CAT/C/SLV/CO/2
4.
The Committee appreciates the invitations extended by the State party to various
components of the special procedures, including the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its
causes and consequences.
5.
The Committee notes with satisfaction that the State party has eliminated the death
penalty. However, it recommends that the State party should also eliminate it for certain
military offences stipulated in military legislation during a state of international war.
6.
The Committee notes with appreciation the adoption of the Special Act on the
Protection of Victims and Witnesses in May 2006.
7.
The Committee welcomes:
(a)
The establishment of the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of
Children and Adolescents through the amendment of the Act on the Salvadoran Institute for
the Comprehensive Development of Children and Adolescents in July 2006;
(b)
July 2002;
The establishment of the Commission on Refugee Status Determination in
(c)
The establishment in June 2000 of a Human Rights Unit within the National
Civil Police, composed of three departments: promotion, protection and administration.
8.
The Committee notes with satisfaction that on 1 April 2004 the Constitutional
Division of the Supreme Court found that a number of articles in the Anti-Gang Act
violated the Constitution and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as they breached
the fundamental principle of equality before the law; it also found that the Act presupposed
that individuals engaged in criminal activities on the basis of their personal or social
circumstances rather than the actual commission of an offence, and also ruled that a child
may not be tried as an adult.
9.
The Committee welcomes the willingness of the Government to institute a policy of
full acknowledgement of its international obligations in the field of human rights arising
from the international treaties ratified by the State party, and to recognize the right of
victims of human rights violations to know the truth, to have access to justice and to obtain
adequate reparation.
C.
1.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Definition of torture
10.
Despite the fact that article 297 of the Criminal Code and the Constitution provide a
definition of torture, the Committee reiterates its concern, already expressed at the time of
its consideration of the initial report, that the State party has still not brought the definition
of the crime of torture in its domestic legislation into line with the provisions of article 1
and the requirements of article 4 of the Convention. The Committee notes with concern that
the definition of torture does not include specification of the purpose of the crime, that no
aggravating circumstances have been indicated, that the possibility of attempted torture is
excluded, and that it does not encompass intimidation or coercion of the victim or a third
person or discrimination of any kind as a motive or reason for inflicting torture. It also lacks
provisions defining as an offence torture inflicted at the instigation or with the consent or
acquiescence of a public official or other person performing official functions. The
Committee is also concerned that domestic legislation contains no provision for the
application of appropriate penalties in the light of the serious nature of the crime of torture
(arts. 1 and 4).
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