42
instruments that contain even more specific rules regarding the protection of children. Those
instruments include the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the various United Nations
declarations on the subject. This combination of the regional and universal human rights systems
for purposes of interpreting the Convention is based on Article 29 of the American Convention
173
and on the consistent practice of the Court and of the Commission in this sphere.
215.
For its part, the Court has found that both the American Convention and the Convention on the
Rights of the Child form part of a very comprehensive international corpus juris for the protection of the child that
should help the Court establish the content and scope of the general provision established in Article 19 of the
American Convention, using specific provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in interpreting Article
174
19 of the American Convention.
216.
The Inter-American Court has found, “The special vulnerability of boys and girls due to their
condition as such becomes even more evident in a situation of domestic armed conflict, (...), since they are least
prepared to adapt or respond to said situation and, sadly, it is they who suffer its abuse in a disproportionate
175
manner.”
217.
Regarding Peru, the Commission observes that in 1993 the Committee on the Rights of the Child
expressed “its deep concern at the continued violence which has already caused thousands of killings,
disappearances and displacements of children and parents” and recommended that “investigations be conducted
into cases of extrajudicial executions, disappearances and torture which are carried out in the context of the
176
internal violence prevailing in several parts of the country”.
218.
The Commission notes that, according to the Report of the CVR, “13.19% of forced
disappearances were committed against persons under the age of 18, which suggests that on certain occasions the
177
practice of forced disappearance was used indiscriminately.”
In this regard, the above report says that one of
the patterns of disappearance of children emerged "as a consequence of a number of incursions in rural areas and
178
the subsequent detention of the entire family in military barracks,” since, from a logic of war, the killing of
179
children was one of the costs of eradicating subversion, and in the fight to destroy the enemy it did not matter if
180
those killed were innocent, much less children.
219.
In the instant case, the Commission has taken it as established that the community of Santa
Barbara was regarded by the Army as a "red zone" after the presence was reportedly detected of members of
subversive groups that made incursions into nearby mines and population centers, and that the detention of
173
IACHR, Report No. 41/99, Case 11.491, Minors in Detention, Honduras, March 10, 1999, par. 72.
174
I/A Court H.R., The “Street Children” Case (Villagrán Morales et al.). Judgment of November 19, 1999. Series C, No.
63, par. 194; see also: Case of the “Juvenile Reeducation Institute”, Judgment of September 2, 2004. Series C, No. 112, par. 148;
and Case of the Gómez Paquiyauri Brothers. Judgment of July 8, 2004, par. 166.
175
I/A Court H.R., Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre” v. Colombia. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of
September 15, 2005. Series C, No. 134, par. 156.
176
UN Doc. CRC/C/15/Add.8 of October, 18, 1993, p.7 and 16.
Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru. Volume VI. Chapter 1: Patterns in the
perpetration of crimes and human rights violations: Violence against Children, p. 593.
177
178
Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru. Volume VI. Chapter 1: Patterns in the
perpetration of crimes and human rights violations: Violence against Children, p. 595.
179
Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru. Volume VI. Chapter 1: Patterns in the
perpetration of crimes and human rights violations: Violence against Children, p. 596.
180
Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru. Volume VI. Chapter 1: Patterns in the
perpetration of crimes and human rights violations: Violence against Children, p. 597.