Valentina Rosendo Cantu et al.

The Cantu decision analyzes rape as torture and attempts to recognize the victims' multidimensional identities as Indigenous females living in poverty. In Cantu, the Court emphasizes the victim's status as a child and the role that that status plays in determining the scope of the States obligations. This factor was considered in conjunction with the victim's status as an Indigenous woman, which also led the Court to conclude that the State was to be held to a higher standard of conduct. Cantu reaffirmed the test used in Ortega to determine whether rape constitutes torture under the Inter- American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. It also confirms one of the key findings in Ortega that military involvement in rape investigations is always inappropriate.