66
assistance, free of charge, to the next of kin of the children in this case and to José Adrián Rochac,
Santos Ernesto Salinas, Manuel Antonio Bonilla Osorio, Ricardo [Abarca Ayala], and Emelinda Lorena
Hernández, should they be found alive,” so that they can have access to a nationally recognized health
center, chosen by mutual agreement with the beneficiaries, with psychological care provided by
specialists in treating victims of serious human rights violations. Likewise, they indicated the “need
for the State to give priority to medical care for the next of kin in this case and to guarantee
appropriate medicines for their ailments” and, “until an appropriate system is in place, to provide an
insurance policy in the private system, for the highest amount, to cover the medical care of the next
of kin, including the deductibles, avoiding any expenditure to the victims.” They also requested that,
if any of the children in the instant case should be found abroad, and if they should decide not to
return to the country, they should be granted a sum of money.
217. Regarding the representatives’ request, in its final written arguments the Commission indicated
that the medical and psychological care required must be specialized and based on an individual
assessment of the situation of each individual and of each family group. It also indicated that the
State had the immediate obligation to provide specialized medical and psychological assistance and
that, once this was implemented, with guarantees of continuity and with sufficient resources for its
effective operation, the State could use the comprehensive psychosocial care program designed for
victims of serious human rights violations that occurred during the armed conflict, as a mechanism to
channel that assistance.
218. The State assumed responsibility for providing medical and psychological assistance for the
victims in the instant case through the country’s network of public hospitals and at the community
level. It agreed with the representatives that some of the victims in the instant case had already
received care through the public health system, but would be treated according to their specific needs.
It indicated that, to this end, it has implemented the following actions: (i) in relation to psychosocial
care, the Ministry of Health has trained key personnel at local level to provide care to victims of human
rights violations during the armed conflict; (ii) it has worked to build capacity to ensure that victims
of human rights violations receive differentiated assistance in relation to the rest of the population,
through awareness-raising and training directed at medical personnel and staff involved in the care
of patients in different areas; and (iii) it has begun distributing an identification card specifying the
victims’ status as beneficiaries, in keeping with the judgments of the Inter-American Court, in order
to guarantee them effective and timely care.
Considerations of the Court
219. The Court assesses positively the actions taken by the State to provide medical care to some
of the victims in this case, and acknowledges the general measures implemented to guarantee medical
and psychosocial treatment for the victims of grave human rights violations in El Salvador. As it has
done in other cases,307 the Court finds it necessary to order measures of reparation to provide
adequate care for the psychological and physical ailments suffered by the victims as a result of the
violations established in this judgment. Therefore, having confirmed the violations and the harm
suffered by the victims, the Court deems it necessary to order measures of rehabilitation in this case.
220. To help repair this harm, the Court establishes the State’s obligation to provide medical,
psychological and/or psychiatric treatment to the victims who request it, free of charge, immediately,
adequately and effectively, in its specialized health care institutions. The treatment must include the
provision of any medication they may need, also free of charge, based on the ailments of each person.
If the State is unable to provide these services, it must obtain them from specialized private or civil
society institutions. Also, to the extent possible, the respective treatments must be provided in the
Cf. Case of Barrios Altos v. Peru. Reparations and costs. Judgment of November 30, 2001. Series C No. 87, paras. 42
and 45, and Case of Contreras et al. v. El Salvador, supra, para. 198.
307