In July 2024, RSI – along with human rights partners in El Salvador – made a joint stakeholder submission to the Human Rights Council ahead of El Salvador's 4th cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
In the submission, we raise concerns about the Salvadoran government's ongoing 'state of exception,' a counter-terrorism measure that has suspended various constitutional rights, such as freedom of association, for over two years. The policy has also enabled authorities to arbitrarily detain people en masse on suspicions of gang activity or associations.
As a result of mass incarceration, the country's detention facilities have become extremely overcrowded. Research from our partners indicates that many people held on counter-terrorism charges in these facilities are deprived of their liberty due to the likelihood of being detained indefinitely, and even before they have been formally tried or convicted. The government has also used collective trials to convict people with similar charges in one proceeding. Such proceedings have been carried out by anonymous judges, and raise further concerns about the impartiality and fairness of the trials.
For these reasons, RSI and our partners in El Salvador have called on reviewing States to recommend that El Salvador:
- End the 'state of exception' and re-instates constitutional rights, such as freedom of association;
- End excessive and indefinite pre-trial detention measures that arbitrarily deprives people of their liberty, and allows for them to be incarcerated indefinitely before they have been tried or convicted, and;
- Guarantee the right to a fair trial by ending the use of collective trials and anonymous judges.
These recommendations, among others, are detailed in our stakeholder report.
Check out other news of interest
