Human rights in El Salvador - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

History

La Matanza was a suppression of a 1932 peasant uprising which resulted in the death of tens of thousands of civilians.

Salvadoran Civil War

Human rights abuses were rampant during the decade-plus Salvadoran Civil War, including El Mozote Massacres, the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero

Óscar Romero

Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, succeeding Luis Chávez. He was assassinated on 24 March 1980....

in 1980, the Zona Rosa attacks, and the 1989 murders of six Jesuit priests. Human rights abuses were examined by the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador

Commission on the Truth for El Salvador

The Truth Commission for El Salvador was a truth commission established by the United Nations to investigate and report on human rights abuses during the civil war in El Salvador ....

and the Ad Hoc Commission

Ad Hoc Commission

The Ad Hoc Commission was a human rights commission in El Salvador, established as part of the peace accords which ended the Salvadoran Civil War...

. An amnesty law passed by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador

Legislative Assembly of El Salvador

The Legislative Assembly is the legislative branch of the government of El Salvador.The Salvadoran legislature is a unicameral body....

five days after the release of the Truth Commission report prevented judicial prosecution of perpetrators of human rights abuses. The peace accords also required the establishment of the Ad Hoc Commission

Ad Hoc Commission

The Ad Hoc Commission was a human rights commission in El Salvador, established as part of the peace accords which ended the Salvadoran Civil War...

to evaluate the human rights record of the ESAF officer corps.

In 1993, the last of the 103 officers identified by this commission as responsible for human rights violations were retired, and the U.N. observer mission declared the government in compliance with the Ad Hoc Commission recommendations. Also in 1993, the Government of El Salvador and the UN established the Joint Group to investigate whether illegal, armed, politically motivated groups continued to exist after the signing of the peace accords. The group reported its findings in 1994 stating that death squads were no longer active but that violence was still being used to obtain political ends. The group recommended a special National Civilian Police (PNC) unit be created to investigate political and organized crime and that further reforms be made in the judicial system. Not all the group's recommendations were implemented. The peace accords provided for the establishment of a Human Rights Ombudsman

Ombudsman

An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...

's Office (National Counsel for the Defence of Human Rights).

Current situation

Amnesty International, in a 2008 report that "Widespread human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict (1980-1992) remained unpunished". They also assert that the government is currently misusing anti-terrorism laws to detain and harass political opponents of the government. In addition, Amnesty International drew attention to several arrests of police officers for unlawful police killings. Other current issues to gain Amnesty International's attention in the past 10 years include missing children, failure of law enforcement to properly investigate and prosecute crimes against women, and rendering organized labor illegal. The latter has resulted in union activists being targeted with harassment, violence, and imprisonment. Some, such as Gilberto Soto, the former leader of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have been murdered, while others have disappeared. Salvadoran activists working against CAFTA, the abuse of prisoners, the privatization of water, and environmental destruction have all encountered various forms of repression.

Human Rights Watch has released a report on hazardous child labor in the sugarcane industry, claiming,

Businesses purchasing sugar from El Salvador, including The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...

, are using the product of child labor that is both hazardous and widespread. Harvesting cane requires children to use machetes and other sharp knives to cut sugarcane and strip the leaves off the stalks, work they perform for up to nine hours each day in the hot sun. Nearly every child interviewed by Human Rights Watch for its 139-page report said that he or she had suffered machete gashes on the hands or legs while cutting cane.

El Salvador also features prominently in a Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

report documenting abuses of women and children working as domestic help

Domestic worker

A domestic worker is a man, woman or child who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping...

, both in terms of being the country of origin of abused workers, and a country where abuse takes place.

History

Salvadoran Civil War

Current situation

See also