Experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Praise El Salvador’s Institute for Women’s Development, Ask about the Gender Impact of State of Emergency Policies and the Criminalisation of Abortion
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today concluded its consideration of the tenth periodic report of El Salvador, with Committee Experts praising the contributions to women’s rights of the Salvadoran Institute for Women’s Development, and raising questions about the gender impact of state of emergency policies and the criminalisation of abortion.
A Committee Expert said that the Salvadoran Institute for Women’s Development had been key in the advancement of women in El Salvador, having designed, coordinated and implemented national plans on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Patsili Toledo Vásquez, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for El Salvador, said that women human rights defenders faced criminalisation and surveillance in the context of the state of emergency, and the risk of severe penalties threatened the work of women's organizations. Had the gender impact of state of emergency policies been assessed?
Another Committee Expert said abortion was fully criminalised in El Salvador, and some women who resorted to abortions had been sentenced to more than 40 years in jail for the crime of aggravated homicide. What measures would the State party take to immediately suspend the criminalisation of abortion and authorise abortions, at least in cases of rape, incest and when there was a risk to the life of the mother?
Introducing the report, Adriana María Mira de Pereira, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador and head of the delegation, said that since 2019, El Salvador had instigated a political transformation based on women and girls’ rights. By increasing criminal prosecution and respecting due process, the State was showing that impunity was no longer the norm. The justice system ensured that every woman could walk down safe streets.
Yanci Yanet Salmerón De Artiga, President of the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of Women, in introductory remarks, said that the Institute worked to systematically incorporate the principle of equality in public institutions. It had updated national plans on equality and on a life free from violence, and had also approved the national shared responsibility of care plan 2022-2030.
On the state of emergency, the delegation said it had allowed women to enjoy their rights. They now had freedom of movement and could create businesses, go to school, and access health services without fear of gangs. The homicide rate in the State had decreased by more than 90 per cent and murders of women had been reduced by 68 per cent over the last five years.
On abortions, the delegation said El Salvador put human rights and the right to life at the centre of its legal efforts. The State party did not criminalise obstetric emergencies, miscarriages, or attempted abortions. It only criminalised wilful termination of independent life. It applied this law without stereotypes and ensured due process and rigorous forensic investigations. There was no international obligation on States to permit abortion.
In concluding remarks, Ms. Mira de Pereira said El Salvador had presented the State’s vision to transition from being a country characterised by exclusion to one that incorporated women and girls’ rights in all public decisions. The State party was actively promoting the well-being of its citizens. It would ensure that equality was not a far-off goal but a tangible reality for every household in El Salvador.
In closing remarks, Nahla Haidar, Committee Chair, thanked the members of the delegation of the State party for their responses and explanations. She commended the State party for its efforts and encouraged it to take measures to implement all the Committee’s recommendations for the benefit of all women and girls in El Salvador.
The delegation of El Salvador consisted of the State’s Attorney General and representatives from the Ministry of Health; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; General Directorate of Prisons; Salvadoran Institute for the Development of Women; National Council for Early Childhood, Childhood and Adolescence; Office of the Attorney General; and the Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee will issue the concluding observations on the report of El Salvador at the end of its ninety-second session on 20 February. All documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. Meeting summary releases can be found here. The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.
The Committee will next meet at 10 a.m. on Friday, 13 February to consider the combined fifth to seventh periodic reports of Lesotho (CEDAW/C/LSO/5-7).
Report
The Committee has before it the tenth periodic report of El Salvador (CEDAW/C/SLV/10).
Presentation of Report
ADRIANA MARÍA MIRA DE PEREIRA, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador and head of the delegation, said El Salvador came before the Committee in a demonstration of its respect of the international human rights system. The Convention was a roadmap that guided public actions to eliminate discrimination against women and girls. Since 2019, the State had instigated a political transformation based on women and girls’ rights. The Government had reduced the gender inequality rate by around 18 per cent, thanks to efforts to increase women’s participation in the labour market and education.
El Salvador had strengthened the rule of law, including by removing the statute of limitations on the crime of femicide. Every activity of law enforcement considered the dignity of victims. For decades, whole communities, such as in La Campanera, were the face of exclusion and terror. The State party had restored these communities’ rights and, in doing so, restored the dignity and safety of women. By increasing criminal prosecution and respecting due process, the State was showing that impunity was no longer the norm. The justice system ensured that every woman could walk down safe streets.
The State party had improved free, confidential and specialised services for women and the Supreme Court’s Comprehensive Unit for Women was implementing protocols that supported the most vulnerable population. The Attorney General’s Office had a specialised office that provided legal and psychosocial services with a gender approach in civil cases. There was also an automated food stamp system that reduced women’s financial burden. Women had strategic leadership positions in the State party, including in the Congress, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Commission for Access to Information, and in the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which had a woman president for the first time. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also led by a woman.
El Salvador was using digital tools to promote inclusion. All health establishments in El Salvador were now totally connected in a digital system, which was benefitting rural sectors. With the help of artificial intelligence, the digital medical system was able to diagnose 93 per cent of cases. It offered 24/7 access to thousands of healthcare professionals. A recent law had helped to reduce maternal mortality by over 50 per cent. The State party had also decreased the teenage pregnancy rate from 45 to 30 per cent in just three years.
Regarding education, the State had implemented a scholarship programme benefitting over 50,000 university students. Programmes were in place in schools to reduce teenage pregnancy and school dropouts, and to increase women’s access to digital skills and English education.
YANCI YANET SALMERÓN DE ARTIGA, President of the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of Women, said that the Institute worked to systematically incorporate the principle of equality and non-discrimination in public institutions, and promoted care and protection efforts for women. It had updated the national plans on equality and on a life free from violence, and had also approved the national shared responsibility of care plan 2022-2030. These instruments guided the State’s actions to bridge gaps in the enjoyment of women’s rights. The Institute had also improved municipal policy by working directly with local government officials.
The national shared responsibility of care law guaranteed the right to receive high quality care. The State party was working to aid women in every stage of life in line with the growing up together law. It had implemented early childhood care centres and developed an accreditation system for caregivers for children. There were also human rights-based training programmes for carers for older persons. A study on the economy of care had been carried out, based on which the State had optimised care policies.
The national economic plan called for transformation in the food, technology and logistics sectors, creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for women. Some 1.5 million dollars had been invested in “production communities” for women, in which women entrepreneurs could access credits. The entrepreneurship for women plan included measures to reduce barriers for such women, and the economic mobility policy had created 17,000 safe jobs for Salvadoran women abroad.
Migrant women could enjoy their rights without discrimination in El Salvador. The national protection system had a gender approach and respected dignity. Programmes such as “transform lives” and “El Salvador more” provided Salvadoran migrant women who had returned to the State with access to health, housing and seed capital. Rural programmes and the agricultural fund guaranteed food security for rural and indigenous women and promoted their leadership. There was a programme for the economic empowerment of women in remote municipalities.
There were also programmes that helped women heads of households to access housing; these had helped over 23,000 women thus far, helping to break the cycle of poverty. The new security law allowed the State to recover 900,000 homes that were seized, which were sold to survivors of violence and women heads of households at just one fourth of the average housing rate.
El Salvador had also strengthened its efforts in the labour sector, aligning its policies with International Labour Organization Convention 190 on the elimination of workplace harassment. In 2023, the State reformed the Labour Code to guarantee the rehiring of women who were fired during pregnancy or the post-natal period. More than 600 inspections of workplaces had been carried out in 2024 to assess labour conditions for vulnerable groups, including women. An initiative had been launched to ensure safe, inclusive spaces for women in the tourism sector and promote a better work-life balance.
El Salvador had also developed a series of measures to support access to education for women and girls with disabilities. The national policy for indigenous peoples had measures to strengthen their participation in decision making and ensure collective rights.
Under the women, peace and security agenda, there was a programme that strengthened women’s leadership and participation in community peace processes. There were training and accreditation programmes for human rights defenders in territories that had experienced conflict.
El Salvador was in the process of transforming from a State that had experienced massive security challenges to a nation of laws. This process rested on gender equality. The State party was committed to complying with the Convention and to building a State where being a woman was synonymous with liberty and a full guarantee of human rights.
Questions by a Committee Expert
PATSILI TOLEDO VÁSQUEZ, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for El Salvador, said that the Committee noted significant progress in El Salvador since the last concluding observations. It welcomed the strengthening of the legal framework, with the ratification of International Labour Organization Conventions 183 and 190 and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Convention against Discrimination in Education. It also welcomed the prohibition of child marriage, the law on the inclusion of persons with disabilities, the nacer con cariño law, and the crecer juntos law, as well as the elimination of the criminal statute of limitations in cases of femicide. It further welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Chamber that recognised that the prohibition of discrimination based on sex included gender identity.
However, there was no regulatory framework that recognised multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, and no reference to sexual orientation and gender identity in recent equality policies – some former references had been removed as part of a supposed “gender ideology”. How were the rights of all women, including lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women, guaranteed in this context? What measures were in place to increase the visibility of the Convention?
Women were bearing an increased care burden due to the state of emergency, which had been in place for four years. Women on the front line of the search for detained family members were exposed to stigmatisation and intimidation, while women human rights defenders faced criminalisation and surveillance, leading to self-censorship and, in many cases, exile. The wide margin of discretion granted to the authorities by the foreign agents’ law and the risk of severe penalties threatened the work of women's organizations and had led an increasing number to close their offices. Had the gender impact of the state of emergency policies been assessed? What mechanisms were there to protect women relatives of detainees and women human rights defenders? How did the State ensure that the foreign agents’ act did not disproportionately restrict the work of women’s organizations?
The Committee was also concerned about the low conviction rate for crimes of gender violence, the lack of human and technological resources, and the lack of rural coverage of specialised courts. How was the Special Fund for Women Victims of Violence being used and how had it benefited women and girls? What measures had been taken to ensure access to justice for women affected by multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination? In addition to the suspension of due process or the use of solitary confinement, the Committee had been informed of “collective trials” in which tens or hundreds of people were tried as a group. How was a fair trial guaranteed for women in these trials? How was access to justice ensured for victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including sexual violence committed during the armed conflict? In many cases, there were still no convictions. Considering the withdrawal of the draft special law on transitional justice, and the elimination of the Justice and Human Rights Commission of the Legislative Assembly, how would the meaningful participation of women's organizations in transitional justice and peacebuilding processes be ensured?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the law on foreign entities was not created to influence the activities of civil society in the State or to cut off financing for civil society organizations. However, there was formerly no oversight over funding for such organizations; the law aimed to address this issue. The State party had met with civil society organizations that had foreign support to listen to their concerns related to the law, and a great number of these had been addressed.
The State party had been implementing the law on equality and eradication of discrimination against women; the national plan for equality 2021-2025, which included measures promoting women’s rights; and the national policy on access of women to a life free of violence. It took an intersectoral focus, addressing vulnerabilities faced by indigenous women, women with disabilities, and other vulnerable women. The national policy of care 2022-2030 included measures to support vulnerable groups requiring care, as well as caregivers.
The Attorney General’s Office had created a specialised Prosecutor’s Office for women in 2022, which provided psychological and legal support for women victims of violence. It had addressed more than 65,000 cases involving women in 2025. The Attorney General’s Office ensured that no woman faced the legal system without legal representation. It had a unit that ensured that all detainments were in line with the law and assessed whether women detainees had committed illegal acts under duress.
The penitentiary system had undergone transformation in recent years. Detention centres were no longer “crime universities” but were true centres for rehabilitation. The State ensured humane rehabilitation conditions for all prisoners and special attention for vulnerable persons. Detention centres encouraged women detainees to undertake training activities. Pregnant women, women with children up to five, foreign women, women with disabilities and elderly women were held in an open penitentiary centre. All detainees had access to health, basic services, food, hygiene and nutrition. Visits to detainees by their family members were permitted, and foreign women could be visited by consular officials. The State party provided information on persons deprived of liberty on request in a timely manner.
The State party sought to eliminate barriers to access to justice for women. It had set up specialised regional courts and a system of over 800 community-based justices of the peace and 700 legal advisors located in each district of the State. This system had increased access to justice for women victims of violence and rural women. Justices of the peace heard cases on family violence, reconciliation, and division of assets, providing immediate responses to issues to prevent revictimisation. The State’s specialised regional courts could grant protection orders and provide economic reparation, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition. The Supreme Court had created an office for comprehensive care for women, which worked on protecting women from violence and provided specialised legal and psychosocial assistance to victims of violence.
For decades, El Salvador was subjected to the territorial control of gangs. The Constitutional Chamber had classified these gangs as terrorist organizations. They had control over territory, imposed duties through extortion, and exerted systematic violence. During this period, women were subjected to subordination and sexual exploitation by gangs, and girls were prevented from moving between territories to attend school.
In response to this situation, the State party had implemented a state of emergency. This only suspended a few guarantees, among them administrative detention for up to 72 hours. Fundamental rights, including rights to life, integrity, health, education, work, property and justice were not suspended. The state of emergency had allowed women to enjoy their rights. They now had freedom of movement and could create businesses, go to school, and access health services without fear of gangs. The homicide rate in the State had decreased by more than 90 per cent and murders of women had been reduced by 68 per cent over the last five years. The population was now learning to live in peace.
Questions by a Committee Expert
PATSILI TOLEDO VÁSQUEZ, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for El Salvador, said that justices of the peace did not have the same gender approach as specialised women’s courts. She called for their training in this regard to be improved.
Another Committee Expert said that the Salvadoran Institute for Women’s Development had been key in the advancement of women in El Salvador. The Institute had designed, coordinated and implemented national plans on gender equality and women’s empowerment. However, it had been seriously constrained by massive budget cuts and staffing reductions. The Legislative Assembly’s Commission on Women and Gender Equality had been dissolved in 2024. How did the State party plan to make the Institute able to effectively carry out its mandate? How did it assess the impact of the national equality plan 2021-2025? Were there plans for a new iteration of the plan? How did the State party address the needs of women in the national budget and ensure that the Legislative Assembly addressed gender equality when drafting new legislation?
How did the national human rights institution monitor human rights violations in the state of emergency? How did it promote gender equality and protect women detainees and their family members? What temporary special measures had the State party adopted, beyond its commendable measures supporting women entrepreneurs?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the Criminal Court of the Supreme Court of Justice had issued 25 rulings that explicitly referenced the Convention. The State party was investing in specialised training on human rights, gender and the Convention for justices of the peace and judges, and had organised regional conferences on preventing violence. A manual had been developed on human rights-based trials that promoted increased protection for vulnerable persons.
The Salvadoran Institute for Women’s Development had inter-institutional capacity to oversee public policies on women, chiefly the national plan for equality and the provision of services for women. It operated eight specialised care centres that provided various support services for women nationally. The Institute had provided specialised training for public officials on gender issues and had undertaken awareness raising campaigns on gender equality that reached 37,000 civil servants.
The Institute had also evaluated the implementation of the national plan for equality 2021-2025, finding improvements in gender equality; reductions in femicides and teenage pregnancy; increases in the number of women accessing housing and science, technology, engineering and maths education; and increased representation of women in the executive branch and other bodies.
The State party was working to modernise public policy and eliminate redundancies in the budget to ensure better use of resources to benefit the population. The Prosecutor’s Office for the Defence of Human Rights had created an institutional roundtable that oversaw conditions in detention centres. It had undertaken monitoring visits to all penitentiaries in 2025, in which it noted no undermining of the human rights of those deprived of liberty.
Questions by Committee Experts
A Committee Expert said that the Salvadoran Institute for Women’s Development needed appropriate staffing for implementing its integrated approach.
Another Committee Expert said deeply rooted stereotypes about gender persisted in El Salvador, affecting women’s reproductive autonomy and increasing the risk of gender-based violence against women. Media advertising continued to reinforce gender roles. How did the State party involve media, civil society organizations, and religious and community leaders in awareness raising campaigns on gender stereotypes? How was the State party addressing hate speech and cyber violence against women journalists and human rights defenders?
Violence against women and girls remained pervasive and largely unreported in El Salvador and impunity continued to undermine women’s confidence in institutions. There had been a five-fold decrease in femicides from 2017 to 2024 and an increase in court cases related to gender-based violence. However, only around nine per cent of gender-based violence cases resulted in convictions. What steps had been taken to reduce impunity for gender-based violence? What actions were taken when State officials were implicated in gender-based violence cases? How was the State party increasing the capacity of shelters for victims of violence?
One Committee Expert welcomed the State party’s efforts to increase the capacity of the National Council against Trafficking and the national action plan against trafficking in persons. How was the effectiveness of the plan monitored? The Committee was concerned by gaps in the identification of trafficking victims. In the state of emergency, there had been mass and arbitrary arrests and expedited and group trials, which had reportedly resulted in the wrongful detainment and conviction of trafficking victims.
What safeguards existed to prevent trafficking victims from being misidentified as criminal offenders and detained? Were there recourses for trafficking victims to make their status known? Victims support services were reportedly insufficient. How were these being strengthened? What measures were in place to strengthen the State’s investigative capacity regarding trafficking? How did the State party ensure that women in prostitution were protected from trafficking and could report abuse without fear of criminalisation?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the Government had designed special programmes and mechanisms to address trafficking. It used technology to identify trafficking crimes and had a zero-tolerance policy. There was a regional human trafficking centre and a dedicated unit in the Attorney General’s Office that provided legal, health and psychosocial assistance to victims and at-risk populations. The National Council against Human Trafficking coordinated the State’s response.
El Salvador had ratified the Palermo Protocol and trained officials working to identify and respond to trafficking, including online crimes. Specialised teams and digital covert operations worked to dismantle transnational crime networks. The State guaranteed the confidentiality of victims and protected their physical integrity. It had established protocols with Mexico and the United States that guaranteed risk assessments before repatriations to reduce the risk of trafficking.
Mass trials had been implemented to prevent fragmented indictments of members of terrorist gangs. Free public defence was provided for all persons deprived of liberty to ensure fair trials.
The State party had adopted measures to eliminate gender stereotypes in society. It paid close attention to the Committee’s recommendations, particularly general recommendation 33 on gender stereotypes in the judiciary. The State was working to identify and combat gender stereotypes in the justice system, implementing clear procedures to eliminate biases in judicial decisions.
State legislation prohibited violence against women. The State had developed differentiated responses to address various vulnerabilities, and a strategy to provide reparations to victims of femicide. It was also developing a database on cases of violence against women, which would help to optimise prevention and reparation measures.
Questions by Committee Experts
PATSILI TOLEDO VÁSQUEZ, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for El Salvador, asked whether the State party was considering multisectoral oversight of cases of femicide.
Another Committee Expert asked how men and boys were involved in training on preventing gender stereotypes. Was hate speech against women human rights defenders and vulnerable groups of women criminalised?
A Committee Expert asked about measures to ensure that all victims of trafficking were identified, given strenuous circumstances that could hinder identification.
One Committee Expert welcomed the State party’s activities to facilitate women’s leadership in political and public life, including the establishment of breastfeeding rooms for women engaged in diplomatic work. However, women did not chair any of the major committees of the Legislative Assembly, and over the reporting period, the percentage of women in ministerial positions had declined from 47 to 31 per cent. Only 18 per cent of mayors were women. What measures were in place to ensure the effective implementation of quotas promoting women’s representation?
How was the State party addressing barriers preventing women’s advancement? How would the State achieve parity in the Legislative Assembly? How was El Salvador addressing structural barriers for indigenous and rural women to access decision-making posts? What percentage of positions in the diplomatic corps and ambassadorial positions were held by women? How had the elimination of the Legislative Assembly’s Commission on Women and Gender Equality affected the advancement of women’s rights?
Another Committee Expert said it was excellent that the Constitution guaranteed equal rights to nationality by descent through mothers and fathers and allowed Salvadorans to hold multiple nationalities. How did the State party ensure that all Salvadoran women were able to transmit their nationality and register their children, including women who lacked documentation, migrant women, women living abroad, and women deprived of liberty? How did it ensure equal rights to citizenship for children born to lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women? What measures were in place to remove barriers to access to identification documents for rural and indigenous women? What was the status of the project on providing women with mobile biometric devices?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the State party worked with civil society to provide training to journalists and other groups on addressing gender stereotypes, including in the media.
Around 44 monitoring teams conducted periodic operations aimed at identifying women and girls living on the streets and trafficking victims. The Ministry of Tourism provided training for tourism operators on detecting trafficking victims and preventing trafficking.
The law on political parties required that all political parties had at least 30 per cent female candidates. The State party had established measures assisting women with disabilities and women living abroad to vote. Training had been provided for women community leaders and youth to increase their political engagement. The State party had also created tools that identified territorial gaps in women’s representation and allowed for the development of targeted response measures.
Women made up 49 per cent of staff in the Foreign Ministry, which was led by a woman. Some 42 per cent of heads of permanent missions were women. There was a training network for women diplomats that encouraged them to aspire for higher positions. There were breastfeeding rooms and leisure spaces for children in the majority of the State’s embassies and consular offices, both for staff and users of the facilities.
The State facilitated access to nationality for Salvadorans, regardless of where they lived. There was a registry of children born abroad, which facilitated these children’s access to citizenship. Overseas registration processes were free and digitised.
All births in El Salvador were now registered in a centralised birth registration system; there were no stateless persons in the State. Mobile registration units were operating throughout the territory. The State party worked to restore the identity of mothers who did not have identity documents. The birth registration process had been expedited from 90 to 45 days and digitised. Consular offices had a window for granting identity documents.
Questions by Committee Experts
A Committee Expert welcomed strategies to prevent childhood pregnancy but expressed concern regarding a formal prohibition in 2024 of comprehensive sexual education programmes. What measures were in place to ensure access to this education at all levels? There was a low rate of participation of Salvadoran women and girls in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects and barriers to accessing education for rural women and girls. There was also a rising illiteracy rate for women and cases of sexual violence in the educational realm. How did teacher training prevent sexual violence in schools? How did the education system guarantee equal access for girls to science, technology, engineering and maths subjects?
Another Committee Expert welcomed that the State party had expanded inspections, employment programmes, and institutional mechanisms for gender equality in the labour sector. However, women continued to face barriers to participation in the workforce. In 2024, only 48 per cent of women participated in the economy, compared to 79 per cent of men, and women were disproportionately concentrated in informal employment. What measures were in place to increase women’s access to formal employment, particularly for vulnerable women?
How was the State party working to close the gender pay gap? Women spent more than six hours per day on unpaid care work on average. Some 60 per cent of unemployed women cited housework as their main barrier to seeking work. How was the State party implementing the national policy on co-responsibility for care work? Was it planning to ratify International Labour Organization Conventions 177 and 190? What protections were currently provided for domestic workers? How many complaints of workplace harassment had the State investigated? How was it preventing discrimination against women in the informal economy?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the teenage pregnancy rate had dropped by around 75 per cent in recent years thanks to efforts under the intersectoral strategy to prevent child pregnancy. Child protection boards were working to ensure that pregnant teenagers stayed in school, providing support to all teenagers who fell pregnant. The State was working to ensure that girls had access to education in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, as well as cultural education.
Children and adolescents had the right to receive comprehensive sexual education. The State party was changing its health education model to make it more holistic. The new model was based on family values and respectful, wholesome sexuality.
The State party had strengthened the role of the Ministry of Labour to protect workers’ rights. The Labour Market Information System allowed for the monitoring of labour gaps and gender-differentiated employment rates. Investigations were carried out when there were gender pay gaps; in cases of non-compliance, corrective measures were implemented. The Labour Code had been revised to incorporate provisions guaranteeing wage equality, the protection of pregnant women, and the prohibition of workplace harassment. Inspections of informal sector workplaces were carried out, and women in that sector were included in labour insertion programmes. The State party was working to expand the care work sector to reduce women’s care burden. There was a national strategy for the formalisation of work, and platforms that women could use to report workplace harassment confidentially; some 3,400 women had used these platforms.
The State party was working toward the ratification of several treaties, including the Istanbul Convention and various International Labour Organization Conventions. It wished to ensure that its institutions were robust enough to implement these treaties. Ministerial roundtables on the protection of domestic workers had been formed as part of the process of ratification of International Labour Organization Convention 190.
The growing together law obliged all employers and every State institution with more than 100 workers to either create early childhood care centres or pay for childcare for employees.
Questions by a Committee Expert
A Committee Expert said El Salvador had made progress in healthcare policy and legislation. The Committee welcomed efforts to increase access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for women and girls. However, access to healthcare remained a challenge for indigenous, rural and other vulnerable women. One third of pregnancies in the State party were girls under 18, and many of these pregnancies were the result of rape, incest and molestation. Suicide was the most common cause of death among teenage mothers. What measures were in place to ensure that teenage mothers had access to confidential mental health services, and that adolescents had access to contraceptives and specialised sexual and reproductive health services?
Abortion was fully criminalised in El Salvador, driving women and girls to seek unsafe illegal abortions. Some women who resorted to abortions had been sentenced to more than 40 years in jail for the crime of aggravated homicide. How many women and girls were detained by the State party for a crime linked to an abortion? What measures would the State party take to immediately suspend the criminalisation of abortion and authorise abortions, at least in cases of rape, incest and when there was a risk to the life of the mother?
What measures were in place to criminalise non-consensual sterilisations of women with disabilities and ensure free, prior and informed consent for all medical procedures on women with disabilities? What reparations were available for women subjected to forced sterilisations? How was the State party preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the State party had maternal mortality and child mortality rates that were significantly lower than the average for Latin America. There had been no maternal deaths related to abortion over the last five years. The rate of teenage pregnancy had fallen by 60 per cent over this period, from 68 cases per 1,000 women in 2014 to 28 cases in 2024. The State party worked with civil society and United Nations agencies to implement its strategies on maternal and adolescent health.
El Salvador put human rights and the right to life at the centre of its legal efforts. It was compelled to protect the lives of mothers and children. There was no international obligation on States to permit abortion. The State party did not criminalise obstetric emergencies, miscarriages, or attempted abortions. It only criminalised wilful termination of independent life. It applied this law without stereotypes and ensured due process and rigorous forensic investigations.
Questions by Committee Experts
A Committee Expert asked how the State party ensured that public sector restructuring did not disproportionately affect women and that labour rights were upheld, including during the state of emergency.
PATSILI TOLEDO VÁSQUEZ, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for El Salvador, asked about initiatives encouraging men to participate in care activities.
Another Committee Expert said 10 women and three children had died during births in prisons. What measures were in place to improve pre- and postnatal childcare in prisons?
One Committee Expert said the roadmap for women’s financial inclusion and the institutional care strategy were commendable. However, over 88 per cent of women received no pensions and there was low usage of financial and banking products among women in rural areas. Some 71 per cent of women were currently unbanked, and women depended heavily on family remittances as a source of income.
How was the State party integrating a gender approach into fiscal policy and regulatory mechanisms? What measures were in place to assist women engaged in care work to achieve economic autonomy? What awareness raising campaigns were implemented to ensure that financial products met the needs of vulnerable women? What measures were in place to support women’s participation in sports and in leadership in sporting associations?
Another Committee Expert welcomed that the President of El Salvador had taken his oath of office in sign language. What was the State’s target for inclusion of women with disabilities in the workforce? Rural women often had to walk great distances to access potable water; how was access to potable water in rural areas being expanded? How did the State party prevent displacement due to climate disasters? How were women involved in setting Nationally Determined Contributions and determining climate financing?
The Constitution guaranteed the right to habeas corpus. How was this right safeguarded for detained women in the context of the state of emergency?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said that public sector restructuring aimed to strengthen institutional capacity and address barriers to public services for vulnerable women. This was not a retrogression, but a move to make State services more sustainable.
The State party provided specialised legal protection for women victims of workplace harassment, as well as labour reinsertion support and monetary compensation. It involved men and boys across the country in training on care responsibilities and household chores.
The penitentiary system tried to create humane conditions for women deprived of liberty. Medical assessments were conducted when women entered detention centres and detainees received primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare as required. There was an early childhood care centre in penitentiaries. Any death that took place in the penitentiary system was reported to the Attorney General’s Office and persons responsible for deaths in custody were brought to justice.
The State party was working to reduce vulnerabilities for women affected by climate change. It had developed a national disaster risk reduction plan. The climate programme benefitted over 24,000 families, helping them to access water and diversified crops and reducing their vulnerability to drought.
The National Institute of Sport provided training programmes for girls in more than 260 schools and was working to train coaches for girls’ sports. Women and girls could join sports federations.
Under the state of emergency, precautionary detention measures were used for persons with ties to criminal gangs, which had been designated as terrorist organizations. All detained persons were brought before the judiciary. For conventional crimes, the ordinary justice model was used.
Questions by Committee Experts
PATSILI TOLEDO VÁSQUEZ, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for El Salvador, asked if the State party planned to draft a comprehensive law on indigenous women. What measures were in place to ensure access to healthcare for lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women?
Another Committee Expert asked about the State party’s investments in programmes promoting women and girls’ participation in sports, particularly at the local level. Could the State party provide data on women benefiting from financial services?
A Committee Expert asked how the State party was designing a system of penalties for discrimination based on sexual orientation.
One Committee Expert welcomed the increase in the legal age of marriage. However, one in every five women was married or in an informal union before 18 years of age in El Salvador. The phenomenon was particularly prevalent in rural areas. What measures were in place to address early and forced unions, particularly in rural areas? Women living in de facto unions faced barriers in accessing inheritance, goods and maintenance after divorce. How did the State party ensure that women in de facto unions enjoyed the same property rights as those in marriages?
How did the State party ensure that an assessment of domestic violence was carried out in custody and alimony cases? How were same-sex couples supported to access adoption? Massive incarceration had disrupted many families. Some women who had been detained had been forced to give birth in prisons, and many women had an increased care burden because their partners had been incarcerated. How was the State party addressing these issues and supporting families with incarcerated parents to access alimony?
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the healthcare system had a digital database that allowed the State party to analyse disaggregated data on vulnerable groups, for example related to HIV/AIDS transmission, and provide differentiated care. The State party had received no reports of forced sterilisation. Psychological support was provided for any persons undergoing sterilisation procedures.
There was a centre within prisons that provided support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons and there was training for penitentiary personnel on providing dignified treatment for this population. Trans women were not mixed with men in penitentiaries. Care was being provided for children whose parents had been incarcerated, often by relatives.
Some 900,000 women had received support from the State to achieve financial autonomy. The State provided loans to small enterprises, which had generated 22,000 jobs, including 6,000 for women. Some 54 per cent of social funds that supported access to housing were given to women. There was also a project supporting access to financial support for women in the tourism sector.
No child could live in a union with an adult in El Salvador. The State party had made progress in encouraging the reporting of early unions through a dedicated hotline. Reports could be made anonymously and multidisciplinary teams followed up on all reports. Intersectoral roundtables were working on the topic of eradicating early unions.
Concluding Remarks
ADRIANA MARÍA MIRA DE PEREIRA, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador and head of the delegation, thanked the Committee for the dialogue, which had been very constructive. El Salvador had presented the State’s vision to transition from being a country characterised by exclusion to one that incorporated women and girls’ rights in all public decisions. Citizens’ security was the first step in this regard. Without freedom of movement and safe communities, equality was just an aspiration. There was political will to implement the State’s strong legal framework. The State party was no longer indifferent; it was actively promoting the well-being of its citizens. It would ensure that equality was not a far-off goal but a tangible reality for every household in El Salvador.
NAHLA HAIDAR, Committee Chair, thanked the members of the delegation of the State party for their responses and explanations. The Committee commended the State party for its efforts and encouraged it to take measures to implement all the Committee’s recommendations for the benefit of all women and girls in El Salvador. The Committee looked forward to receiving the State party’s next periodic report.
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CEDAW26.010E