El Salvador children tortured, imprisoned in gang crackdown

A child, victim of the earthquake, receives a plate of food while others wait in line on February 15, 2001, in Verapaz, El Salvador. [Getty Images]

More than 1,000 minors have been convicted of crimes under a state of emergency in force in El Salvador since March 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday, denouncing indiscriminate arrests and even torture.

Children have received sentences ranging from two to 12 years in prison, "often on such overly broad charges as unlawful association, and frequently on the basis of uncorroborated police testimony," the NGO said in a report.

"Through mistreatment including torture, some children have been coerced into confessing to being part of a gang or otherwise providing information about supposed gang affiliation," it added.

HRW said authorities have taken few, if any steps to protect children from violence at the hands of fellow detainees, and dozens have been held without contact with their families for weeks or months, or allowed to see their lawyer for only a few minutes before a hearing.

Gang-busting President Nayib Bukele's government has rounded up more than 80,000 presumed gangsters under a state of emergency that allows for arrests without a warrant.

The country last year recorded its lowest homicide rate in three decades, turning it from one of Latin America's deadliest countries into one of its safest.

Bukele's no-holds-barred approach has drawn criticism from human rights groups but made him the most popular leader in Latin America, according to a regional poll, and saw him reelected in February with 85 percent of votes cast.

Some 3,000 of those arrested in the crackdown were children and teenagers, according to the HRW report.

"Children from vulnerable communities in El Salvador are bearing the brunt of the government's indiscriminate security policies, suffering egregious human rights violations," HRW Americas director Juanita Goebertus said in a statement.

"The government should end its abusive approach and prioritize a rights-respecting and effective policy that dismantles criminal gangs, addresses child recruitment, and provides children with protection and opportunities," she added.

Last week, the Salvadoran NGO Cristosal said at least 176 children in the country have been orphaned by the death of a parent in custody.

In total, 261 adult detainees have died in jail since 2022, it said.

Bukele has rejected calls to end the state of emergency, and dismisses criticism from rights groups.