believing that she had died. After the reunion, Rolando never acknowledged her as his mother. The
Commission also indicated that Carmelino Ajanel Ramos was separated from his father for 20 years,
because the latter thought that he had been killed in the massacre when he was just five years old.
66. The representatives agreed with the Commission and asked the Court to declare the violation
of Articles 11(2), 17 and 19 of the Convention.
67.
The State did not submit specific arguments in this regard.
B.
Considerations of the Court
b.1 The forced disappearances
68. In its consistent case law starting in 1988,100 the Court has established that the forced
disappearance of persons is a multiple and continuous violation of many human rights;101 moreover, it
is constituted by three concurring elements: (a) deprivation of liberty; (b) the direct intervention of
state agents or their acquiescence, and (c) the refusal to acknowledge the detention and to reveal the
fate or the whereabouts of the person concerned.
69. The Court has reiterated the permanent nature of the acts that constitute forced disappearance
while the victims’ whereabouts remain unknown or until their remains are found, and the multiple
violations it entails of the rights recognized in the American Convention, so that States have the
correlative duty to investigate such acts and, eventually, punish those responsible, 102 pursuant to
the obligations derived from that Convention and, in particular, from the ICFDP.103 The
characterization of forced disappearance as a permanent and multiple violation of human rights104 is
consistent with the standards of the European Court of Human Rights, 105 and the decisions of
international bodies.106
Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits. Judgment of July 29, 1988. Series C No. 4, para. 155, and
Case of Tenorio Roca et al. v. Peru. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of June 22, 2016. Series
C No. 314, para. 141.
100
Cf., inter alia, Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra, paras. 155 to 157, and Case of Alvarado
Espinoza et al. v. Mexico. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 28, 2018. Series C No. 370, para. 163.
101
Cf., inter alia, Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra, paras. 155 to 157, and Case of Alvarado
Espinoza et al. v. Mexico, supra, para. 165.
102
103
Article I of the ICFDP:
The States Parties to this Convention undertake: (a) Not to practice, permit, or tolerate the forced disappearance
of persons, even in states of emergency or suspension of individual guarantees; (b) To punish, within their
jurisdictions, those persons who commit or attempt to commit the crime of forced disappearance of persons and
their accomplices and accessories; (c) To cooperate with one another in helping to prevent, punish, and eliminate
the forced disappearance of persons; (d) To take legislative, administrative, judicial and any other measures
necessary to comply with the commitments undertaken in this Convention.
That characterization is derived not only from the definition in Article III of the ICFDP, but also from different
international instruments. See, Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution 47/133 of December 18, 1992, articles 1, 4 and 17, and International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly
on December 20, 2006, Articles 2 and 8.
104
Cf. ECHR, Case of Kurt v. Turkey, No. 15/1997/799/1002. Judgment of May 25, 1998, para. 124; Case of Cyprus v.
Turkey [GS], No. 25781/94. Judgment of May 10, 2001, paras. 132 to 134 and 147; Case of Varnava and Others v. Turkey
[GS], No. 16064/90, 16065/90, 16066/90, 16068/90, 16069/90, 16070/90, 16071/90, 16072/90 and 16073/90. Judgment
of September 18, 2009, paras. 111 to 113, 117, 118, 133, 138 and 145; Case of El-Masri v. The Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia [GS], No. 39630/09. Judgment of December 13, 2012, paras. 240 and 241, and Case of Aslakhanova and Others
v. Russia, No. 2944/06, 8300/07, 50184/07, 332/08 and 42509/10. Judgment of December 18, 2012, para. 122, 131 and
132.
105
106
Cf. Human Rights Commission, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. General
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