El Salvador - Universal Periodic Review

UPR 34, November 4, 2019
Recommendations by Canada

Background

According to UPR Info, a non-governmental organization that tracks the Universal Period Review (UPR) process, El Salvador received 289 recommendations in the first two UPR cycles and accepted 234, an acceptance rate of 81%. Canada’s most recent recommendations to El Salvador related to violence against women, conditions of detention and LGBTI rights.

El Salvador’s constitution guarantees a range of political, family, labour, cultural and health rights. El Salvador is actively working to address corruption and impunity, reduce violence, address root causes for high rates of irregular migration, and improve the public health care system. Freedom of association and of religion is generally respected. The vibrant press sector is critical to promoting accountability, though civil society has expressed concerns on limits to access to information.

Significant challenges remain, however. Although homicide rates in the country declined in recent years and continued to drop in 2019, they remain amongst the highest worldwide. Violence, especially gang-related crimes, continues to be widespread. Detention centres are overcrowded. Human Rights Watch reports excessive use of force and extrajudicial killings by security forces.

Despite remedial efforts, sexual and gender-based violence and human trafficking remain widespread. According to the UN, Salvadoran femicide rates are the highest in Latin America and third globally. Teenagers accounted for one of three pregnancies in 2017. El Salvador is one of very few countries in the world that fully criminalize abortion, even when the mother’s life is at stake or the fetus is unviable, which can lead to decades-long incarceration. Efforts to amend the criminal code to permit abortions in certain cases did not receive the required support in the legislative assembly in 2018. The Supreme Court has recently commuted a number of convictions, arguing the sentences were unreasonable.

The LGBTI community is slowly gaining recognition but faces ongoing marginalization and remains vulnerable to violence. There is no legal prohibition on discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Recommendations

Thank you, Mr. President.

Canada welcomes El Salvador’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and withdrawal of its reservation to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Canada also welcomes the newly created Specialized Unit for disappeared persons cases within the Attorney General’s Office.

Canada recommends that El Salvador:

1. Follow through on 2018 efforts to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape or human trafficking; sexual abuse of a minor; risk to the health or life of the pregnant woman; or fatal fetal diagnosis, and enhance equal access to sexual and reproductive health services, in particular for adolescents.
2. Allocate sufficient human and financial resources to institutions mandated to prevent gender-based violence, to bring more perpetrators to justice and assist more victims.
3. Enact legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Canada notes recent efforts to address high homicide levels but is concerned with reports of excessive use of force by law enforcement officials. Canada urges authorities to fully investigate these allegations, providing mechanisms that protect victims and encourage them to report excessive use of force, while further enhancing human rights training for law enforcement officials.