24
VII
PROVEN FACTS
79.
Examining the evidentiary elements on record in the dossier of the present
case, the statements made by the parties, as well as the acknowledgment of
international responsibility made by the State, the Court considers as proven the
facts detailed below. The majority of the paragraphs included in this section are the
facts considered as established by this Tribunal based on the acknowledgment of
responsibility made by the State, and that correspond to the facts presented in
paragraphs 27 through 106 of the application presented by the Inter-American
Commission (supra para. 11). Additionally, the Court has established as proven a
series of other facts, mainly regarding the criminal proceeding, pursuant to the
evidence presented by the Commission, the representatives, and the State.
A)
Context of violence against children and youngsters in Honduras: extrajudicial
killings and impunity
79(1) At the beginning of the nineties, and within the framework of the state’s
response of preventive and armed repression of young gangs, a context of violence
that is currently marked by the victimization of children and youngsters in a situation
of social risk, identified as young delinquents that cause the increase in public
insecurity, appeared. The deaths of youngsters identified as involved with “maras” or
young gangs became more frequent every day between 1995 and 1997. Thus, for
example, 904 minors died violently between the years of 1995 and 2002.17
79(2) That context of violence is materialized in the extrajudicial killings of children
and youngsters in risky situations, both by state agents as well as by individual third
parties. In this last case, the violence occurs, among others, within the young gangs
or between rival gags or as a consequence of the action of alleged clandestine
groups of social cleaning.18
17
Cfr. Civil and political rights, specifically the matters related with the disappearances and
summary killings. Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings. Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mrs.
Asma Jahangir, presented in compliance of Decision 2002/36 of the Human Rights Commission. Addition.
Mission to Honduras. E/CN.4/2003/3/Add.2. June 14, 2002; National Human Rights Commission of
Honduras, Annual Report 2003, Chapter II (dossier of appendixes to the brief of pleadings and motions,
appendix 2, folios 1927 through 1932); Special Report on the violent deaths of boys, girls, and teenagers
in Honduras. National Human Rights Commission. January 21, 2002 (dossier of appendixes to the petition,
appendix 10(8), folios 1575 through 1628); Gangs or maras within the context of violence and impunity in
Honduras. Casa Alianza Honduras, Reflection, Investigation, and Communication Team (ERIC) of the
Compañía de Jesús of Honduras, March 2004 (dossier of appendixes to the brief of pleadings and motions,
appendix 1, folios 1828 through 1895); Casa Alianza Honduras, Reflection, Investigation, and
Communication Team (ERIC) of the Compañía de Jesús of Honduras, “Work Meeting on the phenomenon
of maras or gangs in Honduras” of October 26, 2004 (dossier of appendixes to the petition of the
representatives of the victims and their next of kin, volume I, appendix 5, folios 1969 through 1983);
Diagnosis of Criminality in Honduras (Executive Summary). National Human Rights Commission of
Honduras (dossier of evidence to facilitate adjudication of the case, folios 2370 through 2417); and
National Statistics. Published between July 2003 and October 2005 and National Statistics. Published
between July 2003 and January 2006. Special Unit for the Investigation of the Deaths of Minors (dossier of
evidence to facilitate adjudication of the case, folios 2738 through 2866).
18
Cfr. Civil and political rights, specifically the matters related with the disappearances and
summary executions. Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings. Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mrs.
Asma Jahangir, presented in compliance of Decision 2002/36 of the Human Rights Commission. Addition.
Mission to Honduras. E/CN.4/2003/3/Add.2. June 14, 2002; Special Report on the violent deaths of boys,
girls, and teenagers in Honduras. National Human Rights Commission. January 21, 2002 (dossier of
appendixes to the petition, appendix 10(8), folios 1575 through 1628); Gangs or maras within the context
of violence and impunity in Honduras. Casa Alianza Honduras, Reflection, Investigation, and