By Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — The Constitutional Chamber of El Salvador’s Supreme Court has found articles 1 and 4 of the 1993 Amnesty Law unconstitutional. These articles extended amnesty to certain people and crimes committed during El Salvador’s civil war beyond international law, violating the fundamental rights for the victim’s of genocide and crimes against humanity. In a 4 to 1 vote the judges ruled that provisions in the law contradict the right to moral reparations, “Crimes against humanity don’t have statute of limitations according to international law.” Without the Amnesty Law the government can now investigate, prosecute, sanction, and remedy severe human rights violations.

According to the UN Truth Commission the Salvadorian army committed massacres in villages that were suspected of supporting guerrillas. Over 75,000 El Salvadorians were raped, tortured, killed or disappeared between 1980 and 1992, during the country’s civil war. The report listed names of those responsible for these human rights violations and found that the Salvadoran army and paramilitary groups committed 85 percent of these crimes and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) committed about five percent.

A part of the peace agreement between the Salvadoran government and the FMLN included a clause called the Law of National Reconciliation which granted amnesty to both parties. However, in accordance with international law those that were listed in the UN report were excluded from being granted amnesty. Both sides signed the law in 1992 but it was quickly superseded by the 1993 Amnesty Law passed by the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly, which granted amnesty to all of those who committed human rights violations. The Amnesty Law has since been protested by grassroots efforts, NGOs, and international bodies such as the Center for Justice and Accountability and the Spanish Association for Human Rights, Amnesty International, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of Organization of American States.

Many are celebrating the court’s ruling, such as Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, “Today is an historic day for human rights in El Salvador. By turning its back on a law that has done nothing but let criminals get away with serious human rights violations for decades, the country is finally dealing with its tragic past. El Salvador must waste no time and bring all those suspected of criminal responsibility for the tens of thousands of unlawful killings and enforced disappearances that were committed during the internal armed conflict to justice. Victims should not be made to wait for justice, truth and reparation for a second longer.” But others are concerned that the decision is empty without strong and impartial institutions to investigate war crimes and start prosecutions.

Politicians are especially reluctant to revisit human rights violations during the civil war since many of them were involved in the conflict and had previously enjoyed protection from prosecution with the Amnesty Law. As a guerrilla leader during the war, even President Salvador Sanchez Ceren is among many of the country’s leaders that could be investigated, prompting political divide and opportunity with upcoming elections.

El Salvador’s attorney general, Douglas Melendez, says the government will abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling. But until a prosecution unit is established to investigate these war crimes, justice for the victims’ families will continue to be on hold.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – El Salvador Rejects Amnesty Law in Historic Ruling – 14 July 2016

Council on Hemispheric Affairs – El Salvador’s 1993 Amnesty Law Overturned: Implications for Colombia – 25 July 2016

New York Times – Seeking Justice in El Salvador – 22 July 2016

PANAM Post – El Salvador’s War Criminals Lose Legal Immunity – 18 July 2016

By Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Severe drought since mid-2014 has obliterated crops and intensified hunger for 2.8 million people in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Although the latest El Nino has ended, it caused a shift in weather patterns throughout the world and sea levels to rise to their highest levels in nineteen years, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Disaster response advisor for Central America at the U.N. humanitarian agency (OCHA) Gianni Morelli said, “People are and have been selling their assets to survive, selling land and seeds, reducing the number of meals a day and reducing their amount of protein intake. Right now the situation is very serious, and it’s fragile.” The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates some 3.5 million people are struggling to feed themselves in Central America’s “dry corridor” and 2.8 million rely on food aid to survive.

In Guatemala, areas like Chiquimula are severely impacted and the drought has worsened the hunger problem, especially among the country’s large indigenous population. Children as young as two are being treated for malnutrition at local clinics. Fresh water is also becoming scarce in this area as the level of the Jupilingo River has dropped and the hillsides deforested. Local resident Elda Perez Recinos said, “We walk three hours a day to get water, and after that we go out to look for firewood.” Experts call the period between June and September “seasonal hunger.” During this period between harvests the Guatemalan government has to provide food assistance to a million people but the drought has further depleted the harvests and limited the yield and income for farmers.

In El Salvador, President Salvador Sanchez Ceren declared a water shortage emergency for the first time in its history earlier this year, citing the effects of the El Nino phenomenon and climate change.

In April the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said it is providing food aid including rice and beans as well as cash for people to buy food at local markets. The Embassy of the United States of America in Honduras has contributed 75 percent of the funds received to serve drought-affected families in Honduras. The Minister Counselor of the Embassy of the United States of America said, “Investing in the health and nutrition of families is investing in the future of your communities.  That’s why it is important that you, the beneficiary, invest in feeding your family and that the works carried out in your communities are works for the benefit of all. Such long-term improvements including schools, roads, and drains strengthen you to be able to face future emergencies.”

More efficient irrigation systems and drought-resistant crops can help farmers better adjust and prepare for long dry spells. Until then, the effects of poor harvests and lost livestock will continue to hurt families as the rainy season has started a month late with inconsistent rainfall.

For further information, please see:

Appeal Democrat – Drought Heightens Seasonal Food Scarcity in Guatemala – 13 June 2016

Reuters – El Salvador declares drought emergency for first time ever – 14 April 2016

Thomas Reuters Foundation News – Nearly 3mln People Need Food aid in Drought-hit Central America – UN – 27 May 2016

World Food Programme – Honduras: Thousands of Drought-Hit Families Receive Food Assistance to Ensure Their Food Security – 6 April 2016

By Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SMITHERS, British Columbia – Highway 16 is a remote stretch of road that cuts west across four provinces in Canada to the Pacific Ocean. A section of the road in British Columbia runs near remote logging towns and Indian reserves and has become known as the “Highway of Tears” due to the dozens of women and girls that have gone missing or been murdered near the highway. Most of these women and girls are indigenous and almost all of the cases continue to go unsolved.

The impoverished area and nonexistent public transportation has made hitchhiking a common means of transit. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) formed a special unit that has officially linked eighteen of these unsolved cases that occurred from 1969 to 2006 to the highway but families, activists, and the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, believe the number is much higher. Complaints of racism and sexism committed by the police as well as disparities in police action for non-Indigenous women that have gone missing are behind this claim. Minister Bennett said the police often fail to do investigations and deem the deaths of indigenous women and girls to be suicides, accidents, or drug overdoses. She said, “What’s clear is the uneven application of justice.”

A United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women report completed last year found the previous government’s efforts under Prime Minister Stephen Harper to protect indigenous women from harm to be “inadequate” and found “grave violations” of the women’s human rights with the lack of an inquiry into the disappearances and murders. The report said failures by law enforcement have “resulted in impunity.”

Canada’s new government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised a “total renewal” of the country’s relationship with indigenous people and in December Trudeau announced a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls which completed the public participation stage of the inquiry design process this past spring. Nationally, the RCMP has officially counted a total of 1,181 missing and murdered indigenous women and girls but research done by the Native Women’s Association of Canada finds the number could be as high as 4,000 women and girls. The national inquiry is expected to cost $40 million ($31 million U.S.).

British Columbia has committed $3 million to improve public transit along the “Highway of Tears.” This includes extending transit services, sharing costs with First Nations reserves for community vans, and highway infrastructure safety improvements, including webcams and transit shelters.

Families and supporters continue their efforts to search for the missing. Ten years ago families walked a 700km stretch of Highway 16 from Prince Rupert to Prince George to raise awareness and improve safety along the highway and the walk is being done again over the next three weeks, ending on June 21, National Aboriginal Day. The first walk ended with a two-day Highway of Tears Symposium that focused on prevention, support, and emergency planning. Since then the Highway of Tears Initiative has been making efforts to implement recommendations from the symposium to build community supports and do workshops with first responders, but with limited funding. Brenda Wilson, the only official staff member of the initiative, said, “Some of the things with the government have changed. They’re starting to recognize the work that needs to be done in a lot of our communities between Prince George and Prince Rupert. This is Northern British Columbia. We need to be in the forefront. We can no longer be silenced. We need to be a part of British Columbia.”

For further information, please see:

New York Times – Dozens of Women Vanish on Canada’s Highway of Tears, and Most Cases Are Unsolved – 24 May 2016

CBC – Highway of Tears ‘cleansing walk’ begins in Prince Rupert – 3 June 2016

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Report of the Inquiry Concerning Canada – 30 March 2015

The Government of Canada – National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls – 8 March 2016