Human rights commission calls on El Salvador to end state of emergency

Human rights commission calls on El Salvador to end state of emergency

By Nelson Renteria

El Salvador should end a long-running state of emergency and reinstate suspended constitutional rights after achieving significant security gains due to its anti-gang crackdown, a prominent human rights commission said on Wednesday.

The Washington-based Organization of American States' human rights commission said in a report it had seen the government's data on the improved crime rate and it no longer justified the suspension of rights.

President Nayib Bukele declared the initial month-long state of emergency following a wave of murders over a single weekend in March 2022.

In a bid to end the gang-led violence, he ordered a crackdown that rounded up tens of thousands of alleged gang members while suspending their rights to a legal defense and allowing for two years of automatic jail time.

The emergency declaration has been reauthorized each month since then by Bukele's allies in Congress.

The OAS rights commission said that the crackdown has also perpetuated abuses including "systematic and widespread" arbitrary arrests, illegal raids and excessive use of force.

The rights of children and adolescents have also been violated in the dragnet, along with a "disregard" for due process and challenges to accessing justice for those accused of crimes.

Bukele, among the most popular leaders in the Americas according to polls, has previously shrugged off criticism of his anti-gang offensive. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"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 said.

It also called on the government to investigate alleged human rights violations and prosecute those responsible.