The present commentary considers two cases decided in 2004 by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court) concerning the rights of the child as protected by Article 19 of the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention).1 In the first of these cases the Court takes a nuanced approach to Article 19, incorporating its requirements into the other substantive rights of the Convention rather than examining it in isolation. In the second case the Court considers the torture and extrajudicial execution of two minors during an anti-terrorism campaign in Peru in 1991. This judgment reinforces the State's obligation to respect human rights even when combating terrorism, which is pertinent given the current global ‘war’ on terror.