Document #1171356
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
The most detailed and updated information
on the requested subject currently available to the DIRB has been
provided by the Panamerican Health Organization/World Health
Organization office (OPS/OMS) in El Salvador and is attached to
this Response.
According to the attached document, the
services listed below are available to women who are victims of
domestic violence. According to the OPS/OMS, the services have
started operating very recently and their reach is therefore
limited:
1) Clinics for attending victims of sexual aggression: These
clinics have been in service since 1990 in the three main hospitals
of El Salvador (the Maternity Hospital of San Salvador, the San
Juan de Dios Hospital in Santa Ana and the Regional Hospital of San
Miguel). The clinics are coordinated by the National Family
Secretariat (Secretaría Nacional de la Familia), the MSPAS
[meaning not given] and the Department of Legal Medicine, with
support from the OPS. The clinics provide medical and psychological
assistance and initiate the legal proceedings by "clarifying the
proof of a crime" ("mejoramiento de la prueba del delito" in the
original Spanish text). Information on the cases dealt with by the
clinics is available through the OPS/OMS office in San
Salvador.
2) Woman and Child Protection Department of the Attorney General of
the Republic (Departamento de Protección del Niño y
la Mujer de la Fiscalía General de la República):
Created in December 1992, the department provides legal assistance
to women and children who are victims of sexual aggression and
moral and physical mistreatment. The department is located in San
Salvador, and information on the cases it has dealt with is
available through the OPS/OMS office or directly from the
department (address provided in the attached document).
3) Adjunct Attorney of Women's Human Rights (Procuraduría
Adjunta de los Derechos Humanos de la Mujer): The Adjunct Attorney
operates from the office of the Attorney for Human Rights,
receiving and investigating complaints of violations of the human
rights of women.
4) National Coordinator of the Salvadoran Woman (Coordinadora
Nacional de la Mujer Salvadoreña, CONAMUS): This is a
non-government organization that provides medical, psychological
and legal assistance and temporary shelter to abused women. CONAMUS
is located in San Salvador.
The OPS/OMS office in El Salvador reports
that the current legislation does not qualify domestic abuse as a
crime ("delito" in the Spanish text) (OPS/OMS 18 May 1993, 5). The
source also states that there are legal loopholes ("vacíos
legales") in the prosecution of rape cases (Ibid.). The
OPS/OMS office has offered to provide, upon further request and if
needed, detailed information on the proposed legislative changes to
the Family Code Project (Proyecto de Código de Familia) and
the Draft Project of the Penal Code (Anteproyecto de Código
Penal) presented to the Legislation Review Commission
(Comisión de Revisión de la Legislación).
Additional and/or corroborating information
could not be found among the sources currently available to the
DIRB.
Panamerican Health Organization/World
Health Organization (OPS/OMS), San Salvador. 18 May 1993. Fax
received by DIRB.
Panamerican Health Organization/World
Health Organization (OPS/OMS), San Salvador. 18 May 1993. Fax
received by DIRB, pp. 3-5.