93
It is possible to calculate the salary that María Isabel would have earned on completing her studies.
To this end, the State can provide information, if the Court requires this, on average salaries of
individuals with academic diplomas in activities related to commerce, since María Isabel worked as a
salesperson in a store and it can be assumed that this was a sphere of interest.
Lastly, it considered that it was:
Exaggerated that [the representative] establishes, in equity, for the supposed loss of earnings a sum
of US$145,000.00 [(one hundred and forty-five thousand United States dollars)], because, over 10
years, this sum would represent US$14,500.00 [fourteen thousand five hundred United States
dollars] a year, which would be around US$1,200.00 [one thousand two hundred United States
dollars] a month.
292. Based on the foregoing and taking into
professional, it would be difficult for the State to
she would have earned, if she had continued her
wage established in the country nowadays, from
natural causes.”
account that “the minor was not yet a
recognize legitimately that, in some way,
studies, almost three times the minimum
the time she left college until she died of
293. Regarding the compensation for non-pecuniary damage in favor of María Isabel, the
State indicated that it “had conducted a genuine and diligent investigation […] to establish
what happened; [however,] it has not been possible to identify and punish those
responsible.” It also indicated that it “took all the appropriate measures to help determine
her whereabouts, because it forwarded the report to the relevant office for the search for
minors and, when the body appeared, it issued a communication to determine whether the
characteristics of the body that had been found corresponded to those of any female whose
disappearance had been reported.”
294. The State also affirmed that “no type of monetary reparation is owed for nonpecuniary damage to any of the supposed victims in this case (either María Isabel or her
next of kin), because the State has not failed to comply with any of the conditions to which
the criteria of the Court refer to establish that non-pecuniary harm is evident.” It also
indicated that “the State authorities had conducted a genuine and diligent investigation to
determine what had happened”; however, “the results of the investigation had not made it
possible to identify and punish those responsible; also, insofar as possible and owing to the
very short time between the moment it was informed of the danger to the minor and she
appeared dead, it took the appropriate steps to try and establish her whereabouts.” Lastly,
it indicated that “11 years have passed since the death of the child and, during all this time,
the next of kin have never requested psychological help or indicated to the State that there
have been obstacles to their emotional recovery.”
F.3) Considerations of the Court
295. In its case law, the Court has developed the concept of pecuniary damage and has
established that this supposes “the loss of or detriment to the income of the victims, the
expenses incurred as a result of the facts, and the consequences of a pecuniary nature that
have a causal nexus to the facts of the case.”360 Similarly, it has developed the concept of
non-pecuniary damage in its case law and has established that this “may include both the
suffering and afflictions caused by the violation, and also the impairment of values that are
very significant to the individual, as well as any change of a non-pecuniary nature in the
living conditions of the victims.”361 Since it is not possible to allocate a precise monetary
equivalent to non-pecuniary damage, it can only be compensated, in order to make full
reparation to the victim, by the payment of a sum of money or the delivery of goods or
services with a monetary value, determined by the Court in reasonable application of
360
Case of Bámaca Velásquez v. Guatemala. Reparations and costs. Judgment of February 22, 2002. Series C
No. 91, para. 43, and Case of Liakat Ali Alibux, supra, para. 153.
361
Cf. Case of the “Street Children” (Villagrán Morales et al.). Reparations and costs. Judgment of May 26,
2001. Series C No. 77, para. 224, and Case of Liakat Ali Alibux, supra, para. 156.