## Facts

- In 1977, during Argentina’s military dictatorship, Susana Pegoraro—pregnant at the time—was detained and taken to the clandestine detention center at the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA).
- Susana gave birth while detained; she and her partner, Raúl Santiago Bauer, later disappeared and their fate remained unknown.
- In 1999, the child’s grandmothers, Inocencia Luca de Pegoraro and Angélica Chimeno de Bauer, joined domestic proceedings as private complainants to investigate an alleged abduction and illegal appropriation of their granddaughter, identified as Evelin Karina Vásquez Ferra.
- A federal court ordered genetic testing to establish identity, but the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation held the test was not mandatory and that compelled testing would violate the young woman’s privacy.
- The petitioners claimed the Supreme Court ruling effectively prevented effective investigation into the disappearances and the granddaughter’s identity.
- Petitioners brought the matter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), alleging violations of the American Convention on Human Rights, including rights to humane treatment, judicial guarantees, protection of the family, and judicial protection.
- The parties entered a friendly settlement process beginning in 2007; a Friendly Settlement Agreement was signed in 2009 and approved by the IACHR in 2010.

## Issues

1. Whether Argentina failed to provide effective judicial guarantees and judicial protection in investigating forced disappearances and the alleged appropriation of a child born in captivity.
2. Whether domestic limits on compulsory DNA testing—invoked on privacy grounds—created an unlawful obstacle to establishing identity and family ties in cases linked to dictatorship-era crimes.
3. Whether a friendly settlement with legislative, institutional, and reparatory measures could satisfy the object and purpose of the American Convention for the alleged violations.

## Decision

- The IACHR approved the Friendly Settlement Agreement under Article 49 of the American Convention and issued Friendly Settlement Report No. 160/10 (Nov. 1, 2010).
- The Commission accepted Argentina’s recognition of facts and responsibility as reflected in the agreement and found the agreed measures consistent with the American Convention’s object and purpose.
- Argentina committed to pursue legal and institutional reforms, including proposing legislation on procedures to obtain DNA samples that protects rights while enabling investigation and adjudication of dictatorship-era child abductions.
- Argentina also committed to strengthen prosecutorial and judicial practices for these cases, including training and coordination measures.
- The IACHR monitored implementation and later recorded total compliance, closing follow-up.

## Legal Principles

- Friendly settlements under Article 49 of the American Convention may include recognition of responsibility and agreed reparations; the IACHR may approve them when they are compatible with the Convention’s object and purpose.
- States must provide effective judicial guarantees and judicial protection for serious human rights violations, including forced disappearance and child appropriation, and must remove legal or practical barriers that render investigation ineffective.
- In identity-related cases involving children appropriated during authoritarian repression, domestic procedures must reconcile privacy with the right to identity and the duty to investigate, so that privacy protections do not function as a de facto bar to truth-finding and accountability.
- Measures of reparation may include legislative and institutional reforms and other non-monetary measures aimed at preventing recurrence and restoring rights linked to family integrity and identity.

## Conclusion

The IACHR resolved the case by approving a friendly settlement in which Argentina recognized responsibility and undertook reforms—especially on DNA/identity procedures and justice-system practices—to address obstacles that had impeded investigation of disappearances and the determination of a child’s identity; the Commission later found full compliance and ended monitoring.


Inocencia Luca de Pegoraro (Argentina), Case 242-03, Inter-Am. Comm’n H.R., Report No. 160/10 (2010)