Government of El Salvador’s Database Reveals Widespread Human Rights Violations
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that the leak of a database of the Government of El Salvador “allows us to corroborate serious human rights violations” in the context of an emergency regime that has been enforced since March 2022.
Tamara Taraciuk, the acting director for the Americas at HRW, issued a statement saying the data demonstrates “massive violations of due process, extreme overcrowding in prisons, and deaths in custody in El Salvador”. It also reveals that the Salvadoran authorities have subjected detainees, including hundreds of children, to overcrowded and substandard detention centers.
The organization also noted that in addition to the human rights concerns, the data “supports findings on massive violations of due process, extreme overcrowding in prisons, and deaths in custody in El Salvador”. It purportedly details the arrest of 918 boys and 164 girls up until August, as well as accusations of 39,000 people for the crime of “illicit groups” and more 8,000 for “terrorist organization”.
The emergency regime in El Salvador, approved at the request of the Government of Nayib Bukele, was established in response to an escalation of murders attributed to gangs. It has since been extended 10 times, with over 61,300 alleged gang members detained, though HRW reports that “in many cases” only conditional release has been granted.
As per the report submitted in December 2022 by HRW and Cristosal, the organizations confirms “generalized human rights violations committed during the emergency regime”, such as “massive arbitrary” detentions, torture, and abusive criminal proceedings.
