Amnesty International Report 2004 - El Salvador

Covering events from January - December 2003

The government failed to tackle impunity for human rights violations. Human rights defenders were threatened and harassed. There were persistent reports of violence against women and girls. New legislation was introduced which violated both the Constitution of El Salvador and international human rights treaties. Background

The opposition Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front gained more seats than the ruling ARENA party in the March parliamentary elections. Several political activists were killed during the election campaign which was marred by violence. El Salvador continued to face high levels of violence to which the authorities responded by introducing repressive measures, including the so-called Get Tough Plan. The government failed to deal with the underlying causes of violence, including grave economic and social inequalities and the easy availability of firearms. Poor economic and living conditions led to chronic malnutrition among children.

A monument to the victims of human rights violations during the armed conflict was inaugurated in December as a result of the efforts of the families of the victims. The monument was a recommendation of the Truth Commission which the authorities had failed to implement.

Impunity

Those responsible for human rights violations during the 1980-1991 armed conflict and since were not brought to justice.

In January the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances reported on the lack of progress by the government in investigating "more than 2,000 [disappearance] cases pending" and noted that the Working Group had received no information from the government for some time.

The National Assembly did not support efforts by relatives of victims and non-governmental organizations to create a national committee to search for "disappeared" children. The success of the organization Pro-Búsqueda, established by the relatives of "disappeared" children, in reuniting such children with their biological families provided strong evidence both of the violations and of the fact that many of the children were still alive.

• Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz "disappeared" in June 1982 when they were seven and three years old respectively. The two girls were separated from their parents during an army operation in Chalatenango Department and reportedly taken in an army helicopter to an unknown destination. In February, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urged the government to investigate the case and establish the girls' whereabouts, provide adequate reparation, and find those responsible. The government ignored these recommendations and in June the Commission submitted the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; the case was pending at the end of the year.

• No progress was known to have been made in bringing to justice those responsible for the rape and murder of nine-year-old Katya Miranda in April 1999 at the family home, despite statements by the Attorney General's Office that it was reopening the investigation. Evidence at the scene of the crime had been tampered with or destroyed and the judicial process had been characterized by irregularities and delays. Her father and uncle, both members of the security forces, and her grandfather, a lawyer, were charged in the case, but acquitted in October 2001. The Human Rights Procurator's Office strongly condemned the handling of the case.

Human rights defenders

Individuals, organizations and institutions working to defend human rights were threatened or harassed.

In May the office of the Human Rights Commission (CDHES), a non-governmental organization, in San Miguel Department, was broken into and office equipment, documentation relating to allegations of human rights abuses, and information about staff were taken. The CDHES believed that the raid may have been connected with the organization's actions on behalf of some 250 families facing eviction from land where the Air Force intended to build a base. The incident was reported to the police but no investigation was carried out.

In August, three death threats were made against the Human Rights Procurator, Beatrice de Carrillo. The Director of the Institute of Human Rights of the Central-American University and others involved in the defence of human rights and opposition to the Anti-Maras law (see below) were harassed and threatened.

Violence against women

There were numerous reports of physical and psychological violence against women and girls in the home and community. Rape of women and girls as young as seven was reported. Non-governmental organizations and women's groups sought to provide support to survivors. However, the Division of Youth and Family Services within the National Civil Police did not have sufficient resources to fulfil its mandate adequately.

In the first few months of 2003 several women were murdered, decapitated and their bodies mutilated and left in different locations. An investigation was carried out on only one of the murders but no one had been convicted by the end of the year.

Legislation

In October the National Assembly approved the Anti-Maras Act, to deal with the criminal activities of youth gangs. Under the law membership of a gang is considered an "illegal association". The law applied to anyone over the age of 12, and allowed children under 18 to be treated as adults at the discretion of the judge. Human rights and civil society organizations, and members of the judiciary expressed their opposition to the law on the grounds that it violates the Constitution and international treaties to which El Salvador is a party. President Francisco Flores responded by launching an attack on judges who did not apply the law and accusing them of favouring criminals rather than their victims.

AI country visits

An AI delegation visited El Salvador in March and April and met with government officials and non-governmental organizations.