4 I INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND PURPOSE OF THE DISPUTE 1. On June 28, 2010, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) lodged an application before the Court against the Republic of El Salvador (hereinafter “the State” or “El Salvador”) concerning cases 12,494, 12,517 and 12,518, in accordance with Articles 51 and 61 of the Convention. The initial petitions were submitted to the Commission on November 16, 2001, by the Asociación Pro-Búsqueda de Niños y Niñas Desaparecidos [Association for the Search for Disappeared Children] (hereinafter “the Search Association”) and the Center for Justice and International Law (hereinafter “CEJIL”) with regard to Ana Julia and Carmelina Mejía Ramírez and José Rubén Rivera; and on September 4, 2003, by the Search Association with regard to Gregoria Herminia, Serapio Cristian and Julia Inés Contreras. The Commission declared the petitions admissible in Admissibility Reports Nos. 11/05 of February 23, 2005, 56/05 of October 12, 2005, and 53/05 of October 12, 2005. On March 3, 2009, the Commission ruled to combine the three cases1 and on September 8, 2009, it approved Report on the Merits No. 95/092 under Article 50 of the Convention. On September 28, 2009, the State was notified of the said report and granted two months to provide information on the measures taken to comply with the Commission’s recommendations. After granting two extensions and in view of the State’s failure to submit information, the Commission decided to submit this case to the jurisdiction of the Court. The Commission appointed Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Commissioner, and Santiago A. Canton, Executive Secretary, as its delegates, and Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Deputy Executive Secretary, and Isabel Madariaga and Silvia Serrano Guzmán, lawyers with the Executive Secretariat, as legal advisors. 2. The application relates to the alleged forced disappearance between 1981 and 1983 of Gregoria Herminia, Serapio Cristian and Julia Inés Contreras, Ana Julia and Carmelina Mejía Ramírez, and José Rubén Rivera Rivera, who were all children at the time, perpetrated by members of different military units in the context of “counterinsurgency operations” during the armed conflict in El Salvador. The whereabouts of Gregoria Herminia Contreras were established in 2006, and she is “in the process of reconstructing her identity and relationship with her biological family.” According to the Commission, “[t]he circumstances surrounding the six [alleged] disappearances have still not been clarified; those responsible have not been identified or punished and, in brief, after almost 30 years, the facts remain in impunity.” 3. The Commission asked the Court to declare the State of El Salvador responsible for violation of Articles 3 (Right to Juridical Personality), 4 (Right to Life), 5 (Right to Humane Treatment), 7 (Right to Personal Liberty), 17 (Rights of the Family), 18 (Right to a Name), 19 (Rights of the Child), 8 (Right to a Fair Trial) and 25 (Right to Judicial Protection), all with regard to the obligations established in Article 1(1) of the American Convention, to the detriment of Gregoria Herminia, Serapio Cristian and Julia Inés Contreras, Ana Julia and 1 To this end, it found that “[t]he cases in question relate to the same period of internal conflict in El Salvador and involve similar alleged facts.” Cf. Notes of the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Commission dated March 3, 2009 (evidence file, volume I, attachment 3 to the application, folios 679 and 681). 2 In that report, the Commission concluded that the Salvadoran State was responsible for violation of Articles 3 (Right to Juridical Personality), 4 (Right to Life), 5 (Right to Humane Treatment), 7 (Right to Personal Liberty), 8 (Right to a Fair Trial), 17 (Rights of the Family), 18 (Right to a Name), 19 (Rights of the Child) and 25 (Right to Judicial Protection) of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof. Cf. Report on Admissibility No. 95/09 issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on September 8, 2009 (evidence file, volume I, attachment 2 to the application, folio 101).