38 146. The Court wishes to indicate the particular gravity of the instant case since the victims were youths, three of them children, and because the conduct of the State not only violated the express provision of Article 4 of the American Convention, but also numerous international instruments, that devolve to the State the obligation to adopt special measures of protection and assistance for the children within its jurisdiction (infra, para. 191). 147. Based on the foregoing, the Court concludes that the State violated Article 4 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in relation to Article 1.1 of the Convention, to the detriment of Henry Giovanni Contreras, Federico Clemente Figueroa Túnchez, Julio Roberto Caal Sandoval, Jovito Josué Juárez Cifuentes and Anstraum Aman Villagrán Morales. X VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 5 (Right to Humane Treatment) 148. In the application, the Commission alleged that the State had violated Article 5 of the American Convention against Henry Giovanni Contreras, Federico Clemente Figueroa Túnchez, Julio Roberto Caal Sandoval and Jovito Josué Juárez Cifuentes because they had been abducted by State agents who “were responsible for the physical integrity of the victims while they were [in] their custody”. 149. The Commission observed that, when the facts in this case occurred, the socalled “street children” were subject to different forms of “abuse and persecution” by “agents from certain [State] security forces”, and this inter-American body had already pointed out this circumstance in several of its reports. 150. When answering the application during the proceeding, the State did not offer any defense regarding the violation of the right to humane treatment embodied in the American Convention and, in particular, did not contest that the victims had been tortured (supra, paras. 67 and 68). 151. In its final arguments, the Commission declared that the four young victims of torture were retained incommunicado, a situation which, in itself, clearly results in “great anxiety and suffering”. 152. In continuation, it made special reference to the tender age of the victims of torture, two of them minors, Julio Roberto Caal Sandoval, 15 years of age, and Jovito Josué Juárez Cifuentes, 17 years of age, and the fact that they lived on the streets. 153. Furthermore, the Commission added that the circumstances surrounding the death of these youths had caused a great deal of suffering to the families of the victims. The way in which the bodies were abandoned and the lack of answers about what happened caused the families anxiety and fear. In the Commission’s opinion, the evidence makes it clear that the authorities did not try to communicate with the families or provide them with further information once the proceedings were underway.