Poverty increased and the government cut spending on health and education. Arbitrary detentions and human rights violations continued to arise due to the state of emergency. There were serious failings in the judicial system. Prison overcrowding persisted, with incarceration rates among the highest globally. Detention conditions were inhumane, with reports of torture and other ill-treatment, and the government failed to act to address the situation. Freedom of expression and the public’s right to information were eroded, and journalists were at risk of harassment and violence. Security forces restricted the freedom of movement of protesters challenging budget cuts, and public sector workers were dismissed for participating. Human rights defenders were at increased risk of attacks and harassment under the state of emergency.
Background
The state of emergency that began in March 2022 was ongoing. Regional and international human rights mechanisms continued to raise concerns over human rights violations committed during the state of emergency, as documented by various local and international organizations.1
In February, Nayib Bukele was re-elected as president following a controversial interpretation of the constitution by the Supreme Court that allowed him to stand again despite a prohibition on immediate re-election.
Recent constitutional reforms raised concerns over the restriction of public participation in the reform process, narrowing the space for debate and discussion on matters of public interest. The concentration of power within the ruling party and the absence of institutional checks and balances allowed these reforms to pass without civil society consultation, exacerbating the human rights crisis and further weakening the rule of law.2
Economic, social and cultural rights
The Legislative Assembly approved the government’s 2025 budget proposal that prioritized spending on security and defence, while key sectors such as health and education faced significant cuts, impacting the population’s access to these rights, in turn deepening social inequalities. According to a 2024 World Bank report, extreme poverty rose between 2019 and 2023. In 2023, more than 1.9 million people were living in poverty – 55,097 more than in 2022 – with a poverty rate of 30.3%, compared with 26.8% in 2019.
Arbitrary detention and unfair trials
Since the state of emergency began in 2022 up to the end of 2024, according to the authorities there had been 83,900 detentions. Most detainees had been charged with “illicit associations” and other gang-related crimes. According to local human rights organizations, one third of people detained under the state of emergency had no gang affiliations or criminal records of any kind, reflecting the indiscriminate application of these measures across the population.
A special report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights confirmed that the state of emergency had led to mass arbitrary detentions and systematic human rights violations, including the lack of effective judicial oversight of these detentions and the imposition of preventive detention without sufficient evidence. The commission also expressed concern over mass judicial hearings and restrictions on the right to defence, which severely undermined due process and fundamental judicial guarantees.
Civil society organizations continued to denounce the inefficacy of the judicial system, particularly the Supreme Court’s failure to process habeas corpus petitions, increasing detainees’ vulnerability. A recent study from the Due Process of Law Foundation, published in May, found that between March 2022 and March 2023 the Constitutional Chamber admitted only 1.6% of habeas corpus petitions filed in the context of the state of emergency, with favourable rulings in just 0.4% of cases. According to the findings of this study, excessive delays and unnecessary formalities in processing these petitions effectively amounted to a denial of justice, further entrenching detainees’ defencelessness.
Inhumane detention conditions
The prison system continued to be critically overcrowded, with an occupancy rate of 350%, according to local NGOs, making it one of the highest incarceration rates globally. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, detention conditions were inhumane, with reports of torture and other ill-treatment, lack of access to medical services, and excessive use of force by prison guards.
Detained women continued to be denied specific care to meet their needs, including reproductive health services and protection against gender-based violence by prison guards.
According to reports from Salvadoran organizations, more than 300 deaths in state custody were recorded between March 2022, when the state of emergency was declared, and 15 December 2024. These deaths were attributed to torture and other ill-treatment as well as inadequate medical care.
Human rights organizations denounced the state’s failure to effectively address these conditions, calling for an urgent review of sanitary conditions in prisons and immediate measures to ensure access to medical care. Despite repeated requests for intervention, the government’s response was inadequate, with reports of deaths in custody continuing throughout the year. Local human rights victims’ movements voiced grave concerns, prompting heightened scrutiny from international and regional human rights mechanisms over the inhumane treatment of detainees.
The lack of state transparency in investigations and reporting on alleged ill-treatment and medical neglect in specific cases was flagged by UN human rights mechanisms; these requested further information from the Salvadoran government regarding these abuses and the dire detention conditions.
Freedom of expression, association and assembly
The prolonged state of emergency continued to erode freedom of expression. Attacks on journalists and media outlets increased by 66% in 2024 compared with 2023, according to the Salvadoran Journalists’ Association (APES).
Journalists were frequently subjected to social media attacks and digital monitoring. Female journalists were particularly at risk, facing not only harassment but also digital violence and sexual harassment, according to APES.
The Inter-American Press Association and the Committee to Protect Journalists raised alarms over the escalating repression against the independent press. On 20 November 2022, digital media outlet El Faro filed a lawsuit in a US federal court against NSO Group, the Israeli company behind the Pegasus spyware, alleging surveillance of more than 20 of its journalists. In July, technology companies including Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn supported El Faro’s appeal by submitting briefs in favour of the case.
In the context of the electoral process, the OAS electoral observation mission reported inequalities and challenges. These were the result of a series of legal reforms and restrictions on fundamental freedoms imposed by the state of emergency, which created an atmosphere of self-censorship that hindered open political participation.3
The authorities severely restricted the public’s access to accurate and timely information, also hindering access to public information held by the state.
In October, media sources reported that security forces had imposed restrictions on the free movement of demonstrators, limiting their rights to peaceful assembly and expression during protests by the public education and healthcare sectors against the proposed budget cuts in 2025. Local organizations documented multiple dismissals of public sector employees, primarily those who had actively organized and participated in the protests. At least 66 dismissals of people who had protested were reported across the education and healthcare sectors. Labour unions denounced these actions as reprisals for participation in protests. By the end of the year, local media had reported more than 3,000 dismissals in the public sector, many of whom were believed to have been involved in the protests. The government presented these dismissals as part of a general budget-cutting policy affecting various government institutions.
Human rights defenders
The situation for human rights defenders worsened significantly under the prolonged state of emergency. A collective of local human rights organizations reported a 24.2% increase in attacks on human rights defenders in 2023 compared with 2022. These attacks, mostly perpetrated by state agents, targeted women defenders, journalists, and organizations advocating for freedom of expression, women’s rights and environmental protection. LGBTI and Indigenous rights defenders were also subjected to violations.
Harassment against human rights defenders included police surveillance, threats and arbitrary detentions. Human rights organizations reported the use of undercover agents and defamatory social media campaigns against people defending victims of human rights violations committed during the state of emergency.
The government continued its attempts to silence critical voices by criminalizing and repressing human rights defenders, especially those seeking justice for arbitrarily detained individuals, environmental defenders, and those advocating for land and territory rights.
Sexual and reproductive rights
Abortion remained prohibited under all circumstances. In January, the last woman convicted of aggravated homicide after an obstetric emergency and part of the global campaign “Las 17 y más” was released after serving eight years of a 30-year prison sentence. According to the Citizens’ Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion, seven women were facing legal proceedings relating to obstetric emergencies, although they had not been incarcerated, at the end of the year.
On 20 December, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned the Salvadoran state in the case of Beatriz and others. Beatriz was a young Salvadoran mother who experienced a pregnancy that gravely endangered her health and whose fetus was incompatible with life. Against her explicit will, the Salvadoran authorities denied her timely access to terminate her pregnancy in 2013.4
- “El Salvador: The institutionalization of human rights violations after two years of emergency rule”, 27 March ↩︎
- “El Salvador: Constitution ‘à la carte’ could deepen human rights crisis in coming years”, 3 May ↩︎
- “El Salvador: Human rights crisis could deepen during Bukele’s second term”, 6 February ↩︎
- “El Salvador: IACtHR advances reproductive justice with ruling in favor of Beatriz and her family”, 23 December ↩︎
