Recent amendments to El Salvador’s criminal laws are attracting significant criticism from human rights advocates, who argue that such legislative changes are in contravention of children’s rights. These reforms have expanded punitive measures against minors, permitting adolescents convicted of organized criminal offenses to be transferred to adult prisons. Additionally, the prospect of parole has been eliminated, a shift that starkly contrasts with established juvenile justice standards.
As reported by JURIST, Amnesty International has voiced strong objections to these amendments, which revise the Juvenile Criminal Law, Prisons Law, and Laws against Organized Crime. The revisions have facilitated the detention of children as young as 12 years old under emergency powers that have been in force since March 2022. Amnesty International has highlighted that over 84,000 detentions have occurred under this regime, with a substantial number being considered arbitrary. This has been accompanied by reports of torture and significant custodial deaths.
Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty, criticized the reforms for dismantling due process guarantees while normalizing mass detentions that rely heavily on insufficient evidence. Piquer emphasized that these reforms violate international human rights standards, reinforcing a model of governance characterized by unchecked repression.
Amnesty and other human rights organizations argue these legislative measures contravene international agreements such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Beijing Rules. Both documents advocate for a rehabilitative rather than punitive approach for juvenile offenders. Concerns also extend to new provisions allowing young people under 21 to be housed in adult prison sections without adequate safeguards against violence or ensuring access to education.
According to Human Rights Watch, since the onset of these measures in 2022, nearly 3,000 children have been convicted often on flimsy evidence or coerced confessions. The atmosphere of juridical oversight coupled with the mass detention practice indeed raises serious questions about the rule of law in El Salvador.