REPORT 10/081 PETITION 733-03 ADMISSIBILITY SANTOS ERNESTO SALINAS EL SALVADOR March 5, 2008 I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. On September 11, 2003 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the “Inter-American Commission” or “the IACHR”) received a complaint submitted by the Asociación Pro-Búsqueda de Niñas y Niños Desaparecidos, an organization devoted to finding missing children (hereinafter “the petitioners”), alleging the international responsibility of the Republic of El Salvador (hereinafter “the State”) for the forced disappearance in 1981 of a nine-year-old boy, Santos Ernesto Salinas, and its subsequent failure to investigate, prosecute, punish and make reparations for that disappearance. The petitioners argued that the facts alleged constituted a violation of various rights enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the American Convention”), including the right to humane treatment (Article 5), the right to personal liberty (Article 7), the right to a fair trial (Article 8), the rights of the family (Article 17) the right to a name (Article 18), the rights of the child (Article 19), and the right to judicial protection (Article 25), all in non-observance of the general obligation to respect and guarantee rights (Article 1(1)). 2. The petitioners argue that the alleged facts constitute a grave violation of human rights, made all the worse because they occurred as an expression of a government policy of forced disappearance. They also argued that their petition met the formal requirements for admissibility. With respect to the exhaustion of domestic remedies, the petitioners claimed exemption from that requirement because they had been systematically blocked from access to domestic jurisdiction for more than 20 years. 3. In its response, the State asked that the complaint be declared inadmissible, because the requirements of Article 46(1)(a) of the American Convention had not been fulfilled. The State maintained that the petitioners had available numerous resources, including criminal action before the ordinary and auxiliary courts, and that the petitioners could have availed themselves of the court nearest to their jurisdiction. The State also noted that the petitioners filed a motion for habeas corpus in 2002 (which they could have done at any time earlier) and that it was rejected for lack of evidence and information on the child alleged to have disappeared. 4. Without prejudging the merits of the case, the IACHR concludes in this report that the petition is admissible, pursuant to Article 46(2)(b and c) of the American Convention. The Commission therefore notifies its decision to the parties and will continue its analysis of the merits, with respect to the alleged violation of Articles 5, 7, 8, 17, 19 and 25 of the American Convention, in relation with Article 1(1) thereof. In addition, in keeping with the principle of the iura novit curia, the Commission will examine, in the merits stage, whether there may be violations of Articles 3 and 4 of the Convention, with respect to the generic obligation to respect and guarantee rights, and the duty to adopt domestic legal provisions, as set forth in Articles 1(1) and 2 of the Convention, respectively. The Commission also decides to publish this report and to include it in its Annual Report to the OAS General Assembly. II. PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION 5. On September 11, 2003 the Commission received a complaint submitted by theAsociación Pro-Búsqueda de Niñas y Niños Desaparecidos, which it acknowledged on October 22 of that In accordance with Article 17(2) of the IACHR Rules of Procedure, Commissioner Florentín Meléndez Padilla, of Salvadoran nationality, did not participate in the discussion and decision relating to this report. 1 1