State Department 2017 Human Rights Report El Salvador

https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/277575.pdf
● The most significant human rights issues included alleged unlawful killings of suspected gang
members and others by security forces; forced disappearances by military personnel, which the
government prosecuted; torture by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions;
arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of government respect for judicial impartiality and
independence; widespread government corruption; ​gang-member violence against women and
girls as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals​; and children
engaged in the worst forms of child labor
● Sexual Exploitation of Children​: The minimum age for consensual sex is 18. The law classifies
statutory rape as sexual relations with anyone under the age of 18 and includes penalties of four to
13 years’ imprisonment for violations. The law prohibits paying anyone under the age of 18 for
sexual services. The law prohibits participating in, facilitating, or purchasing materials containing
child pornography and provides for prison sentences of up to 16 years for violations.​ ​Despite
these provisions, sexual exploitation of children remained a problem​.
● Child Abuse: ​Child abuse remained a serious and widespread problem. For additional
information, see Appendix C

Gang Targeting of Young Girls

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/03/el-salvador-women-gangs-ms-13-trump-violen
ce/554804/
● While a majority of El Salvador’s homicide victims are young men from poor urban areas, the
gangs’ practice of explicitly targeting girls for sexual violence or coerced relationships is ​well
known​. ​Since 2000, the homicide rate for young women in El Salvador has also increased
sharply, according to the latest data from the ​World Health Organization​. To refuse the
gangs’ demands can mean death for girls and their families.
● The ​rate of violent death​ for women is the third-highest in the world. ​In 2016, ​524 women​ in El
Salvador—one in every​ 5,000​—were killed, with most of them under the age of 30. From the
beginning of 2017 through October, there were nearly ​2,000​ sexual assaults, with about 80
percent of victims 17 or younger, according to the Salvadoran Women’s Organization for
Peace. Through November, there were were 429 femicides, according to the Institute of
Legal Medicine. In the first two months of 2018, ​72 women​ were murdered, a more than 50
percent increase from the same period last year, Salvadoran police reported on March 2​.
● Yolanda Blanco, a government lawyer who co-founded the soccer club at the dusty San Salvador
field where Dani and Sofia play, ​explained that gang members take revenge on rivals through
the murder and rape of their sisters and daughters. “Girls are the objects of vengeance for
the gangs,” she told me. “They are in the eye of the hurricane.”
● For young women who fled El Salvador for the United States and now face deportation back to
their home country, the situation is even more dire, ​Salvador Carrillo, president of the National
 Network of Returned Entrepreneurs of El Salvador, told me. “When they come back, they
can experience retaliation [ranging from] from rape to assassination,” he said.

Women Deported from U.S Face Many Challenges back in El Salvador

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jan/13/el-salvador-women-deported-by-trump-fa
ce-deadly-welcome-street-gangs
● Speaking at a shopping centre with heavy security in San Salvador, Julia, 19, describes how to
navigate life on the run from the gangs. The crucial step requires resurfacing in territory
controlled by the rival gang.“It’s because the gangs rarely communicate with each other, the trick
is to materialise without suspicion. ​You should have deleted Facebook, everything about you.
You start all over,” she said​, intently scanning passers-by.If successful, prosaic but vital
measures are adopted to stay alive.​ Each time Julia leaves home she carries $2 in change in
case a gang member randomly stops her on the street and demands a gift. “Otherwise they
will take your cellphone and if you are not carrying your cellphone then they might kill
you.”​She never carries ID. If a gang member discovers you are from rival turf they might punish
you, again by death. And always scan the footwear of those nearby. Nike Cortez trainers, says
Julia, are the preserve of the 18th Street with Adidas Concha worn by MS-13. Yet identifying
members is increasingly fraught, amplifying the risk for the girls and women in hiding.The
stereotype of tattoo-smothered thugs is gradually being challenged. Many now wear suits. Some
work in government. “I could be talking to one any time. ​You cannot trust the authorities, the
police are also infiltrated with informants,” said Julia.Walking in San Salvador is
dangerous, but public transport is notorious for attacks. The number 44 bus traverses the
capital and is among its most important, yet Julia and her friends never use it for fear of
robbery or sexual assault.Also off-limits is wearing shorts, skirts or tight-fitting clothes:
Julia and her friends uglify themselves. “You don’t want the gangs to think about you,
ever.”

Treatment of Women by Gangs

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/americas/el-salvador-gangs-women-intl/index.html
● In this tiny Latin American country, women bear the brunt of a brutal gang culture. They are the
drug mules and forced foster parents of children of gang members who are either in jail or dead.
● A woman is murdered in El Salvador every 19 hours; a murder -- more generally -- occurs every
two hours.
● Callamard also noted that about one in 10 murders of women results in convictions.
● "I also received troubling information of increased numbers of enforced disappearances of
women and men alike, which may indicate even higher numbers of killings," she said.
UN Human Rights Council 8/3/16
http://www.refworld.org/docid/57cd80fa4.html
● In El Salvador there are two main gangs (maras) operating, known as the Mara
Salvatrucha and Barrio 18. Stakeholders who met with the Special Rapporteur estimated
that they each have around 70,000 members. As has been widely reported in the
international media, gang violence between and by those maras has recently escalated
in El Salvador. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur received disturbing reports of
extortion, intimidation and violence perpetrated by gangs, including extortion of citizens
and State officials, murder, including femicide, multiple forms of violence against women,
extortion, violence and vandalism in schools, and the establishment of territorial control
in some regions, which has impeded citizens’ access to education, health and other
State services.
● In El Salvador there are two main gangs (maras) operating, known as the Mara
Salvatrucha and Barrio 18. Stakeholders who met with the Special Rapporteur estimated
that they each have around 70,000 members. As has been widely reported in the
international media, gang violence between and by those maras has recently escalated
in El Salvador. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur received disturbing reports of
extortion, intimidation and violence perpetrated by gangs, including extortion of citizens
and State officials, murder, including femicide, multiple forms of violence against women,
extortion, violence and vandalism in schools, and the establishment of territorial control
in some regions, which has impeded citizens’ access to education, health and other
State services.

Clear and Present Dangers in El Salvador:

https://www.unicef.org/about/annualreport/files/El_Salvador_COAR_2011.pdf
● “The murder rate started increasing in 2003, reaching in 2009, and 71 murders per every 100,000
inhabitants.
● The number of homicides for children and adolescents has doubled, increasing from 249 in 2002
to 518 in 2010, accounting for 13% of all murders.
● On the average, every two days, three children and adolescents are murdered. 2011 closed the
year with more than 4000 homicides, thus there still is no indication that
the trend is improving.
● Adolescents make up only 12.8% of the total number of crimes committed in
2011.
● Adolescents and young lawbreakers are discriminated against and marginalized, the country
lacks adequate social reinsertion mechanisms.
The incidence of homicides is higher among males (79% of all homicide), but the upward trend is
in females, with a growth rate of 28 % recorded from 2006 to 2010. Sexual violence is a major
concern as it rose by 140% between 2002 and 2010. Girls represent 72% of all rape victims and
30% of births belong to women under 19 years of age.
 ● Cultural practices and conceptions devoid of human rights approach and rooted in social and
family dynamics, as well as migration, have increased the vulnerability of children and
adolescents to violence. Seven out of every ten children are mistreated, two of every five children
and adolescents live without their mother, father or both, and 64% subsists in abandonment
because of maternal or paternal irresponsibility.”
● Early childhood education (0-3 years) has low coverage in the public education system
● 1.5 children die per day as a result of gang violence
Increasingly Overpowering Gang Members; Security forces killing less, but charged more
● “According to the National Civil Police (PNC), as of October 6, state security forces killed 337
gang members during armed confrontations, compared with 603 in 2016. As of September 30,
gang members had killed two police officers and one soldier during EL SALVADOR 2 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 United States Department of State • Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor armed confrontations and another 37 police and 25
members of the military in targeted assassinations.”
● Highest Femicide Rate of any Country is El Salvador, in the past decade or so:
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/img/highlights/Femicide-RN14-fig2.pdf
● Two-thirds of the women interviewed by the UN refugee agency in 2015 described direct threats
and attacks by members of criminal groups as a key reason for their flight.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/23/central-america-gangs-migrants-s
exual-exploitation-prostitution​:
Government Ineffectiveness
● As the previous mandate holder pointed out, the failure of authorities to investigate, prosecute and
punish those responsible for gender-based violence contributed to an environment of
impunity that resulted in little confidence in the justice system; impunity for crimes,
socioeconomic
disparities and the machista culture fostered a generalized state of violence