Argentina of articles 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. She is represented by counsel. The Covenant and the Optional Protocol entered into force for Argentina on 8 November 1986. Furthermore, until such time as legal proceedings in the case are completed, her granddaughter must continue to bear the name given to her by S.S. Facts as submitted by the author 3.1 The author claims that the judicial decisions in the case violate article 14 (bis) of the Argentine Constitution, which guarantees the protection of the family, as well as articles 23 and 24 of the Covenant. It is further submitted that S.S.'s regular visits to the child entail some form of "psycho-affective" involuntary servitude in violation of article 15 of the Argentine Constitution and article 8 of the Covenant. The fact that the author is denied standing in the guardianship proceedings is deemed to constitute a violation of the principle of equality before the law, as guaranteed by article 16 of the Argentine Constitution and articles 14 and 26 of the Covenant. Complaint 2.1 On 5 February 1977, Ximena Vicario's mother was taken with the then nine-month-old child to the Headquarters of the Federal Police (Departamento Central de la Policía Federal) in Buenos Aires. Her father was apprehended in the city of Rosario on the following day. The parents subsequently disappeared, and although the National Commission on Disappeared Persons investigated their case after December 1983, their whereabouts were never established. Investigations initiated by the author herself finally led, in 1984, to locating Ximena Vicario, who was then residing in the home of a nurse, S.S., who claimed to have been taking care of the child after her birth. Genetic blood tests (histocompatibilidad) revealed that the child was, with a probability of 99.82 per cent, the author's granddaughter. 3.2 The author also claims a violation of the rights of her granddaughter, who she contends is subjected to what may be termed psychological torture, in violation of article 7 of the Covenant, every time she is visited by S.S. Another alleged breach of the Covenant concerns article 16, under which every person has the right to recognition as a person before the law, with the right to an identity, a name and a family: that Ximena Vicario must continue to bear the name given to her by S.S. until legal proceedings are completed is said to constitute a violation of her right to an identity. Moreover, the uncertainty about her legal identity has prevented her from obtaining a passport under her real name. 2.2 In the light of the above, the prosecutor ordered the preventive detention of S.S., on the ground that she was suspected of having committed the offences of concealing the whereabouts of a minor (ocultamiento de menor) and forgery of documents, in violation of articles 5, 12, 293 and 146 of the Argentine Criminal Code. 2.3 On 2 January 1989, the author was granted "provisional" guardianship of the child; S.S., however, immediately applied for visiting rights, which were granted by order of the Supreme Court on 5 September 1989. In this decision, the Supreme Court also held that the author had no standing in the proceedings about the child's guardianship since, under article 19 of Law 10.903, only the parents and the legal guardian have standing and may directly participate in the proceedings. 3.3 The author submits that the forced acceptance of visits from S.S. violates her granddaughter's rights under article 17, which should protect Ximena Vicario from arbitrary interference with her privacy. Moreover, the author contends that her own right to privacy is violated by the visits of S.S., and by her exclusion from the judicial proceedings over the guardianship of Ximena Vicario. Article 23, which protects the integrity of the family and of children, allegedly is violated in that Ximena Vicario is constantly exposed to, and maintained in, an ambiguous psychological situation. 2.4 On 23 September 1989 the author, basing herself on psychiatric reports concerning the effects of the visits of S.S. on Ximena Vicario, requested the court to rule that such visits should be discontinued. Her action was dismissed on account of lack of standing. On appeal, this decision was upheld on 29 December 1989 by the Cámara Nacional de Apelaciones en lo Criminal y Correccional Federal of Buenos Aires. With this, the author submits, available and effective domestic remedies have been exhausted. She adds that it would be possible to file further appeals in civil proceedings, but submits that these would be unjustifiably prolonged, to the extent that Ximena Vicario might well reach the age of legal competence by the time of a final decision. State party's observations and author's comments 4.1 The State party, after recapitulating the chronology of events, concedes that with the dismissal of the author's appeal on 29 December 1989, the author has, in principle, complied with the requirements of article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of the Optional Protocol. Nevertheless, it draws attention to the inherent "provisional character" of judicial decisions in adoption and guardianship proceedings; such decisions may be, and frequently are, questioned either through the appearance of new circumstances and facts or the re-evaluation of 48