Thousands of children swept up in El Salvador mass arrests, rights body says

About 3,000 children – including some as young as 12 – have been swept up in El Salvador’s mass detentions since President Nayib Bukele began his crackdown on gangs two years ago, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The report, which draws on case files and almost 100 interviews with victims, police and officials, documents the arbitrary detention of children and ill-treatment that in some cases amounted to torture.

Since the state of emergency began in March 2022, security forces have raided neighbourhoods where gang control and violence was once a constant, arresting more than 80,000 people.

Two gangs – Barrio 18 and MS13 – had dominated life in El Salvador since the 1990s. By 2015, they counted on 60,000 members in a country of 6 million. Most businesses were extorted and the annual homicide rate was 103 per 100,000.

By locking up more than 1% of the population, Bukele has turned one of Latin America’s most violent countries into one of its safest: according to official data, in 2023 the homicide rate had fallen to 2.4 per 100,000.

But human rights organisations have documented arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and massive violations of due process.

HRW’s investigation showed that many of the children arrested in the crackdown have no apparent connection to gangs or criminal activities.

In prison, the children face overcrowding, poor food and healthcare, and have been denied access to lawyers and family members.

In some cases children were held alongside adults during their first days after their arrest, before being moved to overcrowded juvenile facilities which the authors describe as “dangerous and dehumanising environments that fail to prioritise children’s well-being and reintegration”.

More than 1,000 of the arrested children have been convicted with sentences of between two to 12 years in prison, often on broad charges such as unlawful association and using uncorroborated police testimony.

In many cases children were coerced into giving confessions of gang affiliation through a combination of abusive plea deals and mistreatment.

The report calls on the government to begin a review of the cases of those detained during the state of emergency, prioritising children and other vulnerable detainees.

It also calls on foreign governments and international financial institutions to refrain from approving loans that would benefit the agencies directly involved in the abuses, such as the security forces, the prison system and the attorney general’s office.

“The government’s harsh targeting of children risks perpetuating the cycle of violence in El Salvador,” said Juanita Goebertus Estrada, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Foreign governments should urge the government to end its human rights violations and protect the lives and futures of children.”

Despite the well-documented human rights abuses committed during the crackdown, improvements in security have helped make Bukele one of the region’s most popular presidents.

Although El Salvador’s constitution bars presidents from a second consecutive term, Bukele appointed new judges to the constitutional court who ruled that he could run again.

Bukele won the election in February by such a margin that the country is now close to being a one-party state.