reproductive health. The State indicated that the Salvador Institute for the Advancement of
Women had undertaken actions “to increase the information on their rights available to
women at the local level through the Municipal Committees for the Prevention Of Violence,
mobile information units, awareness-raising campaigns, advisory committees, and the Social
Comptroller’s Office. Also, by the elaboration of municipal plans for equality and prevention
of violence against women, and the National Intersectoral Strategy to Prevent Child and
Adolescent Pregnancies.”
298. The Court appreciates the efforts made by the State to provide training in this regard.
However, it finds it pertinent to order that, within two years, the State design and implement,
within the school curriculum, special content “on sexuality and reproduction that is
comprehensive, non-discriminatory, evidence-based, scientifically accurate and ageappropriate, [... and] that take[s] into account the evolving capacities of children and
adolescents.”451 During the first year after notification of this judgment, the State must report
on the progress made in the design and implementation of this measure.
D.6 Attention in cases of obstetric emergencies
299. The Commission recommended “review and adapt discriminatory institutional
practices within the […] health sector.” The representatives asked that the State “adopt
health protocols that ensure comprehensive health care (including for sexual and reproductive
health) for girls and women in El Salvador, in keeping with the highest international human
rights standards.”
300. The Court notes that the State possesses various Ministry of Health manuals and
guidelines concerning obstetric care. 452 However, it finds it necessary to order the State to
take forthwith the measures required to ensure comprehensive medical attention for women
who suffer obstetric emergencies. The Court will monitor compliance with this measure for
three years.
E.
Compensation
301. The Commission indicated that the State should “adopt measures to provide financial
compensation and satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage. Taking Manuela’s death into
account, these measures should be implemented in favor of her family unit.”
E.1 Pecuniary damage
302. The representatives asked the Court to establish the sum of US$200,000.00 as
consequential damage, to be distributed among the members of Manuela’s family, arguing
that the Court should take into account: (i) the elevated cost of the transportation, board and
lodging for the family members to visit her in the hospital and, subsequently, in prison; (ii)
the expenses relating to Manuela’s burial; (iii) the fact that the family members had actively
sought to obtain justice and to establish the truth of what happened, which meant that they
had to abandon their daily occupations. The representatives indicated that, given that nine
The CESCR has ruled similarly in General Comment No 22 on the right to sexual and reproductive health
(Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), paras. 9 and 49.
451
Cf. Ministry of Health of El Salvador. Clinical guidelines Gynecology and Obstetrics, February 2012 (evidence
file, folios 5561 to 5812); Ministry of Health of El Salvador. Technical guidelines for obstetric procedures and surgery,
2020 (evidence file, folios 5813 to 5914); Ministry of Health of El Salvador. Technical guidelines for the application
of code orange in the health service network (RIIS), December 2017 (evidence file, folios 5915 to 5943); Ministry of
Health of El Salvador. Technical guidelines for the application of code yellow in the health service network (RIIS),
June 2016 (evidence file, folios 5949 to 5972), and Ministry of Health of El Salvador. Technical guidelines for the
application of code red in the health service network (RIIS), July 2015 (evidence file, folios 5973 to 6006).
452
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