Beatings, Brutality, and Breaches of Law
El Salvador in a Human Rights Crisis … Unsplash
A human rights catastrophe has engulfed El Salvador. In March 2022, President Bukele declared a State of Emergency in response to the high crime rates and gang activity. Since its inception, arbitrary arrests and detention have plagued the region. Subsequently, ill-treatment of detainees, amounting to cruel, inhumane, and degrading punishment, has become widespread. The definition of a child in accordance with the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘CRC’) is ‘every human being below the age of eighteen unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.’[1] The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’) and the CRC both contain provisions to protect children from arbitrary detention and inhumane treatment. Despite El Salvador being a party to both these treaties, it has undermined its international obligations to a profound extent.[2]
International Law
Article 37 of the CRC states that ‘no child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily.’[3] It emphasises that detention should only be used as a measure of ‘last resort’. Additionally, the Convention states ‘every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age.’[4] These provisions are complemented by Article 9 of the ICCPR, which dictates that ‘everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.’[5] The deprivation of liberty is defined in the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, as ‘any form of detention or imprisonment or the placement of a person in a public or private custodial setting, from which this person is not permitted to leave at will, by order of any judicial, administrative or other public authority.’[6]
Domestic Law
By permitting systematic, arbitrary detention and degrading treatment of detainees, El Salvador has subverted the articles of its own Constitution and domestic laws. Article 144 of the Salvadoran Constitution ensures that international treaties form a part of domestic law once they enter into effect. The Constitution specifically states that ‘[t]he law shall not modify or repeal what is agreed in a treaty in effect for El Salvador. In case of conflict between the treaty and the law, the treaty shall prevail.’[7] Under Juvenile Criminal Law, Decree 863, Article 120, the domestic law prohibits “reducing food portions, denying contact with relatives”, and affirms that “inhumane or degrading disciplinary measures, such as corporal punishment, confinement in dark cells, and isolation, cannot be applied under any circumstances.”[8]
Cruel, Inhumane, and Degrading Treatment
El Salvador holds one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, with some estimates showing that detention facilities are operating at 300% capacity.[9] The fragile judicial system cannot sustain these massive numbers of detainees without subjecting children to inhumane conditions and overcrowding.
There are various accounts of women being stripped by authorities to ‘search for tattoos associated with gangs.’11 An overwhelming majority of cases reported to the Human Rights Watch documented that relatives were not allowed visitation rights or to speak with their children while in detention, only briefly at courthouses.[10]
José Gutiérrez (pseudonym) was in his first year of high school when soldiers burned his torso, ordering him to confess his gang affiliations [and] taking photos of him in his underwear in an arbitrary stop. Three days later, he was informed that he was being investigated for unlawful association. He was later charged and sent to pretrial detention, where José’s lawyer claimed that he was sharing a cell with adults.[11]] His lawyer requested that the court inspect his body to unveil the lack of gang-affiliated tattoos. The bodily inspection revealed no tattoos, but ‘his body was covered with fungus and scabies’, which his relative believes were caused by prison conditions.
Despite overcrowding, with numerous reports of sleeping on the floor and sharing mattresses and cells with many other people, there is also a severe lack of access to necessities such as food, water, and healthcare.[12] 13-year-old Roberto Linares (pseudonym) was detained when arrested without a warrant and ‘forced to kneel, facing a wall, for about two hours. At one point, a soldier place[d] a hood over [his] head and choked him for several seconds, saying he was going to kill him.[13] Other juvenile detainees have reported kneeling for hours naked and going without food for the whole day.[14] The treatment of detained children under President Bukele’s regime breaches domestic and international law. There is a lack of oversight mechanisms, thus a lack of accountability. It is imperative that detained youth retain their basic human rights, in conjunction with all human rights that are contained in international legislative instruments.
What’s on the Horizon?
Notably, the provision in Article 37(c) of the CRC emphasises that while detained, children should be separated from adults. On 13 February 2025, President Bukele advanced a bill into law that orders the transfer of children detained for ‘organised crime offences’ to separate parts of adult prisons.[15] The Americas’ Director of Human Rights Watch, Juanita Goebertus, stated, “transferring children into detention facilities designed and operated for adults, even if they are placed in nominally separate areas, is a massive regression for children’s rights”.[16] This is a clear violation of Article 37(c) of the CRC. Likewise, the government has failed to demonstrate commitment to its international obligations by omitting to present its report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture for more than three years.[17] The homicide rate in El Salvador has dropped dramatically,[18] and President Bukele was re-elected with approximately 85 per cent of the votes.[19] This is indicative that there will be no deceleration of the current regime that routinely and systematically arbitrarily detains children and subjects them to inhumane, degrading treatment, thus violating international treaties and human rights.
Edited by Vania Raghuvanshi
[1] Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990) art 1 (‘CRC’).
[2] Sanobar Valiani, ‘The War on Gangs: El Salvador’s Playground for International Human Rights Violations’ (2023) 55(13) University of Miami Inter-American Law Review 255, 270-71.
[3] CRC (n 1) art 37(b). 4 Ibid.
[4] CRC (n 1) art 37(c).
[5] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March 1976) art 9 (‘ICCPR’).
[6] United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, GA Res 45/113, UN Doc A/45/49 (adopted 14 December 1990) r 11(b).
[7] Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador (El Salvador, 1983) art 144.
[8] Human Rights Watch, “Your Child Does Not Exist Here” Human Rights Abuses Against Children Under El Salvador’s “State of Emergency”, (Report, 16 July 2024) 76.
[9] World Organisation Against Torture, Global Torture Index 2025: El Salvador Factsheet (Factsheet, 2025) https://www.omct.org/site-resources/files/factsheets/Factsheet-El-Salvador-EN_2025-06-20-151105_tgpx.pdf 11 Human Rights Watch (n 9) 72.
[10] Ibid 79-80.
[11] Ibid 62.
[12] Ibid 98.
[13] Ibid 59.
[14] Ibid 2.
[15] Human Rights Watch, ‘New Criminal Amendments Endanger Children’, El Salvador: Children to be Moved to Adult Prisons (News Release, 24 February 2025)
<https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/02/24/el-salvador-children-be-moved-adult-prisons>.
[16] Ibid.
[17] World Organisation Against Torture (n 10).
[18] Jose Sanchez, ‘Homicide Rate in El Salvador from 2014 to 2024’, Statista: Crime & Law Enforcement (Web Page, 2 April 2025) <https://www.statista.com/statistics/696152/homicide-rate-in-el-salvador/>.
[19] Al Jazeera, ‘Children ‘tortured, abused’ in El Salvador’s prisons: Report’, Crime (Web Page, 16 July 2024) <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/16/children-tortured-abused-in-el-salvadors-prisons-report>.