82 157. Likewise, there is no dispute among the parties regarding the knowledge by the State of the vulnerability situation of the members of the Community. The State has never alleged lack of knowledge. A determination must be made of the date as from which such knowledge existed. 158. The Paraguayan authorities had certain clues to the situation of vulnerability of the Community since August 6, 1991, date on which the petition laying claim to the traditional lands was filed (supra para. 73(18),) by means of which the members of the Community pointed out that their petition for lands was “urgent” since their situation was “very precarious.” Likewise, in the report filed by the IBR officer on January 18, 1993, after the visual inspection made within the land claim administrative proceedings, it is pointed out that the members of the Community declared that “they had already suffered many hardships due to the lack of lands of their own wherein they could grow crops or hunt.” Finally, in the official report addressed on April 8, 1994 to the President of the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress, to the Human Rights and Indigenous Affairs Committee and to the Ecology Committee of the National Congress, Deputy Martín Sannmann described that the treatment that the indigenous people received on the Maroma Estate “should be described as ‘modern slavery’” (internal inverted commas from original text.) 159. However, the Court considers that since April 21, 1997, the State has had full knowledge about the actual risk and vulnerability situation to which the members of the Sawhoyamaxa Community are exposed, especially children, pregnant women and the elderly, and also about their mortality rates. Indeed, on that date, the leaders of the Community sent to the INDI an anthropological report prepared by Miguel Chase-Sardi, in which he stated, among other things, that deaths were occurring in the Sawhoyamaxa Community villages and that their members have not been visited by a doctor, nurse or health promoter to assist them for years. As a consequence of all the foregoing, children are constantly dying of conditions that can easily be cured, such as diarrhea, vomiting, etc. Last year, four minor children died (data related to Maroma Village exclusively.) Curiously, those dead minors were the children of the estate employees. At it commonly happens, in the indigenous communities that do not have their own appropriate lands, health conditions worsen since they do not have the necessary food to complete their nutritional diet. 160. It is as from that date (April 21, 1997) that the Court will analyze whether the State adopted the necessary measures, within the scope of its authority, which could reasonably be expected to prevent or avoid risk to the life of the Community members. Consequently, the Court shall not make any determination as regards to the deaths occurred before that date, to wit: the deaths of Antonio González (supra para. 73(74)(17)), Ramona Flores (supra para. 73(74)(19)) and Sandra E. Chávez (supra para. 73(74)(18).) 161. The Court notes that the deaths of Rosana López (supra para. 73(74)(2)) and Wilfredo González (supra para. 73(74)(25)) occurred in 1997, but there is no certainty as to the exact month, and thus, it is not possible to clearly determine whether they occurred before or after April 21, 1997 (supra para. 73(37).) In that respect, the Court takes into account that the State has not produced before it the birth and death certificates of those persons who died, and such certificates could have been useful to solve this problem. According to the information provided by the State itself, no records could be found.

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