Document #1277681
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Information on the rate of prosecution or
conviction in cases of violent crime in El Salvador could not be
found among the sources currently available to the DIRB.
Please find attached documents that add to
the information provided in Response to Information Request
SLV18257.E of 23 September 1994. The attachments include a report
on the results of the most recent evaluation of the judicial system
of El Salvador currently available to the DIRB. This report
summarizes the evaluation of 121 judges from different tribunals
(criminal, civil, commercial, juvenile, traffic, labour and
property) across the country as performed by the National Judiciary
Council (CNJ) (Central America Report 23 Sept. 1994, 2-3).
The document states that in the future the CNJ plans to evaluate
"impunity in the courts and will review of [sic] the number of
guilty verdicts delivered in criminal cases" (ibid, 3).
Other attachments report on violent crime,
public security and the prison situation in El Salvador during the
first months of the current Calderón Sol administration.
However, some of these reports discuss the efficiency of the
prosecution, not the rate of prosecution or conviction. For
example, the report on the eleventh ONUSAL report refers to 75
cases before the Supreme Court that ONUSAL's Division of Human
Rights considers "most representative of first degree human rights
abuses (violations of the right to life)" (ibid. 2 Sept. 1994,
2).
The July 1994 Lawyers Committee for Human
Rights Critique: Review of the Department of State Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993, available at your
Regional Documentation Centre, provides comments on the Salvadoran
judiciary and security forces which may be of interest.
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
Central America Report [Guatemala
City]. 23 September 1994. "Judicial Reform: Sparks Fly over CNJ
Study."
_____. 2 September 1994. "ONUSAL
Releases XI Human Rights Report."
Central America Report [Guatemala
City]. 23 September 1994. "Judicial Reform: Sparks Fly over CNJ
Study," pp. 2-3.
_____. 23 September 1994. "One Hundred
Days of Sol Reviewed," p. 7.
_____. 2 September 1994. "ONUSAL
Releases XI Human Rights Report," p. 7.
_____. 26 August 1994. Military and
Police Officers Under Arrest," p. 3.
_____. 19 August 1994. "More Blood on
Prison Walls," p. 4.
El Heraldo de Dos Mundos [San
Antonio, Tex.]. 10-16 September 1994. Rina Guadalupe Serrano.
"Death Squads Not Being Investigated." (Central America
NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 5-18 Sept. 1994, pp. 2-3)
Inter Press Service (IPS). 17 September
1994. "Vice Minister Denies Existence of Rearmed Groups."
(Central America NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 5-18 Sept. 1994, p.
4)
_____. 9 July 1994. Juan José
Daltón. "Military No Longer Above the Law." (Central
America NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 27 June-10 July 1994, pp.
3-4)
Los Angeles Times. 8 July 1994.
Tracy Wilkinson. "Cop's Alleged Role in Heist May Be Last Straw in
El Salvador." (Central America NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 11-24
July 1994, p. 2)
The New York Times. 11 September
1994. "El Salvador Struggles to Impose Justice." (Central
America NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 5-18 Sept. 1994, p. 3)
San Francisco Chronicle. 23
August 1994. Daniel Alder. "Crime Gangs Replace Death Squads in El
Salvador." (Central America NewsPak [Austin, Tex.] 22 Aug.-4
Sept. 1994, pp. 3-4)
Keesing's Record of World Events
[Cambridge, UK]. Monthly.
Facts on File [New York].
Monthly.
FBIS Latin American Daily Report
[Washington, DC].
Latin American Regional Reports:
Central America & the Caribbean [London, UK]. Monthly.
Latin American Weekly Report
[London, UK].
News from Americas Watch [New
York]. Monthly.
Latinamerica Press [Lima].
Weekly.
Newspapers and periodicals pertaining to
the appropriate region.
On-line searches of news articles.
Note:
This list is not exhaustive. Country-specific books available in the Resource Centre are not included.