State Department 2017 Human Rights Report for El Salvador

The US State Department released its annual human rights reports for the countries of the world this week.   The 2017 report for El Salvador can be found here.

The Executive Summary of the report summarizes once again the significant challenges the country faces with respect to human rights:

The most significant human rights issues included alleged unlawful killings of suspected gang members and others by security forces; forced disappearances by military personnel, which the government prosecuted; torture by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of government respect for judicial impartiality and independence; widespread government corruption; gang-member violence against women and girls as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals; and children engaged in the worst forms of child labor. 

Impunity persisted despite government steps to dismiss and prosecute some officials in the security forces, the executive branch, and the justice system who committed abuses.