106 [n]ational and international mechanisms and programmes should be strengthened for the defence and protection of children, in particular, the girl-child, […] refugee and displaced children, [and] children in armed conflict […].220 157. Likewise, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has stated that, “Colombian children suffer the consequences of the domestic armed conflict more severely.”221 The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, in turn, has stated its concern because “the direct effects of the armed conflict [in Colombia] have very important negative consequences on the development of children and they severely obstruct exercise of many of the rights of the majority [of them] in the State Party.”222 Specifically, the armed conflict constitutes a “threat […] to the life of children, including extralegal executions, disappearances and tortures committed by […]paramilitary groups.”223 Likewise, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in charge of the issue of children in armed conflicts has deemed that boys and girls who have been exposed to “violence and killing, displacement, rape or the loss of beloved ones carry with them the scars of fear and hatred.”224 158. The Court notes that the specific facts of the instant case that have affected boys and girls demonstrate their lack of protection before, during and after the massacre. 159. First of all, the State was fully aware that the region where Mapiripán is located is one where there are high degrees of violence within the framework of the domestic armed conflict (supra para. 96.23), despite which it did not protect the population of Mapiripán, especially its boys and girls. 160. On the other hand, as was established (supra paras. 96.36 and 96.55), the violence unleashed during the Mapiripán Massacre affected the boys and girls of that town in an especially intense manner: many of them saw how their next of kin – mostly their fathers– were taken away, they heard them cry for help, they saw remains of bodies thrown around, their throats slit or decapitated and, in certain cases, they knew what the paramilitary had done to their next of kin. Furthermore, during the massacre minors Hugo Fernando and Diego Armando Martínez Contreras, 16 and 15 years old respectively, were executed or made to disappear (supra para. 96.40), and there are statements by witnesses of the facts who refer to unidentified children who were executed, including some just a few months old (supra paras. 75.l) and 96.52). The file also shows that minors Carmen Johanna Jaramillo Giraldo, Gustavo Caicedo Contreras and Maryuri Caicedo Contreras were threatened by the paramilitary when they tried to follow or seek their next of kin during the days of the massacre. In this regard, Gustavo Caicedo Contreras, 7 years old at the time of the 220 See Legal Status and Human Rights of the Child. Advisory Opinion OC-17/02, supra note 213, para. 82. 221 See Report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Colombia, E/CN.4/2001/15, March 20, 2001 (file with appendixes to the brief containing pleadings and motions, appendix 39, page 3617). 222 See Final Observations by the Committee on the Rights of the Child: Colombia, 16/10/2000, CRC/C/15/Add.137, 25th session, Committee on the Rights of the Child, para. 10. 223 See Final Observations by the Committee on the Rights of the Child: Colombia, 16/10/2000, supra note 224, para. 34. 224 See Report by the Special Representative of the Secretary General in charge of the issue of children in armed conflicts. United Nations General Assembly Doc. A/54/430 of October 1, 1999, para. 25.