Human Rights Watch warns of new threats to privacy, press freedom in El Salvador

Human Rights Watch expressed concerns on Thursday about two new laws in El Salvador related to cybersecurity and data protection, which the group said could threaten freedom of speech and of the press, as well as privacy.

El Salvador's Congress, controlled by President Nayib Bukele's party, passed two bills in mid-November intended to protect personal information.

"In the current context of opacity and harassment of independent journalists and civil organizations in El Salvador, there is a serious risk that these laws will be used as a weapon to threaten, silence or hinder freedom of expression and information," said Juanita Goebertus, director for the Americas at HRW, in a press release.

The roll-out of these laws will be supervised by the State Cybersecurity Agency, a new entity to be led by a presidential appointee that will enforce the new regulations.

However, Washington-based HRW said the law creates a "right to be forgotten," which grants the agency excessively broad powers to order the removal of online information about individuals.

The Salvadoran government has previously been accused of a lack of transparency, and of spying on journalists and individuals critical of Bukele's administration. The government denies this.

The president's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.