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[WASHINGON, DC, 20 July 2010] – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has filed an application with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a case against El Salvador. On June 28, 2010, the IACHR filed an application in Case 12.517, Gregoria Herminica Contreras et. al. v El Salvador. The case concerns the forced disappearance of the children Gregoria Herminia, Serapio Cristian and Julia Inés Contreras, Ana Julia and Carmelina Mejía Ramírez and José Rubén Rivera between 1981 and 1983 by members of the military who conducted “counterinsurgency operations” in the context of the armed conflict in El Salvador. To this day, the whereabouts of Serapio Cristian and Julia Inés Contreras, Ana Julia and Carmelina Mejía Ramírez and José Rubén Rivera remain unknown. Gregoria Herminia Contreras was found in 2006 and currently she is conducting a process to recover her identity and her relationship with her biological family. The circumstances surrounding the six disappearances have not been clarified, the persons responsible have not been identified and sanctioned. In its Merits Report, the IACHR concluded that the State violated the rights to life, to personal integrity, to personal liberty, to judicial guarantees and judicial protection, the protection of the family, the right to a name and the rights of the child. The case was referred to the Inter-American Court because the Commission believes the State did not comply with the recommendations contained in the Merits Report.
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