44
158. However, given that the relatives were not present at the public
acknowledgment of liability made on June 21, 2006, and considering that the State
has accepted the corresponding claim, the Court orders that the public
acknowledgment of liability be repeated in the presence of the relatives of Gerardo
Vargas-Areco, as a measure of satisfaction, in the community where the family of
the minor Vargas-Areco resides, in the presence of the State’s civil and military
authorities. In the course of said act, a plaque, whose text and wording will be
agreed upon with the relatives of the child, will be affixed in order to keep his
memory alive and prevent repetition of events such as those occurred in the instant
case.
c)
Medical and psychological treatment
159. It has been proven that the physical, psychological and emotional distress
suffered by the relatives of Gerardo Vargas-Areco as a result of the violations
recognized in the instant case have lasted through to this day and have impaired
their respective life projects (supra para. 71(28) 95 and 96). On account of the
foregoing, the Court, as in other opportunities,85 is of the opinion that reparations
must also include psychological and psychiatric treatment for all the relatives of
Gerardo Vargas-Areco, at their discretion.
160. For the purposes specified above, the State must provide the required
medical and psychological treatment, individually and in group, based on the nature
of the case and as determined by the professionals in charge of said treatment,
through public health institutions, for free and including the related examinations and
medicines.
d)
Education in human rights
161. The State must design and implement training programs and regular courses
in human rights available to all members of the Paraguayan Armed Forces.
e)
Publication of the relevant parts of the Judgment
162. As a measure of satisfaction, the State must publish at least once in the
Official Gazette and in another nationwide daily newspaper, the chapter on Proven
Facts of this Judgment, without the corresponding footnotes, and the related
operative paragraphs.
f)
Adapting domestic legislation to the American Convention
163. The State informed that it deposited an instrument that is part of the
ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
regarding armed conflict, which sets forth that the minimum age to serve in the
Paraguayan Armed Forces is 18 years old. Furthermore, the State alleged that the
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces signed a project to be sent to the National
Congress to amend Laws No. 569/75 (“Compulsory Military Service”) and 123/52
(regarding CIMEFOR), in relation to the minimum age for recruitment into the
Paraguayan Armed Forces.
85
Cf. Case of the Ituango Massacres, supra note 3, para. 403; Case of Baldeón-García, supra note
3, para. 206; Case of the Pueblo Bello Massacre, supra note 21, para. 274.
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