[child-rights] El Salvador: Where are the disappeared children?

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International
AI INDEX: AMR 29/005/2003     30 July 2003

Amnesty International is today launching a new report on the children who 
"disappeared" in El Salvador during the armed conflict that took place in 
the country from 1980 to 1991 (full report online at 
http://amnesty-news.c.tclk.net/maabiWbaaZvJAbdTYAHb/ . Report in Spanish at 
http://amnesty-news.c.tclk.net/maabiWbaaZvJBbdTYAHb/ ).

The report, "El Salvador: Where are the disappeared children?", outlines 
the despair and tireless efforts made by parents and relatives of the 
disappeared children and non-governmental organizations to establish their 
fate, and the failure of authorities to address their claim of truth and 
justice.

"Those relatives have suffered for too long and deserve to know where their 
children are," Amnesty International said. "The failure of the authorities 
in El Salvador is only adding insult to injury".

It is estimated that some 75,000 people were victims of extrajudicial 
executions, unlawful killings, disappearances and torture, as a result of 
the armed conflict.

One of the worst periods of repression took place between 1980 and 1984, 
when the armed forces carried out 'cleansing' operations of the civilian 
population.

Various massacres took place during that period, including those of Río 
Sumpul and El Mozote, during which families became separated or parents 
were murdered and the surviving children taken by the soldiers. Some were 
taken to orphanages and other institutions; others were kept at military 
bases or in the houses of the soldiers and their families. Yet others were 
put up for adoption (both within the country and abroad). These are the 
"disappeared" children of El Salvador, whose families have been searching 
for them ever since.

In June 1982, Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz, 7 and 3 years old at the 
time, were caught up in an operation undertaken by the Salvadorean Army and 
became separated from their parents, brothers and sisters. They were 
captured by soldiers and, according to witnesses, were taken by helicopter 
to an unknown destination. Despite efforts made by their mother and others 
they are still unaccounted for.

"For 21 years the Salvadorean judicial system and the state have failed 
them and their family, to such an extent that on 18 June 2003 the 
Inter-American Commission of Human Rights submitted the case to the 
Inter-American Court of Human Rights," Amnesty International said "This is 
the first time that El Salvador will appear before the highest institution 
in the Inter-American system".

"Past and present Salvadorean authorities have failed in their duty to 
carry out thorough impartial and independent investigations and bring those 
responsible to justice in accordance to the San José Agreement - one of a 
series of agreements signed between the government and the armed opposition 
groups in 1990, near the end of the conflict. The agreement focused on 
respect for human rights, investigation into human rights violations, and 
the identification and punishment of those responsible." Amnesty 
International added.

"On one hand, the authorities have failed to investigate and punish past 
human rights violations. On the other, they refuse to even support efforts 
by parents, relatives and NGOs to find the disappeared children, like the 
establishment of a National Search Committee, given the evidence that many 
of them are still alive and have been found not only in El Salvador but in 
Italy, France and the USA, among other countries" Amnesty International 
stressed.

The organization calls on the authorities of El Salvador to:

- support the creation of the National Search Committee;

- implement the recommendations made by the Office of the Human Rights 
Procurator in 1998 and 2003 and by the Constitutional Division of the 
Supreme Court in specific cases;

- fulfil their obligations under international human rights standards on 
reparation to victims of human rights violations; and

- to ratify the Inter-American Convention on Enforced Disappearance of Persons.


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For a full copy of the report, please see:
http://amnesty-news.c.tclk.net/maabiWbaaZvJAbdTYAHb/ (English)
http://amnesty-news.c.tclk.net/maabiWbaaZvJBbdTYAHb/ (Spanish)

View all documents on El Salvador at 
http://amnesty-news.c.tclk.net/maabiWbaaZvJCbdTYAHb/

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