HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS REPORT OF EL SALVADOR

The Human Rights Committee has considered the sixth periodic report of El Salvador on how that country implements the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

David Ernesto Morales Cruz, Director-General of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said El Salvador was approaching its job differently to ensure the promotion and guarantee of human rights in the framework of the new Government. The State was governed by principles of unity and ongoing commitment. The current Government's approach was to establish a new policy of comprehensive redress for victims of armed conflict. The problem of achieving full reparation for the victims of human rights violations required full State efforts, and a lot remained to be done, but what had been done was truly a step forward compared to the past. A number of processes had been initiated, but there were still problems and challenges faced by El Salvador to achieve the standards of protection and promotion of human rights as listed in the Covenant. The conclusions and recommendations resulting from the discussion would be taken by the State as a valuable instrument to promote and further protect human rights, and as such would be greatly valued.

Over the course of two meetings, Committee Experts posed questions and raised a number of issues under the agenda items of the Covenant, including that there were still many unresolved disappearances, and, Committee members pointed out, these continued to be a criminal as well as a human rights matter until they were solved. Speakers also pointed out the need for the State party to have a discussion on abortion, as, since it was illegal and doctors had to report suspected cases of abortion, women were not going to hospitals when they needed to, and were dying, as well as ending up serving prison sentences; it was difficult to accept such an adamantine position, drawing no distinction between the most comprehensible and legitimate situations, such as rape and incest, and others.

The delegation also responded to questions and issues including the need for the State party to have a discussion on abortion. Domestic violence complaints in El Salvador remained very high, and although efforts were being made to improve the situation, that it remained so high was concerning, as it showed the continuance of gender stereotypes and patriarchal attitudes, not just in the family but across society. The justice system needed to be reformed, but so did the criminal justice system with regard to punishments and responsibility. Another issue of interest was preventive, provisional or pre-trial detention, and its length, and Experts asked for clarification as to how this was used in practice, asking for data on the number of people who were currently in such detention. With regard to the basic foundational need to recognize the indigenous members of society, an Expert asked what efforts had been made to improve census methodology, and what were the effective rights of access of indigenous peoples to water and to agrarian reform, allowing them access to ancestral lands.

The delegation from El Salvador also included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Secretariat of Social Inclusion, Penal Centres, the National Civil Police, and the Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

At the beginning of the meeting on 11 October, Michael O’Flaherty, Chair of the Working Group on Communications, said the Working Group had met, and at the conclusion of those sessions, it could be reported that 20 communications had been considered, and proposed the following to the Plenary: 5 views of inadmissibility, 10 views with violation, 5 with no violation, and 1 additional. The depletion in the numbers of the Working Group was a ground for some concern.

The next meeting of the Committee will be at 3 p.m. this afternoon, when it will take up the sixth periodic report of Poland (CCPR/C/POL/6).

Report of El Salvador

The sixth periodic report of El Salvador (CCPR/C/SLV/6) notes that the period covered by the report saw major efforts to consolidate the civil and political rights already established and recognized in El Salvador; institutional changes were introduced consistent with the country’s requirements, and mechanisms were set up to meet the needs of the population. This process has furthered the elaboration and implementation of national policies to strengthen the judicial system and enhance respect for the law and the legitimacy of institutions, without undermining the fundamental rights of citizens or suppressing political and ideological activities, provided they do not affect public order, morals, honour or the lives of others. Since the submission in 2002 of the last report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Government of El Salvador has focused on upholding the rights enshrined in that instrument.

Organizational and operational changes have been made in the bodies responsible for law enforcement and security and in institutions that work to ensure respect for human rights without any distinction, with a view to guaranteeing law and order and domestic peace and preventing social violence and crime. The problems and measures taken are being addressed in cooperation with a number of social groups and with inter-agency committees that have been set up. In assuming these responsibilities, El Salvador is working to promote the enjoyment of the rights of individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, applying the provisions emanating from the Constitution and national legislation in order to ensure effective respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The fundamental human rights and guarantees are set out in the Constitution in Title Two (Fundamental Human Rights and Guarantees), which enshrines the principle of equality of persons in the enjoyment of their civil rights, without distinction on the basis of nationality, race, sex or religion, and the obligation of the State to protect the right to life, physical and moral integrity, liberty, security, work and ownership and possession of property, as well as the right to be protected in the preservation and defence of these rights. The right to honour and to personal and family privacy and self-image is also safeguarded, and the law must establish the circumstances and situations in which a claim may be made for compensation for injury of a moral nature. For El Salvador, equality is a subjective right to obtain equal treatment which is possessed by all citizens, which imposes restrictions on the public power and obliges it to respect this right, and which requires that the adjudication of equal facts shall be identical in its legal consequences and ensure equality in the application of the law.

Presentation of Report

Eugene Aroneanu Arene Guerra, Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the report covered 2002-2007. The Government had undergone a radical change in terms of domestic and international policy with respect to the protection and guarantee of human rights, and this was hallmarked by a change in obligations, and the redress provided to victims of past human rights violations, as El Salvador was now taking the very first steps in complying with international human rights standards in this regard. He then passed the floor to a member of the delegation.

DAVID ERNESTO MORALES CRUZ, Director-General of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said El Salvador was approaching its job differently to ensure the promotion and guarantee of human rights in the framework of the new Government. The State was governed by principles of unity and ongoing commitment. As part of this review, some of the information provided in the sixth periodic report would have to be corrected, as the text met the approach of a State not complying with international obligations which was not shared by the current Government. Within the framework of the redress for victims of severe human rights violations, namely in the context of the domestic armed conflict, there had been a real change from the indifference and even refusal of the previous administration with regard to its obligations towards these victims. The new Government was seeking to restore the dignity of these victims, and had started participatory processes and dialogue with victims of serious human rights violations and with the organizations representing them. The current Government's approach was to establish a new policy of comprehensive redress for victims of armed conflict, and it had established a new Human Rights Commission in this regard. Another important aspect of this new vision was manifested on 16 January, with a celebration of the peace agreement, when the Head of State recognized that during the domestic armed conflict, State officials and those belonging to para-State bodies carried out serious human rights violations, recognising State responsibility for these acts. The Head of State had begged for forgiveness for these violations.

The problem of achieving full reparation for the victims of human rights violations required full State efforts, and a lot remained to be done, but what had been done was truly a step forward compared to the past. The Justice, Security and Coexistence Policies, adopted by the new Government, had a new approach, shouldering this as a State policy. Control and repression of crime were included in this, as were rehabilitation and social reintegration, attention to victims, and institutional and legal reform in justice. The new Security Policy also gave equal importance to prevention, reduction, and rehabilitation, which should be done together, through a democratic approach, with broad institutional and social participation. The main focuses of this were the approach to the peace agreement, gender balance, citizen participation, transparency, and the legitimate and never-arbitrary use of State force, among others. It was proper that the new approach went above and beyond simply fighting crime, including social rehabilitation, attention to victims, and social and legal reform, aiming to strengthen the autonomy of the General Inspectorate of the National Police of El Salvador.

There was affirmative action for children, youth, the elderly, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and persons of different sexual orientation. On indigenous peoples, the policy of non-recognition, of statistical and policy genocide, was at an end, and the State recognized that it was multi-cultural. There was a need for consensus with the indigenous peoples so that the State could work within their framework and respect the specificity of their rights. On sexual diversity, the State was directing its efforts to eradicate all forms of discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, promoting public policies to promote sexual diversity and full enjoyment of human rights. A number of processes had been initiated, but there were still problems and challenges faced by El Salvador to achieve the standards of protection and promotion of human rights as listed in the Covenant. The conclusions and recommendations resulting from the discussion would be taken by the State as a valuable instrument to promote and further protect human rights, and as such would be greatly valued.

Questions Raised by Committee Experts

Among questions and issues raised by Committee Experts following the presentation were that there could be a greater reliance on the Covenant by the domestic judicial system; what was El Salvador doing in the area of legal education to improve knowledge of the Covenant among judges and lawyers and at all levels of the system, including in particular continuing legal education for judges and lawyers; whether there was a vetting system in place to ensure compatibility of new legislation with the Covenant; there were still many unresolved disappearances, and, Committee members pointed out, these continued to be a criminal as well as a human rights matter until they were solved; what had been happening since the early 1990s with regard to the removal of police officers from their posts due to human rights violations; what funds, what budget and what was the timeline for reparations; the need to continue efforts to apply measures to redress human rights violations; that it was not enough to amend legislation and enact measures, but results in practice of legislative reforms had to be assessed and considered; a request for what exactly had been done to compensate victims and not just recognition of the offence committed against them; the need to remove all obstacles to bringing perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and punishing them fully; what was the role of the State in the new Indigenous Congress and whether the new State policy meant that the United Nations Convention 169 on Indigenous Peoples would now be ratified; and the need to provide gender-disaggregated information in all sectors.

Speakers also pointed out the need for the State party to have a discussion on abortion, as, since it was illegal and doctors had to report suspected cases of abortion, women were not going to hospitals when they needed to, and were dying, as well as ending up serving prison sentences, when men who were guilty of domestic violence, did not appear to be serving similar sentences. It was difficult to accept such an adamantine position, drawing no distinction between the most comprehensible and legitimate situations, such as rape and incest, and others. Women were sentenced to up to 30 years in prison for having had an abortion and it was difficult for the Committee to understand this. El Salvador needed to at least introduce appropriate new measures in this situation, as, an Expert said, the situation was simply not acceptable. The justice system needed to be reformed, but so did the criminal justice system with regard to punishments and responsibility. Many speakers also pointed out the problems linked to having received the responses to the list of issues only in Spanish.

Response by Delegation

Responding to these questions and issues and others, Mr. Guerra said El Salvador had opened up a Pandora's Box, and was ready to discuss the rights of women, indigenous peoples, and children. This was an important exercise - the State was learning how to impart justice, taking the first steps, and acknowledging there was a long road before it. However, the Government had only been in power for one year, and, since 1821, no dialogue had ever been opened on human rights in the country. Mr. Guerra also apologised for not having sent responses in English.

The delegation said that incorporating the Convention in the Constitution was an interesting issue, but in El Salvador the legal status of human rights treaties had been discussed in the legal bodies, including the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. Until the last decade, the idea that prevailed was that the treaties would not prevail over domestic law. This restricted perspective had been left behind in Salvadorian jurisprudence, and international treaties relating to human rights had been ruled to be a complement to the Constitution and as such had a binding legal force that was above domestic law. The courts were making efforts to incorporate human rights treaties into their rulings and using them as a basis thereof.

El Salvador wished to express its thanks to the authority granted to the Committee, and wished to have it on record that El Salvador was very grateful for its obligations to the Committee, as these meant that victims must have access to reparation and redress for the very serious human rights violations that occurred during the armed conflict. The State recognized these obligations, and that the fulfilment of these implicated all State bodies and institutions, and in that regard, the President, after decades of State inactivity, had started a process to try and fulfil these obligations. The State recognized that it needed tangible acts of redress and reparation to come up to scratch with its unmet obligations over time, but the Executive did, for the first time in history, have a very serious intent to restore the dignity of victims, which was unprecedented. Work was being done to ensure that victims could participate directly in a national action plan for redress, and this was being done in concert with human rights organizations.

The previous inter-Constitutional Commission for seeking children of the disappeared did not actually meet the appropriate standards, and the new Commission was much more in line with these efforts, the delegation said. At various times, the President had referred publicly to the right to justice, and the State would fully cooperate with all investigations and representations. It was the Constitutional Chamber which regulated the right of access to justice for victims, and the State recognized that there had been steps forward in this regard, but they were few, and were essentially focused on declarations and rulings. At the moment, on the agenda of the Executive, there was no plan for a discussion on the amendment or derogation of the 1993 amnesty law. However, its absolute legal force had been weakened, and jurisprudence stipulating the primacy of international treaties over domestic law was a second criterion weakening this. There was a very legal possibility to carry out investigations and ensure there was access to justice using this jurisprudence, as long as the judicial system used it properly.

The current Government, as a preventive mechanism, was strengthening institutional control and monitoring of the police and armed forces to ensure that those police or military officials who engaged in human rights violations could be judged and removed from their posts, the delegation said, and this was happening now. Any human rights violators trying to join the police force or armed forces would find that measures were in place to impede their actions, the delegation said. The National Police and National Public Safety Institute were also training new officers from a human rights-based approach, and included information about the Covenant in this regard. Police were being properly trained to investigate hate crime, but there were no figures at the moment to be shared with the Committee on convictions or investigations.

It was regrettable that El Salvador did not have 100 per cent of children in school yet, but the State was implementing a new strategy of inclusive education for both girls and boys, children with disabilities, and indigenous peoples, with another policy for full-time schooling to further reduce the literacy gap and ensure greater fairness.

With regard to indigenous peoples and the role of the State and its role in the First National Congress of Indigenous Peoples, the delegation said it was actually the Government that convened all organizations and associations of indigenous peoples for this Congress, the purpose of which was, first of all, to enable indigenous peoples to agree among themselves on the agenda they wished to propose to the State. The State acknowledged that it could not impose anything on the indigenous peoples, and had to agree on an agenda with them in respect of their culture and their independence, and this was why it proposed establishing a National Indigenous Body to promote dialogue between the indigenous peoples and the State. The Government would respect consensus agreements arising from the first Congress, and the agenda arising there from. The role of the State in the Congress was to convene the meeting and provide facilities to allow indigenous peoples to meet and talk and draw up a common agenda among themselves. The State was working on adopting ILO Convention 169, and felt that this adoption should come from the indigenous peoples themselves.

With regard to abortion, the delegation said this was an extremely polemic issue in El Salvador. First, it was true that the Constitution determined that, right from conception, there was a human being, and legislation had developed which recognized those rights. Thus, the Criminal Code in 1998 criminalised all forms of abortion. The punishment for consenting abortion did not have a punishment of 30 years - it carried a penalty of two to eight. Criminal abortion carried a penalty from six months to two years. El Salvador recognized that the cases which human rights defenders and women's groups had mentioned with regard to sentences of thirty years against women were cases in which judicial errors occurred, as the men and women sentenced were not sentenced for abortion, but for homicide, as the evidence led the courts to determine that the human life of the child had become independent after birth, and that the death of the infant had occurred after birth.

Criminalisation of abortion was not absolute, as the Criminal Code did provide for cases where it was permissible, and the Supreme Court had ruled on this. There was no criminal responsibility for a person who infringed on the right of the child if there was a conflict of rights, such as the duty to protect the rights and life of the mother. Where these rights conflicted, then the courts had to act on a case-by-case basis. Efforts were being done to review sexual and reproductive education for girls and young women to prevent them from being placed in circumstances where they might be involved in such situations.

With regard to women's participation in Government and in public life in general, the delegation said the first thing to say was that despite the fact that the recent census showed that women made up more than 54 per cent of the overall population, and there was no strong presence of women in decision-making posts. The Equality and Discrimination against Women Bill had been prepared by the women's human rights association, and had been tabled on 18 March this year. It aimed to put in place quality institutions so that women did not have to face discrimination, with a gender-mainstreaming in State institutions, an annual and National equality plan, and a gender budget. State authorities would have to collect, analyze and publish gender-disaggregated data. There was also a commitment to do away with sexist language. There would also be a special guarantee for vulnerable women, such as the elderly, those doing domestic work, and others. The Bill contained equality criteria, and said that women ought to hold 50 per cent of Government posts, and there should be no lists submitted for election that did not reflect parity rules. The Bill on Violence against Women was also well on the way to becoming law, and had been discussed before the Legislative Assembly. It aimed to recognize women's right to a life free of violence.

In responses to follow-up questions, the delegation said that El Salvador was still fighting impunity, and was sure that the contributions of the Committee would help in this regard, and therefore the State would welcome any contributions made by the State in this regard. Although some members of the police force had been dismissed from their posts, a number had been reinstated. The Government was trying to change this situation. Another problem was the lack of disaggregated statistics on what penalties had been handed down for rights violations and which for other violations, and efforts were being made to analyze cases and take measures to ensure that the police did not violate human rights. Part of this was ongoing training of police in human rights.

In adult women, literacy levels were lower than among adult men, but in recent years, girls' entry and access to education had improved, but there were still real challenges in getting adolescents and girls to finish school, particularly middle school and university. At present, the State was endeavouring first to eradicate all forms of child labour, but particularly child labour for girls and female adolescents. Some progress was being made, and public opinion was gradually changing. There were programmes, scholarships, and assistance given to girls to keep them in school so that they were not forced to go out to work at a young age.

Again on abortion, the delegation said the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court felt that the Constitution's determination that a human person began at conception had determined that this was in accordance with the preamble of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which said that a child needed special protection and care and due legal protection, both before and after birth. Any recommendations that the Committee might like to make to restrict the legal protection given to the unborn child in relation to the human rights of the woman would be important, allowing El Salvador to make headway in this debate and come up with a solution that was in line with all international human rights instruments.

The current administration had a five-year plan to develop a mechanism to coordinate the various institutions of the State to follow up and implement the recommendations of international bodies, including civil society, human rights organizations, and victims of human rights violations.

Questions by Experts

Committee Experts then raised further issues and questions, touching upon such subjects as the problem of gangs, which were a law and order problem in many States, threatening security, which was undoubtedly a human right, but security mechanisms had to operate in respect of human rights enshrined in human rights instruments. With regard to domestic violence, a lot had been said already, but complaints on this in El Salvador remained very high, and although efforts were being made to improve the situation, that it remained so high was concerning, as it showed the continuance of gender stereotypes and patriarchal attitudes, not just in the family but across society, and an Expert asked if there was a centre monitoring incidents of domestic violence and providing legal assistance and remedies to victims. Experts also raised the issue of trafficking, appreciating the efforts made by the State to improve the situation, with institutional measures covering a range of Government departments, but noting that there were still insufficient investigations into issues of trafficking of women.

Another issue of interest was preventive, provisional or pre-trial detention, and its length, and Experts asked for clarification as to how this was used in practice, asking for data on the number of people who were currently in such detention, as this was a main focus of the Covenant, and it was important to know how habeas corpus was applied in this context. Was any attempt being made to solve over-crowding in prisons, such as non-custodial sentences, an Expert asked. What resources were available to foreigners and aliens to resist expulsion sentences, and were there provisions to ensure that they were heard was also an issue raised. The Committee welcomed the provision allowing State officials to belong to a trade union in the context of the freedom of association, noting that this was an important issue in Latin America. With regard to the basic foundational need to recognize the indigenous members of society, an Expert asked what efforts had been made to improve census methodology, and what were the effective rights of access of indigenous peoples to water and to agrarian reform, allowing them access to ancestral lands. What mechanism had been set up to repair judicial errors, and how did it go with the independence of the judiciary, an Expert asked.

Response by Delegation

In response to these and other issues, the delegation said with regard to gangs, this issue was improperly dealt with in previous years, particularly as the public security focus at that time was simply axed on repression, and very little was done on prevention of crime in society. Instead of actually preventing criminal behaviour amongst the gangs, the Government's activities actually heightened them. The Government's new approach was to protect the security of Salvadorians and those living in the country, and there was a coherent attempt to reduce and repress crime, as well as punishing it. There were many different causes giving rise to the gang phenomena. Unfortunately, violence in the country had resulted in repression in the majority of cases. With regard to police activity in this centre, women were increasingly victims of crimes including murder, and there were cases of femicide in the country. The Government was trying to tackle this through calling it femicide. Efforts would be made to better and more forcefully investigate such crimes.

On education programmes in the national police force, there was human rights training, and a National Public Security Academy which included human rights modules as part of its training to join the police force was an important part of initial training. There was also a human rights Inspectorate, which investigated allegations of human rights abuses committed by the police force, as well as providing human rights training. The Committee's opinion could help to make changes on the freedom of opinion in El Salvador, and thus the Committee should not hesitate to transmit its opinions in this regard. The use of the term "sect" in the report was out-dated, and was an inappropriate use - these groups were now referred to as "churches", and El Salvador would make sure that this and other uses of discriminatory language would be eradicated in the State reports and in general use as well. There was a Commission of State officials, coordinated by the State Secretary for Social Inclusion and including other Ministries such as that of public health, foreign affairs, and others, and it would hold an open dialogue over a period of four months with victims of human rights violations and others, following which it would submit a report to the President, which should result in a proposal early next year through which the State would adopt a National Plan of Action to be implemented by the various Ministries.

With regard to the protection afforded by law to people who had been granted refugee status, in this case the National Migration and Foreigners Law was applicable. This was an obsolete law, dating back to the 1950s, the delegation said, and there were procedures linked to it leading to rather arbitrary interpretations. There was a draft Bill on Migration and Foreigners which complied to international standards, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was working to ensure that international standards, particularly the observations of the Committee, would be included therein. El Salvador was developing a comprehensive human rights protection policy through consular protection afforded to Salvadorians abroad - one third of the population was abroad, and suffered serious human rights violations, particularly as they ventured northwards, and this meant that the State must guarantee the rights of foreigners on its own territory. Few of these were economic migrants, transiting in the country on their way North.

There were two kinds of detention - administrative detention, ordered by the Public Prosecutor's Office, which lasted 72 hours, after which it became detention for investigative purposes and lasted a further 72 hours, during which period a Justice of the Peace must determine whether the person involved would have proceedings initiated against them - they then moved to pre-trial detention or to an alternative. Salvadorian legislation did not just have alternative measures to detention - there were fines, weekend home arrests, community service and other ways of serving a sentence. There were people released on bail. There was an attempt to keep gang members separate in prison so as to avoid violence. There were about 8,500 identified active members of gangs. An anti-gang law, subsequently declared anti-constitutional and declared null and void, had provided for gang members under 18 to be assessed to determine whether they were aware enough to be tried as adults. Individuals under 18 who had committed crimes were now given special treatment under the Criminal Justice Code provisions, and currently children under 12 were exempt from any form of criminal responsibility. For children between 12 and 18, they received special treatment - they did not receive punishment but were subject to education measures and measures to restore their rights.

On domestic violence, the delegation said there were high rates of this, particularly against women, children and adolescents in the home. This was a major concern for the Government, particularly as there was a great problem of under-recording, as not all persons had the ability to enter complaints. Due to criminal legislation, prosecutors and the police recorded these events under other lists, such as grievous bodily harm, sexual violence, or deprivation of liberty, and this caused under-recording of the phenomenon. Work was being done to reverse this situation, as it was only with reliable data that the situation could be tackled properly. Lack of access to justice was being tackled by the Government at the moment, in particular through educating children, women and girls, making it easer for them to access justice as well as the advice and care they required. Comprehensive legislation was being drafted to restore the rights of women.

With regard to trafficking in persons, the delegation was grateful that the Committee recognized the efforts made to eradicate this and to provide care and assistance to victims and survivors, but noted that one of the weak points was investigating, prosecuting and convicting networks of traffickers in El Salvador. This was something the National Committee against Trafficking in Persons was trying to combat in El Salvador. Recently, it had been determined that a major problem was a lack of coordination between the justice system and the police, and other bodies dealing with this situation. A first phase had been completed, but the Government was still trying to determine what elements of the lack of coordination were impacting on the situation and the lack of prosecutions. The Government would be grateful for any recommendations made by the Committee to make any headway on this issue. When it came to restoring the rights of the victims, a real effort was being made to establish a model of comprehensive care for the victims who had survived this crime.

The State now had a Directorate for Indigenous Peoples as part of the Ministry for Social Inclusion, in order to promote all the rights of individuals belonging to indigenous peoples. The Ministry had also set up technical teams, with representatives from different Governmental institutions and representatives of all the associations and organizations of indigenous peoples, who were meeting in the first National Congress of Indigenous Peoples. The State believed that any action or policy for indigenous peoples could not be unilaterally adopted - this would merely repeat earlier patterns of exclusion and would not be in line with a human rights approach, as it would be seeing indigenous peoples as objects, not as persons.

In response to brief follow-up questions, the delegation said that on availability of a lawyer for a detainee, the Constitution determined that they should have such access from the moment they were arrested. The Prosecutor's Office could provide legal aid should this be required. El Salvador currently faced a new situation, being under a legal obligation to develop a national system for the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents, and it had been working on two areas in this regard, assessing the cost of the necessary investment required to meet standards under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure full enjoyment of their rights, and secondly was assessing the cost of installing this national system for comprehensive care that would guarantee and make accessible the rights of children and adolescents. Existing mechanisms were also being adapted, and the role of new mechanisms was being considered. There was a guarantee of the independence of the judiciary vis-à-vis the Executive.

Concluding Remarks

EUGENE ARONEANU ARENE GUERRA, Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the United Nations Office at Geneva, in concluding remarks, said the delegation would be leaving the room strong with the knowledge and experience of the Experts that they had shared. He assured the Committee that the delegation would communicate each and every observation to the Government, in order to improve the efforts that the Government was taking in the field of human rights in El Salvador.

YUJI IWASAWA, Committee Chairperson, thanked the delegation of El Salvador for coming and for responding to questions and engaging in a dialogue which was very constructive. He thanked the delegation for being frank and forthcoming in their responses.


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