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.

References

Central America Report [Guatemala City]. 23 September 1994. "Judicial Reform: Sparks Fly over CNJ Study."

_____. 2 September 1994. "ONUSAL Releases XI Human Rights Report."

Attachments

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)

Additional Sources Consulted

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.