Dueling visions of human rights in El Salvador

 

Today the InterAmerican Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) issued a 354 page report titled The State of Exception and Human Rights in El Salvador. The press release which accompanied the report highlights the major recommendations of the report:

In the report, the IACHR underscores that inter-American standards stipulate that a state of emergency is an exceptional measure that must be necessary, appropriate, and proportionate to the emergency context. It also warns that certain judicial guarantees cannot be suspended under any circumstances and stresses that the duration of the state of emergency should be strictly limited to the period of the emergency.

The IACHR calls on the Salvadoran State to make crosscutting efforts to prevent violence, mitigate the risks and damages to vulnerable groups, and restore the social fabric. It has also noted the statistics provided by the State on improvements to citizen security. These appear to demonstrate that the country has moved beyond the state of emergency and that the suspension of rights and guarantees is no longer justified, in accordance with the requirements of the American Convention.

The IACHR calls on the Salvadoran government to restore the suspended rights and adopt comprehensive measures to address the root causes and consequences of crime while also engaging in prevention, monitoring, and response efforts from an integrated, crosscutting perspective. This approach should be part of a broader citizen security policy that prioritizes respect for and protection of human rights, with increased citizen participation and accountability.

The IACHR urges the Salvadoran State to reinstate the rights and guarantees suspended by the state of emergency decrees, emphasizing that this extraordinary mechanism must not become a permanent feature of the country's citizen security policy.

It also reiterates the State's obligation to investigate human rights violations, seek the truth, and prosecute and punish those responsible, highlighting the essential role of justice in upholding victims' rights.

The report itself is an extensive compilation of documentation received by the IACHR from human rights organizations operating in El Salvador as well as testimony received by the IACHR from persons directly impacted by the State of Exception. The IACHR report covers arbitrariness in the arrests in the government's war on gangs, in the context of a system where due process guarantees have been eliminated which would protect the innocent. The report also covers the evidence of torture, deaths, and inhumane conditions in El Salvador's prisons and attacks on the freedom of the press to cover these matters.  Its conclusions take into account the positions of the government of El Salvador and point out where those positions were found lacking.   

The Bukele regime, well aware that this IACHR study would be coming, published its own version of human rights issues in a report titled "Un Nuevo El Salvador" authored by the so-called National Commission on Human Rights and Freedom of Expression within the executive branch of the government.   

The overall thrust of this government report is to proclaim the success of the State of Exception in reducing crime and gang control of territory, to showcase improvements in the economy and tourism, and to note overwhelming citizen approval of the measures.

Un Nuevo El Salvador does not directly address the denunciations from human rights advocates of thousands of illegal detentions and the extensive reports of torture and deaths within the prisons.  Instead, the government version highlights measures existing on paper, without examining what might be happening in actuality. Overall Un Nuevo El Salvador argues that "the ends justify the means."

El Faro also published an interview with the Salvador government's chief human rights spokesperson, Commissioner Andrés Guzmán, about this document and his position that no human rights abuses are happening in prisons or even being reported to him.

The IACHR, however, rejects the proposition that eliminating gang violence is inconsistent with respect for human rights and due process, calling this a "false dilemma" advocated by the Salvadoran government.  You can imprison people without torturing them while in prison. You can arrest persons without destroying the judicial process to let innocent persons be set free.  The prisons can release innocent persons when a court orders their release.  All these things and more, necessary to comply with minimum human rights standards, could be done without jeopardizing the safety and security of the country.           

The primary recommendation of the IACHR report is that the State of Exception must now be ended and constitutional guarantees restored within El Salvador. Yesterday, however, the Legislative Assembly controlled by Nuevas Ideas voted for the 30th time to extend the State of Exception in what Nayib Bukele tweeted yet again today is "the safest country in the western hemisphere."

Update:   At 3:52 on September 4, the Salvadoran  Commission on Human Rights issued a statement in response to the IACHR report, saying it would study the report's recommendations but asserting there was a lack of transparency in the processes of the IACHR.