36 of physical or mental violence, injury and abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.”139 Furthermore, different international bodies have acknowledged that during armed conflicts women and girls face specific situations affecting their human rights, such as rape, which is often used as a “symbolic means of humiliating the opposing side.”140 In addition, “sexual violence predominantly affects those who have reached puberty or adolescence,” with girls being the most exposed to suffering this kind of violence.141 Sexual abuse is constituted by acts of a sexual nature committed against a person without their consent, which, in addition to including the physical invasion of the human body, can include acts that do not involve penetration or even any physical contact.142 102. The Court finds that all the ill-treatment suffered by Gregoria Herminia, her age, the circumstances of her disappearance, and the impossibility of turning to her own family for protection, placed her in a state of elevated vulnerability that exacerbated the suffering she endured. The Court stresses that Gregoria Herminia Contreras suffered the said acts of violence for almost 10 years, that is to say, from the age of four to the age of 14.143 Based on all this, the Court finds that all the ill-treatment, physical and mental abuse, humiliation and suffering that permeated the life of Gregoria Herminia during her appropriation, as well as the acts of rape to which she was submitted while under the control of the soldier Molina, constituted a violation of Article 5(2) of the American Convention, which prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, in relation to Article 1(1) of this instrument, to the detriment of Gregoria Herminia Contreras. The Court will refer to the arguments relating to Article 11 of the Convention in the next section. F. The rights of the child to protection of the family, a name, privacy and family life and identity 103. Both the Commission and the representatives argued that, in this case, the right to identity, the rights of the family, the right to a name and the right to special measures of protection for children have been violated. The State acknowledged its international responsibility for the violation of the rights to protection of the family, a name, identity, and independent expert for the United Nations study of violence against children, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 60/231. A/61/299, 29 August 2006, para. 25. 139 United Nations, sixty-first session, Agenda item 62 of the provisional program: Promotion and protection of the rights of the child. Report of the independent expert for the United Nations study of violence against children, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, supra note 138, para. 8. 140 United Nations, Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, eleventh session. General recommendation 19 “Violence against women.” Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 at 84 (1994), para. 16; United Nations, Commission on Human Rights, fifty-seventh session, 2001, Report of Ms. Radica Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/45, “Violence against women perpetrated and/or condoned by the State during times of armed conflict (1997- 2000),” E/CN.4/2001/73, para. 44. 141 Cf. Case of González et al. (“Campo Algodonero”), supra note 138, para. 407, citing United Nations, sixtyfirst session, Agenda item 62 of the provisional program: Promotion and protection of the rights of the child. Report of the independent expert for the United Nations study of violence against children, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, supra note 138, para. 30. 142 Cf. Case of the Miguel Castro Castro Prison, supra note 137, para. 306; Case of Rosendo Cantú et al., supra note 137, para. 109, and Case of Fernández Ortega et al., supra note 137, para. 119. 143 Cf. Testimony given by Gregoria Herminia Contreras before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on May 17, 2011. The parties agree that Gregoria Herminia Contreras left that house when she was 14 years of age.