Committee against Torture
List of issues prior to submission of the fourth periodic report of El Salvador *
Specific information on the implementation of articles 1–16 of the Convention, including with regard to the Committee’s previous recommendations
1.In its previous concluding observations, the Committee requested the State Party to provide information on follow-up to its recommendations on fundamental legal safeguards, human rights violations during the armed conflict between 1980 and 1992, and the monitoring of places of detention (see paras. 11 (a) and (b), 13 (a) and 27). Having examined the replies to the Committee’s request for information, which were received on 25 November 2023, and with reference to the letter dated 23 May 2024 from the Committee’s Rapporteur for follow-up to concluding observations, and the additional information provided by the State Party on 10 June 2024, the Committee considers that the recommendation in paragraph 13 (a) of the previous concluding observations has been partially implemented, while the recommendations in paragraph 11 (a) and (b) have not been implemented. The Committee does not have sufficient information to determine whether the recommendation in paragraph 27 has been implemented.
Articles 1 and 4
2.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide updated information on steps taken by the State Party to incorporate torture into its Criminal Code as a separate and specific offence, and not only as a crime against humanity under article 366-A of the Code, and to ensure that all acts of torture are punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature, in accordance with article 4 (2) of the Convention. Please describe the measures taken by the State Party to ensure that the offence of torture is not subject to any statute of limitations. Please also indicate whether, under current legislation, pardons and amnesties may be extended to persons who have committed acts of torture.
Article 2
3.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations and the State Party’s follow-up replies, please provide detailed information on the measures taken to ensure that all persons detained under the state of emergency are afforded, in practice, all fundamental safeguards against torture and ill-treatment from the outset of their deprivation of liberty, in accordance with international standards. In this regard, please provide:
(a)Updated data, disaggregated by sex and age group (adults/minors), on arrests made under the legislation on the state of emergency since the consideration of the State Party’s third periodic report in November 2022. Please specify how many of those arrests were made pursuant to administrative or judicial warrants and how many were made in cases of flagrante delicto without a warrant, indicating the reasons and breaking down the information by type of offence and place of detention. Please also provide information on measures taken to ensure access to justice for detainees and respect for due process in the context of both mass judicial hearings and remote hearings;
(b)Information on the measures taken to ensure compliance with article 13 of the Constitution, which establishes that administrative detention must not exceed 72 hours and that the detainee must be brought before a judge during that period. Please also explain how it is ensured that, in cases where this legal time limit is extended to 15 days under the emergency legislation adopted in November 2022, other fundamental safeguards, such as the rights of detainees to receive legal assistance, to notify a person of their choice of their detention and to request and receive a prompt examination by an independent medical doctor free of charge, or by a medical doctor of their choice, are not undermined. Please clarify whether the possibility of extending the legal time limit also applies in cases of ordinary offences. Please also provide information on the measures taken to ensure that the Office of the Human Rights Advocate is notified of all arrests, in accordance with article 194 (I) (5) of the Constitution;
(c)Information on the measures taken to strengthen the public defence system of the Counsel General’s Office in view of the increase in detentions under the state of emergency;
(d) Information on the number of habeas corpus petitions filed with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court since December 2023, the deadlines for filing such petitions, and the nature of the decisions adopted thereon;
(e)Information on the measures taken to systematize the keeping of official records on detainees from the outset of their deprivation of liberty, including clarification as to whether these records include data on transfers between detention centres and whether they are incorporated into the Prison Information System;
(f)Information on the measures taken to ensure the use of body cameras in all operations involving the use of force by the police;
(g)Information on any disciplinary action initiated, since the consideration of the previous periodic report, against law enforcement officers who have prevented the immediate provision of fundamental safeguards to persons deprived of their liberty.
4.Please explain the steps taken to ensure that the state of emergency, which has been extended 41 times since March 2022 and remains in force, complies with the applicable international human rights standards, including the Convention. Please also describe the measures taken to ensure that law enforcement and public safety functions are carried out, to the extent possible, by the civilian police.
5.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide information on the steps taken to ensure that the Office of the Human Rights Advocate has the necessary technical, financial and human resources to fulfil its mandate effectively. Please also indicate whether the Prison Inspection Department of the Office of the Human Rights Advocate carries out unannounced visits to places of deprivation of liberty, in addition to inspections of police facilities and visits requested by relatives of persons deprived of their liberty. Please provide data on the visits carried out during the period under review. Please also describe the measures taken by the State Party in response to recommendations made by the Office of the Human Rights Advocate in the context of such visits during the period under review. Please clarify whether non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are authorized to carry out activities in prisons to monitor respect for the rights of persons deprived of their liberty. Lastly, please indicate whether the State Party has considered ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and establishing a national mechanism for the prevention of torture and ill-treatment.
6.Taking into account the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide information on the legislative, administrative and other measures taken by the State Party during the period under review to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including femicide, harassment and sexual, physical and psychological violence. Please provide statistical data on the number of complaints filed and the investigations, prosecutions, convictions and sanctions resulting from those complaints during the period under review. Please also describe the measures taken to ensure that victims of gender-based violence have access to medical care, psychosocial and psychological support, adequate legal assistance and resources for their protection, including access to shelters.
7.Please provide updated data, disaggregated by the age, sex and ethnic origin or nationality of the victims, on the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions relating to cases of trafficking in persons that have been recorded since the consideration of the State Party’s previous periodic report. Please also provide information on the following:
(a) Any new legislative or other measures taken to prevent or combat trafficking in persons;
(b) The measures taken to ensure that victims of trafficking have access to effective remedies and reparation;
(c) The measures taken to ensure that non-custodial accommodation is provided, with full access to appropriate medical and psychological support, for potential victims of trafficking while identification processes are being carried out;
(d) Any agreements signed with relevant countries to prevent and combat trafficking in persons.
Article 3
8.In the light of the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please describe the measures taken during the period under review to ensure that no one is returned to a country where he or she would be at risk of torture. Please provide statistical data for the period under review, disaggregated by sex, age group and country of origin, on the number of asylum applications that were registered, the number of applications for asylum or other forms of humanitarian protection that were accepted and, if applicable, the number of persons whose applications were accepted because they had been tortured or would be at risk of torture if returned to their country of origin. Please include information, disaggregated by sex, age group and country of origin, on the number of persons who were returned, extradited or expelled from the State Party during the period under review. Please provide details of the grounds on which those persons were sent back and the list of the countries to which they were returned. Please provide updated information on the types of appeal mechanism that exist, any appeals that have been made and the outcomes of those appeals. Please indicate whether the State Party has adopted an approach, for application during the refugee status determination procedure, that allows for the identification of victims of torture among asylum-seekers.
9.Please indicate how many returns, extraditions and expulsions were carried out by the State Party during the period under review on the basis of diplomatic assurances or the equivalent thereof, if any, and specify the States that provided the assurances, the minimum assurances or guarantees required and the mechanisms put in place to monitor whether the assurances or guarantees given were respected. Please also indicate the number of cases in which the State Party has offered such diplomatic assurances or guarantees. Lastly, please describe the protocols and/or procedures in place for the analysis and assessment of risks prior to repatriation, expulsion, return or extradition, as well as the comprehensive training provided to administrative and judicial authorities on the criteria and standards to be met in order to ensure respect for the principle of non-refoulement in criminal and immigration proceedings.
Articles 5–9
10.Please provide updated information on any legislation or measures that have been adopted to implement article 5 of the Convention. Please inform the Committee of any extradition agreements concluded with other States Parties and indicate whether the offences referred to in article 4 of the Convention are included as extraditable offences in such agreements. Please also describe the measures taken by the State Party to comply with its obligation to extradite or prosecute, and any cases where this principle has been applied. Please inform the Committee about the mutual judicial assistance treaties or agreements that the State Party has entered into with other entities, such as countries, international tribunals or international institutions, and clarify whether such treaties or agreements have led in practice to the transfer of any evidence in connection with prosecutions concerning torture or ill-treatment. Please provide examples.
Article 10
11.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide up-to-date information on the training and educational programmes developed by the State Party to ensure that all public officials involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of persons deprived of their liberty, including law enforcement officials, prison staff, border guards and members of the military, are fully aware of the provisions of the Convention and know that breaches will not be tolerated and will be investigated, and that any offenders will be prosecuted. Please also provide updated information on the steps taken to strengthen existing in-service training programmes for judges and prosecutors in order to improve the quality of investigations into cases of torture and ill-treatment and to ensure that the acts constituting such offences are correctly characterized. Please indicate the institutions and the number and percentage of public servants that have participated in such training programmes. Please indicate whether the State Party has developed a methodology to assess the effectiveness and impact of training programmes in reducing cases of torture, ill-treatment and excessive use of force.
12.In the light of the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide specific information on training programmes for judges, prosecutors and medical personnel who deal with prisoners on detecting and documenting the physical and psychological after-effects of torture. Please indicate whether those programmes include specific training on the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol), as revised.
Article 11
13.Please describe the procedures in place for ensuring compliance with article 11 of the Convention and provide information on any interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices, or arrangements for detention, in particular those that may have been introduced or revised since the consideration of the State Party’s previous periodic report. Please indicate the frequency with which they are reviewed. With reference to the information provided by the State Party in its follow-up report on the implementation of dynamic security strategies in prisons, please provide details on the measures taken in this regard, including information on the content, frequency and outcomes of the training provided to prison staff.
14.Please provide detailed information on the detention regime at the Terrorism Confinement Centre. Please also provide information on the existence of a bilateral agreement with the United States of America regarding the transfer of Venezuelan nationals and persons from other countries arrested in that country and their subsequent detention in Salvadoran territory, specifically in the Terrorism Confinement Centre. In this context, please clarify the following: Did El Salvador exercise control and jurisdiction over the detainees transferred from the United States of America? Please explain the legal basis for the detention of those persons. Were the detainees subject to criminal investigations and proceedings, were they held under immigration law, or was there another legal basis for their detention? Please also describe the remedies and legal safeguards available to those persons and indicate whether there was an independent oversight mechanism that monitored conditions of detention and the treatment of detainees. What measures were put in place to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance? What procedures and mechanisms were available to ensure that the persons transferred to and detained in El Salvador and subsequently deported to their country of origin, on the basis of a triangular political agreement, enjoyed the rights enshrined in the Convention? How was their right to report acts of torture or ill-treatment by prison officers to an independent body guaranteed?
15.In the light of the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please describe the measures taken by the State Party to improve conditions of detention, including those aimed at reducing overcrowding in prisons and promoting the use of alternatives to imprisonment, both before and after trial. Please provide updated statistical data, disaggregated by place of detention, sex, age group (minor/adult) and ethnic origin or nationality, on the number of pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners and on the capacity and occupancy rate of all places of detention. Please also provide clarification on the legislation and policies relating to pretrial detention and on the measures taken to avoid the excessive use of such detention. How many persons benefited from the use of alternatives to pretrial detention during the period under review? Has the State Party considered pursuing a criminal policy based on the principle that deprivation of liberty should be used only as a last resort? Please describe the steps taken to ensure that persons in pretrial detention are separated from convicted persons in all places of detention. Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure that persons awaiting trial in police detention centres or bartolinas are transferred to prisons. Please include information on the measures taken during the period under review to improve prison facilities in the country. Please also provide information on the measures taken by the State Party to address the specific needs of women, persons with disabilities, older persons and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons deprived of their liberty, as well as to protect them from sexual, physical and psychological violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Please also describe the measures taken to put in place accessible, confidential and effective mechanisms for reporting torture and ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty, as well as to prevent and reduce prison violence, including sexual violence against transgender women incarcerated in male prisons, committed by prison officers and other inmates. Please provide information on the number of complaints filed in that regard and the results of investigations into those complaints.
16.Please describe the measures taken to ensure that places of deprivation of liberty have sufficient human and material resources to provide adequate medical treatment and healthcare, as well as to guarantee the supply of medicines. Please report on the steps taken to ensure that persons deprived of their liberty may request an independent medical examination at the outset of their detention and to guarantee the confidentiality of medical examinations. Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure that persons deprived of their liberty have adequate and continuous access to drinking water and food in places of detention. Please indicate what measures have been taken to ensure that persons deprived of their liberty have access to exercise yards or other outdoor areas during the day. Please provide information on the measures taken by the State Party to ensure that prisoners are able to communicate regularly with family members and relatives and that they are allocated, to the extent possible, to prisons close to their homes or their places of social rehabilitation. Please describe the measures taken by the State Party during the period under review to develop comprehensive social reintegration policies and to ensure access to vocational training, education and recreational and cultural activities in all prisons, including the Terrorism Confinement Centre.
17.In the light of the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please describe the measures taken to ensure that children and adolescents in conflict with the law are deprived of their liberty only as a last resort. Please provide information on any programmes aimed at promoting the social reintegration of children and adolescents deprived of their liberty, as well as on the steps taken to prevent and punish ill-treatment in juvenile detention centres. Please also describe the measures taken to ensure the suspension of officials who are under investigation for alleged ill-treatment of children and adolescents deprived of their liberty. Please provide information on the total number of children and adolescents being held in detention centres, including juvenile protection centres and social integration centres, indicating the maximum duration of such measures. With reference to the amendments made to the Organized Crime Act through Decrees No. 547 and No. 866 of 26 October 2022 and 17 October 2023 respectively, please provide information on the guarantees introduced to ensure that persons under 18 years of age in conflict with the law are processed through a specialized juvenile criminal justice system. Please provide information on the application of the provisions of the Juvenile Offenders Act that establish penalties for organized crime offences of up to 20 years’ imprisonment for minors aged 16 years and older and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for minors aged 12 and older. Please also provide information on the amendments made in 2025 to article 119 of the Juvenile Offenders Act, which relates to pretrial detention and the detention in adult prisons of children and adolescents accused or convicted of organized crime offences. Please clarify how these provisions are compatible with the State Party’s international obligations concerning the treatment of children and adolescents and the conditions in which they are detained.
18.Further to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide information on deaths in custody during the period under review, including data disaggregated by place of detention, the sex, age and ethnic origin or nationality of the deceased, and cause of death. In this regard, please include information on the manner in which those deaths were investigated, the results of those investigations, and the measures taken to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future. Please describe the measures taken to ensure that investigations into deaths in custody are conducted by an independent body and in accordance with the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death. Please provide information on the protocols governing the notification of such deaths to the family or relatives of the deceased. Please provide information on the steps taken to introduce programmes for the prevention of suicide and self-harm in places of deprivation of liberty. Please report on the number of prisoners living with chronic or communicable diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and tuberculosis, including information regarding their long-term treatment and care, under strategies and programmes for the prevention, detection and treatment of infectious and other diseases. Please also comment on reports that personnel from the Institute of Forensic Medicine were denied access to prisons to conduct medical examinations, despite the existence of court orders authorizing such procedures.
19.In the light of the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide information on any legislative measures taken to explicitly prohibit forced medical treatment, including forced sterilization of women and girls, physical and pharmacological restraints and the involuntary institutionalization of persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities in psychiatric institutions. Please also provide information on the number of persons deprived of their liberty in psychiatric hospitals and other institutions for persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities. Please report on any alternative forms of treatment, such as community-based rehabilitation services and other outpatient programmes. Please provide updated information on involuntary admission procedures, including procedures for reviewing and appealing decisions made in that regard, and on the applicable procedural safeguards, including unrestricted access to legal assistance. Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure access to a complaint mechanism in psychiatric institutions.
Articles 12 and 13
20.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide updated, disaggregated data on the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions relating to acts of torture, ill-treatment or excessive use of force recorded during the period under review, and on the sentences handed down in cases where the alleged perpetrators were found guilty. In particular, please indicate the number of investigations initiated by the Attorney General’s Office, whether on the basis of a complaint or ex officio, in relation to acts of torture, excessive use of force, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearance or arbitrary detention, including investigations arising from complaints received by the Office of the Human Rights Advocate since 2022.
21.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations and the State Party’s follow-up replies, please indicate what progress has been made in the investigation and prosecution of acts of torture and other serious human rights violations that occurred during the armed conflict between 1980 and 1992, and in the provision of comprehensive reparation to victims. Please provide information on the number of cases that are under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office and indicate how many of them were referred to the criminal courts during the period under review. Please also provide information regarding the main challenges in the investigation of these cases and the efforts made to overcome them. Please provide information on the steps taken by the State Party to provide the special unit of the Attorney General’s Office with the necessary resources to investigate crimes committed during the internal armed conflict. Please also provide information on the status of the legislative initiatives undertaken with a view to enacting a comprehensive transitional justice law that fully complies with international human rights standards, including efforts to ensure the effective participation of victims and human rights organizations in the drafting and adoption process. Lastly, please provide updated information on the efforts and progress made in the search for persons who disappeared during the armed conflict and on the measures taken to improve the functioning and increase the technical independence of the National Commission on the Search for Adults who Disappeared during the Armed Conflict and the National Commission on the Search for Children who Disappeared during the Internal Armed Conflict, including information on the human and financial resources allocated to both institutions.
Article 14
22.Please provide information on redress and compensation measures, including means of rehabilitation, ordered by the courts or other State bodies and actually provided to victims of torture and ill-treatment, including excessive use of force, or to their families, during the period under review. Please include the number of requests for compensation that were made, the number granted and the amounts ordered and actually provided in each case. Please also provide updated information on any ongoing reparation programmes, including for the treatment of trauma and for other forms of rehabilitation, available to victims of torture and ill-treatment, and on the material, human and budgetary resources allocated for their effective functioning. Please also provide information on the measures taken to ensure that victims of torture committed during the internal armed conflict receive reparation, including information on the implementation of Executive Decree No. 204 of 2013 as regards the provision of reparation to victims of torture.
Article 15
23.Please provide updated information on the specific measures that have been adopted to ensure that the principle of the inadmissibility of evidence obtained through torture is observed in law and in practice. Please provide examples of any cases that have been dismissed by the courts owing to the introduction of evidence or testimony obtained through torture.
Article 16
24.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide information on the legislative and other measures taken by the State Party to protect human rights defenders, journalists, community leaders and other representatives of civil society from threats, intimidation, attacks and persecution. Please comment on reports that criminal proceedings have been brought against human rights defenders and other civil society representatives with the aim of intimidating or punishing them or impeding their activities in retaliation for their documentation and reporting of human rights violations, including their work to defend persons deprived of their liberty during the state of emergency and to report abuse in prisons. Please provide statistical data on the number of complaints of violence, threats and other acts of intimidation filed and investigated during the period under review. Please indicate whether the persons who were prosecuted and subsequently convicted of this type of offence included public officials and provide information in this regard. What specific measures have been taken to facilitate the work of individuals and organizations that seek to bring to light alleged violations of the Convention? In this regard, please provide information on the legislative changes introduced by the Foreign Agents Act of 2025 and explain to what extent the Act is compatible with the State Party’s international human rights obligations.
25.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations and to the judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Beatriz et al. v. El Salvador, please explain what legislative and other measures have been taken to amend article 133 of the Criminal Code in order to decriminalize the voluntary termination of pregnancy in cases where carrying the pregnancy to term could cause considerable suffering to the woman, where the life or health of the woman is in danger, where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or where the fetus is severely impaired or is not viable, and to ensure that criminal penalties are not, under any circumstances, imposed on women or girls for seeking an abortion or on health professionals solely for performing safe abortions. Please describe the measures that have been taken to exonerate and release from prison women convicted as a result of obstetric emergencies.
Other issues
26.With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please describe the steps taken to strengthen legislative measures and policies to assist persons who are displaced in the territory of the State Party as a result of the situation of violence and insecurity in the country, and on the measures taken to ensure their effective protection.
27.Please also describe the efforts made to strengthen national mechanisms for follow‑up on cases of deaths and/or disappearances of Salvadoran migrants and to develop and consolidate bilateral and regional cooperation on safeguarding the rights of migrants in transit and destination countries.
28.Please indicate whether the State Party is considering making the declarations provided for in articles 21 and 22 of the Convention. Please describe the concrete measures that have been taken to widely disseminate the Convention and the Committee’s previous concluding observations in all appropriate languages in the State Party, including through the media and NGOs.
29. Please provide updated information on the measures taken by the State Party to respond to threats of terrorism. Please describe whether those measures have affected human rights safeguards in law and in practice and, if so, how they have affected them. In addition, taking into account the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please describe how the State Party has ensured that its counter-terrorism legislation is fully compatible with its obligations under international law, especially the Convention. Furthermore, please indicate what training is given to law enforcement officers in this area; the number of persons who have been convicted under legislation adopted to combat terrorism; the legal remedies and safeguards available in law and in practice to persons subjected to counter-terrorism measures; and whether there have been any complaints of the non-observance of international standards and, if so, what the outcome of those complaints was.
General information on other measures and developments relating to the implementation of the Convention in the State Party
30.Please provide detailed information on any other relevant legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures taken since the consideration of the State Party’s previous periodic report to implement the provisions of the Convention or the Committee’s recommendations, including institutional developments, plans or programmes. Please indicate the resources allocated and provide statistical data. Please also provide any other information that the State Party considers relevant.