Between December 11 and 13, 1981, successive massacres were committed resulting in approximately 1,000 deaths, including those of many children in the context of a military operation by the Atlacatl Battalion together with other military units. The massacres occurred in seven places in the northern part of the department of Morazán. There was an alleged investigation that was opened into these events and a decision to halt the investigations based on the Law of General Amnesty for the Consolidation of Peace, which is still in force in El Salvador. The Court found that the State violated the American Convention on Human Rights, the American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women, and the American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture.
Case Summary: Massacres of El Mozote and Nearby Places v. El Salvador, Case Summary