family
reunification, the State must evaluate why the initiative established at the
suggestion of the Attorney General, known as the “Attorney General’s Committee”
(Mesa del Procurador) (supra para. 48(12)) was unsuccessful. The State must ensure
that all its institutions and authorities are obliged to cooperate by providing
information to the national tracing commission and by providing access to all files
and records that could contain information on the possible fate of these young
people.
187. Likewise, the independence and impartiality of the members of the national
tracing commission must be ensured, and it must have the necessary human,
financial, logistic, scientific and other resources to be able to investigate and trace
the whereabouts of young people who disappeared during the armed conflict when
they were children.
188. The Court has noted with concern that Decree No. 45 establishes that the
abovementioned inter-institutional tracing commission will be composed only by
State authorities, even though “it c[ould] count on the collaboration of other public
institutions such as the Supreme Court of Justice, the Ombudsman’s Office, […] and
private institutions working to achieve the same purpose as the Commission.” In this
regard, it should be stressed that, according to the evidence submitted in this case,
the positive results in tracing and finding young people who disappeared during the
armed conflict when they were children, and achieving their family reunification and
recovery of family ties were not the product of the diligent action of the State, but of
the initiatives of the Asociación Pro-Búsqueda and the next of kin of the disappeared
(supra para. 48(6) and 48(9)). Therefore, the Court considers that the national
tracing commission must include State institutions that have demonstrated some
interest in resolving this problem and others who should be members because of