psychological and moral suffering for the relatives of disappeared victims.” 137 In addition, according to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, “[e]nforced disappearance can cause deep anguish, suffering and harm to victims and their relatives,” to the point that, in the words of that group, “not knowing the whereabouts of a family member can amount to torture.” 138 100. This Court has considered it appropriate to assume a violation of the right to personal integrity, applying a rebuttable presumption with respect to relatives such as parents, children, spouses, long-term partners, and siblings of the victims of certain human rights violations, depending to the particular circumstances of each case. 139 In this case, Colombia has also acknowledged the violation of the personal integrity of Holmar de Jesús Gallego Márquez, Mr. Tabares Toro's stepfather, who passed away on June 4, 2010. 101. As noted above, it has been over two decades since the events of December 28, 1997. Those events have had both psychological and social impacts for the family of Óscar Iván Tabares Toro, which have been exacerbated by the passage of time and the lack of information about what happened. 102. In her affidavit, María Isabel Gallego Toro stated that when they learned of her son's disappearance, “[his] immediate family reacted with surprise and deep sadness because even though they knew death was possible given Óscar's line of work, [they] never thought he would die in such a cruel and inhuman way. His disappearance left a mother desperate for answers on her son’s whereabouts; obviously it affected all of us, but it destroyed [his] mom's life. The reaction of [his] parents, especially [his] mom, was to move heaven and earth to try to locate Óscar, to find out what had happened to him, where he was, or at least for them to hand over his body.” 140 103. In her statements before the Court, María Elena Toro also said that the disappearance of her son affected her “[i]n every way: health, finances, because with all the moving, our finances tanked. We had to sell possessions, cars, everything we had, to the point where we stopped and asked ourselves, ‘What are we doing? My God!’ We devoted ourselves exclusively to finding Iván, and the other girls were very young—well, María Bibiancy was married by then, but we were neglecting the two little girls completely. As far as health, I am a cancer survivor, I was on the brink of death, and my husband was not able to win his battle with cancer; he died of sadness in 2010.” 141 104. For her part, María Bibiancy Tabares Toro stated in her affidavit that “the lack of an investigation, justice, and a search affected [them] enormously because they went into ‘Óscar Iván’ mode. [His] mom lost her job because she was focused on searching for answers. She became depressed as she failed to get clear answers that made sense. The family sold things so they could travel and participate in meetings; the family’s finances were affected a lot.” 142 Likewise, María Isabel Gallego Toro stated “[w]e were a solidly middle-income family because both of my parents worked, but when Óscar disappeared, the household’s priorities immediately changed. Everything revolved around one thing: finding out what had happened to my brother.” 143 105. The Court notes that the lack of a serious, exhaustive, rigorous, and effective investigation to clarify the facts in order to identify, try, and as appropriate punish those responsible, as well as the lack of information on the whereabouts of Óscar Iván or his remains, has affected his relatives emotionally. Case of Peasant Community of Santa Bárbara v. Peru. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of September 1, 2015. Series C No. 299, and Case of Movilla Galarcio et al. v. Colombia, supra, para. 173. 138 Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on standards and public policies for an effective investigation of enforced disappearances. Document A/HRC/45/13/Add.3, August 7, 2020, para. 60. The Court wishes to clarify that the fact that the quote from the Working Group mentions “torture” does not mean that the Court automatically considers a lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of a forcibly disappeared person an act of torture. Nevertheless, the quote shows the seriousness and the implications of forced disappearance, which can result in harm to personal integrity in violation of Article 5(2) of the American Convention. See also Case of Movilla Galarcio et al. v. Colombia, supra, para. 173. 139 Cf. Case of Blake v. Guatemala. Merits, supra, para. 114, and Case of Valencia Campos et al. v. Bolivia. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of October 18, 2022. Series C No. 469, para. 199. 140 Cf. Affidavit of María Isabel Gallego Toro, supra. 141 Statement of María Elena Toro Torres before the Court at public hearing, supra. 142 Affidavit of María Bibiancy Tabares Toro, supra. 143 Affidavit of María Isabel Gallego Toro, supra. 137 25