This case is about the forced disappearances of five children in El Salvador during the early 1980s. They were kidnapped by State armed forces in the course of counterinsurgency operations. The families of the children filed multiple complaints with various authorities, all of whom failed to investigate or even record some of the complaints for over thirty years. The families also filed habeas corpus petitions for each child before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador, which were all dismissed. As of the date of the judgment of the Inter-American Court, none of the families know what happened to their children, or even whether they are alive or deceased. The Court found that the State violated the American Convention on Human Rights.
Case Summary: Rochac Hernández et al. v. El Salvador