From: Christic Institute <christic@igc.apc.org>
Subject: ONUSAL REPORTS
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 03:45:33 GMT

/* Written  4:37 pm  Oct  2, 1992 by codehuca in cdp:carnet.alerts */
/* ---------- "ONUSAL REPORTS" ---------- */
                Current situation in El Salvador

This information is taken from reports from: the National Human
Rights Commission in El Salvador (non-governmental, CDHES, member
of CODEHUCA); the United Nations Verification Mission in El
Salvador (ONUSAL), and impressions of CODEHUCA workers who recently
visited El Salvador.
ONUSAL recently published the following denunciatons received by
them:
                  Total amount of denunciatons

                         Aug./Dec. 1991      Jan./May 1992  Total

Executions/deaths              62                 105        167
Death threats                  79                 138        217
Forced disappearances           9                  15         24
Kidnappings                    49                  44         93
Torture/ill treatment         110                 109        219
Illegal detentions            435                 261        696
Freedom of movement            55                  17         72
Proper legal process           39                 318        357
Freedom of association         13                  24         37
Freedom of speach               5                  15         20
Humanitarian right            399                 103        502

It is interesting to see that some improvement has been made
especially when we look at the freedom of movement and the illegal
detentions, but with others there is hardly any change or even an
increase in the violations. Especially the rise in violations of
social and economical rights as, for instance, the freedom of
association, is a worrying fact.

Some comments on this report:
Arbitrary executions/deaths, mainly to be found in the central and
western parts of the country, are attributed to regional military
personnel. In the eastern and paracentral regions most attacks
against the right to life have a common crime nature, and are
attributed not only to civilians, but in an increasing amount to
soldiers. We consider that the government sistematically neglects
the judicial norms that obliges the State to prevent and, when
necessary, to investigate, judge and punish those responsible for
arbitrary executions. This should be changed.

Death threats: Since January 1992 there are more threats than
before: some 93 threats can be attributed to the Armed Forces - the
others come from clandestine, right-wing organized groups.
The State should protect civilians against these threats, and
measurements should be taken to identify those responsible.
Besides, there should exist regulations to forbid spreading this
kind of information via radio or television, without violating the
freedom of speach.

Forced disappearances: Although ONUSAL received more reports this
year they state that there is no evidence of a sistematic practice,
and that this is an advance. That might be so but it is a worrying
fact that after the signing of the Accords this violation still
exists and is even rising.

Kidnappings: Some 69 were attributed to the FMLN, and although more
allegations were made, these could not be proved. The FMLN stopped
with this practice and the others can be attributed to the Armed
Forces or clandestine organized groups. We consider that this
practice should disappear completely and this could be done through
taking simple measurements in detention procedures.
Torture: Torture could be proved in a limited amount of the cases,
but not that it is a sistematical practice. A worrying fact is that
this could be proved for cruel physical and mental treatment and
punishment. As this is still a common practice, more attention
should be paid to the training of the (new) policeforce, and
measurements should be taken to erradicate this practice.
Reforms in the judicial system - unfortunately a lot of delay in
approving the reforms - this should be a priority as an adequate
judicial system is essential to guarantee human rights. But this is
fundamentally dependent on the political will of the Salvadoran
government. They should take ONUSAL's recommendations serious,
something which has been gravely lacking up to now.

Another worrying fact is that the violations of economic and social
rights are increasing rapidly. During the first 6 months of 1992 we
received more reports on dismissals connected with union activities
than in 1991. The freedom of speach was also limited in several
occasions. This is a worrying fact as it shows that there is the
beginning of a change going on in human rights violations, a change
from civil and political rights towards economic and social rights.
We consider this not so surprising as the roots of the armed
conflict have not been solved by the Accords (for instance the land
problem, economic change, etc)

The National Concertation Forum finally was installed (half
september) in spite of all the efforts by the National Association
of Private Enterprise to block this installment. They are not going
to participate in the Forum, although they are supposed to.
Therefore, the President decided that all the reforms of the Labour
Code presented by this Forum will be analized by the Government and
the labour sector before they will be put into practice.
On 26 August 1992 a start was made with the verification of land
titles - in the former conflict zones - as were presented by the
FMLN. The verification will give priority to 537 accepted
properties as contrasted with a total of 7,773 FMLN combatants. The
amount of land inventorized by the FMLN goes up to some 300,000
manzanas (1 hectare = 0.75 manzana). According to the Minister of
Agriculture soms 37,5 manzanas will correspond to every FMLN
combatant which is "another agrarian reform". We will follow this
verification closely as the land tenancy is an important point in
the reconciliation process and the possibility for people to
reintegrate in civil life. Also because in the near future the full
demobilization of the FMLN and the beginning of the 1994 electoral
campaign will take place, and tensions are likely to rise.
The Salvadoran Human Rights Commission (CDHES), in coordination
with other organizations, has presented cases to the Truth
Commission, although they received threats by right-wing
organizations. The other organizations will present their cases
successively. They also started an education campaign regarding the
Truth Commission, so that people will understand the procedures and
the importance of the Commission. Besides, it might help people to
get over their fear, as still many people do not want to talk about
their experiences as they are afraid of what might happen. ONUSAL
had said that they would start an education campaign as well, but
up to now they have not started any. We consider it necessary that
they do start a vigorous educational campaign with the public,
devoting the appropiate financial and human resources to that work.
CODEHUCA (Central American Human Rights Commission)


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