El Salvador Human Rights
Human Rights Concerns
Human rights violations committed during the 1980-1991 El Salvadorian armed conflict have gone largely unpunished. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on El Salvadorian authorities to actively trace children who "disappeared" during the fighting. In response, the El Salvadorian government formed an Inter-Institutional Commission for the Search of Children, which does not have the force of legislative decision, nor does it include representative family members of the "disappeared." The government attempted to make permanent an otherwise unconstitutional law penalizing mara gang members involved in the "disappearances," but withdrew the initiative following widespread criticism from human rights organizations.
More concerns have surfaced recently regarding human rights violations against women, particularly in the spheres of domestic and social violence. Few efforts to obtain justice for murdered women succeeded and more women were murdered. Only two of around a dozen cases involving the murder, decapitation and mutilation of women in early 2003 were investigated and those responsible for the crime sent to prison.
Latest News
Salvadoran environmental activists killed and radio station staff threatenedJanuary 05, 2010
The missing children of El Salvador
March 28, 2008
El Salvador: Amnesty International Criticizes El Salvador for Using Anti-Terrorism Laws to Punish Social Protesters
July 18, 2007
El Salvador: Ineffective Investigation of El Salvador Killings "Mirrors the Years of Impunity" Following 1980s Armed Conflict, Says Amnesty International
July 01, 2007
El Salvador: The government must comply with the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of the Serrano sisters
March 31, 2005
El Salvador: Unconstitutional law should be repealed and new approaches to public security considered
June 15, 2004
Latest Reports
Vital UN human rights work under threatMay 09, 2007
El Salvador: End impunity for violence against women
October 13, 2005
El Salvador: Open Letter to the Presidential Candidates
February 10, 2004
El Salvador: Open Letter on the Anti-Maras Act
November 30, 2003
