150. The Court reiterates that cases in which children are victims of human rights violations are especially serious,183 because children are holders of the rights established in the American Convention, and also possess the special measures of protection established in its Article 19, which must be defined according to the particular circumstances of each specific case. 184 The adoption of special measures for the protection of children corresponds to both the State and also the family, the community and the society to which they belong, 185 and these include the measures relating to non-discrimination, the prohibition of torture, and the conditions that must be observed in cases in which children are deprived of liberty. 186 151. In this case it has been established, and El Salvador has acknowledged (supra paras. 17 and 19) that, between December 11 and 13, 1981, the Armed Forces of El Salvador – the Atlacatl Rapid Deployment Infantry Battalion, together with units of the San Miguel Third Infantry Brigade and the San Francisco Gotera Commando Training Center – with the support of the Salvadoran Air Force, conducted a consecutive series of massive, collective and indiscriminate executions of defenseless individuals in the village of El Mozote, the canton of La Joya, the villages of Ranchería, Los Toriles and Jocote Amarillo, and the canton of Cerro Pando and in a cave on Cerro Ortiz, in the context of a supposed counterinsurgency operation that formed part of a “scorched earth” policy planned and executed by the State. Indeed, the facts reveal that the Armed Forces executed every individual they encountered: the elderly, men, women, boys and girls; they killed the animals, destroyed and set fire to the crops and homes, and destroyed, “in particular, […] anything of community value.”187 152. Similarly, the Truth Commission stated that it had found that it had been “fully proved that, on December 11, 1981, units of the Atlacatl BIRI deliberately and systematically killed a group of more than 200 men, women and children in the village of El Mozote, who comprised the entire civilian population that they had found there the previous day and had maintained in their custody since then.”188 In addition, the Truth Commission concluded that “[i]t has been sufficiently proved that, in the days that preceded and followed the massacre of El Mozote, the military forces that participated in ‘Operation Rescate’ massacred the non-combatant civilian population in La Joya canton, in the villages of La Ranchería, Jocote Amarillo and Los Toriles, and in the canton of Cerro Pando.”189 In all these cases, the Truth Commission indicated that “the troops acted similarly: they killed those they found, men, women and children, and then set fire to the houses in the village. This happened in the canton of La Joya on December 11; in the village of La Ranchería on December 12, and in the village of Jocote Amarillo and the canton of Cerro Pando on December 13.”190 153. Notwithstanding the stated purpose of the operation (supra para. 83), it was directed deliberately against the civilian or non-combatant population, because although the area affected by the operation was a problematic area with the presence of both the Army and the 183 The Inter-American Court has considered that, in general, by “child” is understood “any individual who has not attained 18 years of age.” Juridical Status and Human Rights of the Child. Advisory Opinion OC-17/02 of August 28, 2002. Series A No. 17, para. 42, and Case of Furlan and family v. Argentina. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of August 31, 2012. Series C No. 246, para. 123. 184 Cf. Case of Gelman v. Uruguay, para. 121, and Case of Furlan and family v. Argentina, para. 125. 185 Cf. Juridical Status and Human Rights of the Child, para 62, and Case of Furlan and family v. Argentina, para. 125. 186 Cf. Case of the Gómez Paquiyauri Brothers v. Peru. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of July 8, 2004. Series C No. 110, para. 168, and Case of the Barrios Family v. Venezuela, para. 55. 187 Expert opinion provided by María Sol Yáñez de la Cruz before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights during the public hearing held on April 23, 2012. 188 Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 19921993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1201). 189 Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 19921993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1201). 190 Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 19921993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1197). 47