38 112. Furthermore, the State should have used all reasonable means at its disposal to determine the whereabouts of the then girl Emelinda Lorena Hernández and of the then boys José Adrián Rochac Hernández, Santos Ernesto Salinas, Manuel Antonio Bonilla and Ricardo Abarca Ayala in order to reunite them with their families as soon as circumstances allowed. On this particular point, the Court notes: (i) the time elapsed since the children’s initial disappearance, without any information provided on their whereabouts or fate and with no actions taken to identify them; (ii) the excessive delay in opening the criminal investigations and the lack of progress therein, which has made it impossible to obtain relevant information to determine the fate or whereabouts of the victims (infra para. 144); (iii) the National Search Commission - responsible for taking the necessary steps to investigate and gather evidence on the possible whereabouts of the young people who disappeared when they were children during the armed conflict, and thereby help to determine what happened and reunite them with their families - only began to operate in 2011; and (iv) despite the Court’s request, the State has not informed the National Search Commission of the starting date for the investigations related to the victims in this case or on the specific measures taken in relation to the search (supra footnotes 9 and 10). In light of the aforementioned points, the Court considers that the State violated Article 17 of the American Convention, in relation to Articles 19 and 1(1) thereof, by failing to adopt all reasonable measures to reunite the families, to the detriment of José Adrián Rochac Hernández, Santos Ernesto Salinas, Emelinda Lorena Hernández, Manuel Antonio Bonilla and Ricardo Abarca Ayala. 113. At the same time, the Court considers that these separations caused by State agents of families that have not yet been reunited, generated and continue to generate specific effects on each family member, as well as on the individual dynamics of each family (infra para. 121). For example, during the hearing María Juliana Rochac Hernández stated that these events caused “the breakup of [her] family.”196 For his part, José Arístides Bonilla Osorio explained that the events “practically tore the family apart.”197 114. The Court also takes note of the expert opinion (supra paras. 38 and 43), according to which forced disappearance can produce transgenerational repercussions. The expert witness Martha de la Concepción Cabrera Cruz affirmed that “[w]hen the concept of trauma and (family) ties are combined, we can formulate a principle –which is the principle of systematic and transgenerational psychological trauma- whereby a mother who has suffered trauma and has not healed inevitably transmits that experience to her son or daughter in one way or another. Therefore, a traumatic experience continues to have effects on the next generations.”198 She also explained that “[t]he families of disappeared children feel that they alone have experienced the loss of their sons and daughters, but in reality it is a collective problem”199 and that “[the] collective trauma of war suffered by thousands of people is stored and frozen in the collective unconscious.”200 Finally, she considered that “the healing process must focus on the family, in other words, it is the family that was affected and it is the family that Statement rendered by María Juliana Rochac Hernández at the public hearing before the Inter-American Court held on April 1, 2014. 196 Statement rendered by José Arístides Bonilla Osorio at the public hearing before the Inter-American Court held on April 1, 2014. 197 Expert opinion rendered by Martha de la Concepción Cabrera Cruz before the Inter-American Court at the public hearing held on April 1, 2014. 198 Expert opinion “Secuelas transgeneracionales de las desapariciones forzadas” (Transgenerational after-effects of forced disappearances) rendered by Martha de la Concepción Cabrera Cruz, in March 2014 (merits file, volume I, folio 747). 199 Expert opinion “Secuelas transgeneracionales de las desapariciones forzadas” (Transgenerational after-effects of forced disappearances) rendered by Martha de la Concepción Cabrera Cruz, in March 2014 (merits file, volume I, folio 748). 200