35 155. This obligation is enhanced by the special danger that girls face and their vulnerability to acts of violence, as recognized in the Convention of Belém do Pará. Therefore, the Guatemalan State had an enhanced obligation to protect the human rights of María Isabel Véliz Franco, for two reasons: she was a minor and she was female. From this follows its obligation to adopt special measures of care, prevention and guarantee. 156. The Court has held that States have an obligation to take all positive measures 189 necessary to ensure the rights of missing girls. Specifically, States have an obligation to ensure that girls will be found as soon as possible once family members report them missing. Once a girl’s body has been found, the State must conduct the necessary investigations and prosecute and punish the guilty 190 parties, efficiently and expeditiously. 157. As was observed in the section on Article 4, the Inter-American Court has written that in cases of violence against girls, the State must show that it has taken effective measures for initiating a prompt search, activating all resources to mobilize the different institutions and deploy domestic mechanisms to obtain information to locate the girls rapidly and, once their bodies are found, to conduct 191 the investigations, and prosecute and punish those responsible effectively and promptly. 158. In the instant case, María Isabel Véliz Franco was 15 at the time she was reported missing. According to the information the Commission has received, since 2001 gender-based violence 192 was among the principal causes of death and disability among women between the ages of 15 and 44. 159. The conclusion from the facts in this case is that the Guatemalan State did not act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, and punish the violence inflicted upon the victim in this case, a girl by the name of María Isabel Véliz Franco. The State has failed to show that, given her status as a minor, it took special measures to search for her as soon as she was reported missing; once her body was discovered, the State did not act with due diligence to investigate what happened. The Commission therefore finds that the Guatemalan State has incurred international responsibility for violation of Article 19 of the American Convention, to the detriment of María Isabel Véliz Franco, in relation to the general obligation set forth in Article 1(1) thereof to respect and ensure the Convention-protected rights. E. Right to have one’s integrity respected (Article 5(1)) in relation to Article 1(1) of the American Convention. 160. Article 5(1) of the American Convention provides that “[e]very person has the right to have his physical, mental, and moral integrity respected.” In the case of María Isabel Véliz Franco, the IACHR observes that, as determined in the section on “established facts”, when her body was discovered it showed “signs of strangulation with a black plastic cord around the neck,” injuries to the cranium, a cut on the upper portion of her ear, heavy particles of food in the mouth and nose, and bite marks on her upper extremities. As for her clothes, the lower part of her underpants was ripped and had bloodstains and some hairs. Although the authorities did not conduct the tests to determine whether the victim had been raped, from the evidenced described here it is possible to infer that when her body was discovered, …continuation Republic. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of September 8, 2005. Series C No. 130, paragraph 134. 189 I/A Court H.R. Case of González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 16, 2009. Series C No. 205, paragraph 409. 190 I/A Court H.R. Case of González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 16, 2009. Series C No. 205, paragraph 410. 191 I/A Court H.R. Case of González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 16, 2009. Series C No. 205, paragraph 410. 192 IACHR, Press Release 20/04, The IACHR Special Rapporteur Evaluates the Effectiveness of the Right of Women in Guatemala to Live Free from Violence and Discrimination, Washington, D.C., September 18, 2004.