© Jose Cabezas / Archyde.com
Women try to talk to their detained children, when they are transferred to a prison, in the midst of the emergency regime decreed by the Government of El Salvador to combat gangs, on April 1, 2022.
Faced with the current crisis of violence that the Central American country is going through and which has been caused by gangs, known as maras, Unicef issued a statement asking the Government of Nayib Bukele to review the measures that allow the arrest and conviction of minors, arguing that “it is not the solution” and that the provisions are not consistent with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) “strongly” asked the Salvadoran authorities to evaluate the established measures that allow the arrest and conviction of minors, in the context of the so-called “war against gangs” led by the Government of Nayib Bukele.
“At this decisive moment, we strongly urge the Government of El Salvador to review the changes in the juvenile criminal law. The rights of children and adolescents apply at all times, even in states of exception”, such as the one that has been in force in El Salvador since March 27, Unicef said in a statement through its web portal.
The international entity pointed out that the legislative modifications approved on March 30, which intensify the treatment of minors who are accused of belonging to gangs, do not comply with the provisions established in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which El Salvador is part.
Minors could face up to 20 years in prison.
The agency refers to the changes established in the Salvadoran juvenile criminal law, which now states that children and adolescents who “are convicted of committing a crime as part of a criminal group and who are between 12 and 15 years old of age could face up to 10 years in prison,” while those over 16 could face up to 20 years.
Unicef recalls that all minors “must be protected from arrest”, as it is stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and stresses that this measure should only be applied as a last resort and in the shortest possible time.
Evidence shows that incarceration increases the chances that minors will drop out of school and commit crimes in the future, “thus perpetuating cycles of violence, exclusion and poverty,” Unicef adds in its statement.
“Imprisoning children and adolescents is not the solution to gang violence”
The agency stressed that punitive measures alone “will not solve gang violence” and that minors can be victims of violence by gangs, as well as being part of them, since they can be recruited and used , he pointed out.
The published document also recalled that, in recent years, El Salvador has made significant progress in terms of the protection of children and adolescents, in order to guarantee their rights with social policies focused on children and with initiatives in educational programs that have been shown to prevent violence. .
“You can go further: work with communities to promote safe and positive interactions that prevent their recruitment into gangs. It is about empowering children and adolescents to create a culture of peace,” reads the publication.
International community expresses its “concern”
On the other hand, different countries and international organizations have expressed their concern about the measures implemented in El Salvador to curb gang violence.
For its part, from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, they expressed concern last Tuesday about the situation in El Salvador.
“We are deeply concerned about the series of measures recently introduced in El Salvador in response to the increase in gang murders,” said the spokeswoman for this UN dependency, Liz Throssell, through a press release.
While the United States, last Wednesday, called on the Bukele government to rescind the current emergency regime “as soon as the situation of violence allows” and urged respect for the human rights of Salvadorans, including those detained.
Controversy over measures against gangs
In El Salvador, Parliament approved the emergency regime at the request of its head of state, Nayib Bukele, in the face of the increase in homicides, which made last March 26 the deadliest day in the recent history of the Central American country with 62 murders. attributed to gangs.
In this context and making use of the state of exception, the Salvadoran authorities have carried out massive arrests of alleged members of the gangs, called the maras, which are criminal organizations that have around 70,000 members and are directly related to extortion, drug trafficking , arms smuggling, among other crimes.
With EFE and local media