Civil Society of El Salvador Denounces Human Rights Violations

April 4, 2024 Hour: 7:29 pm

In El Salvador, civil society organizations denounced human rights violations during the emergency regime established in the country by President Nayib Bukele.

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According to a report released more than 6300 complaints of human rights violations made from March 2022 to March this year.

The majority of complaints have been made about arbitrary arrests by Salvadoran military and security forces of innocent people.

In addition to this, several organizations are concerned about the reforms made to the emergency law allowing an innocent person to be arbitrarily deprived of his liberty for a minimum of 2 to 4 years, without the completion of his tax process.

Two years ago, El Salvador issued a broad state of emergency in response to a peak in gang violence.

In the time since, Salvadoran security forces have committed widespread human rights violations: https://t.co/LBQlFAQzFv

(video from Dec. 2022) pic.twitter.com/0oxsctTnh9

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw)
March 27, 2024

According to Gabriela Santos, director of the Human Rights Institute of the UCA, the transitory provisions of the law added to the actions of the police forces, put the person in a situation of judicial defenselessness.

The law for the prosecution of detainees imposes a mandatory two-year waiting period, during which time it is investigated whether the accused belongs to one, if the citizen is innocent, the prosecution has the right to retain him for two additional years pending completion of the legal process.

Humanitarian organizations say that more than 244 Salvadorans have been died in police custody since the beginning of the emergency regime. The government has declared that the law will not be repealed until the last gang member is captured.