2001, whereas the facts alleged in the petition and known as “Operation Genesis” took place in February 1997. However, it maintains that this circumstance alone does not justify the application of the exception provided for in Article 46.2.a since there were other punishable acts that could have been used to characterize the alleged criminal behavior arising from the forced displacement. Colombia adds that the displaced persons could appear as civil parties in criminal proceedings to further the investigation, contribute evidence to identify the guilty, and seek amends, and that, in any event, “the State has a free margin of appreciation for protecting the rights of persons under its jurisdiction.”19 IV. ANALYSIS OF COMPETENCE AND ADMISSIBILITY A. Competence 33. The State holds that Article 44 of the American Convention requires the “full and complete” individual identification of the victims of claims lodged with the IACHR. It thus believes that since the sole victim identified by name in the petition is Mr. Marino López, the Commission should restrict its competence to examining the circumstances surrounding his death in BijaoCacarica on February 27, 1997, and its clarification through judicial channels. It consequently holds that consideration should not be given to the events of February 24 to 28, 1997, that led to the forced displacement of the Afro-descendant communities inhabiting the River Cacarica basin, or to the effects or judicial investigation thereof, regarding which, the State claims, the IACHR does not have competence ratione personae. 34. First of all, the Commission notes that the text of Article 44 of the American Convention, which enables “any person or group of persons, or any nongovernmental entity [to] lodge petitions with the Commission containing denunciations or complaints of violation (...) by a State Party,” contains no restriction of competence arising from the “full and complete” identification of the individuals affected by such a violation. This is a deliberate omission, intended to allow the examination of human rights violations that, by their nature, may affect a given individual or group of persons who are not necessarily fully identified, as is the case with NN victims. Frequently, the difficulty of fully identifying the victims, particularly in cases involving multiple human rights violations, arises directly from the efforts of the perpetrators to hide the evidence and hinder any proceedings that could cause light to be cast on their crimes.20 In such cases, requiring formal criteria to identify the victims would perversely encourage their exclusion from international protection, ensuring the concealment of the crimes committed and the surrounding impunity. 35. While the Colombian State’s opinion that the procedure set out in the American Convention whereby the Inter-American Commission and Court examine and determine the responsibility of states parties in individual cases cannot be used to examine general or abstract situations is correct, that is not, however, applicable to the matter at hand. The claim lodged by the petitioners is not an abstract complaint regarding the situation of internally displaced persons in Colombia. The alleged facts specify circumstances of time and place that affected members of the communities of Puente América, Bijao-Cacarica, Quebrada del Medio, Bogotá, Barranquilla, El Limón-Peranchito, Santa Lucía, Las Pajas, Quebrada Bonita, La Virginia, Villa Hermosa–La Raya, San Higinio, Puerto Berlín, Puerto Nuevo, Montañita Cirilo, Bocachica, Balsagira, San José de la Balsa, La Balsa, Bendito Bocachico, Varsovia, and Tequerré Medio, the geographical location of which is clear. 36. As regards the individual identification of the victims, the Commission notes that in its submission of April 18, 2006, the State listed a series of actions taken by entities such as the Office of the People’s Defender in providing assistance to the displaced persons referred to in 19 Note DDH. GOI/28080/1361 from the Directorate of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law at the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated June 8, 2006, p. 3. 20 In admitting a petition for violations of the American Convention with respect to some 40 persons in the Mapiripán Massacre, the Commission explained that the circumstances of the deaths of most of the victims, whose bodies were dismembered and thrown into the River Guaviare, had not been ascertained by the judicial authorities and, consequently, the victims were not identified in the petition. Report No. 34/01 (Mapiripán Massacre), Annual Report of the IACHR 2000, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111 doc. 20 rev., April 16, 2001, paragraph 27. 8