HUMAN RIGHTS-EL SALVADOR: U.N. Denounces Continued Violations
SAN SALVADOR, Nov 22 (IPS) - El Salvador's security forces continue to commit human rights violations despite improvement seen since the end of the country's civil war, a United Nations (U.N.) document reported.
The U.N. report revealed that of 222 denunciations of human rights abuses registered during the July-September 1994 period, 37.8 percent were attributed to the National Civilian Police and 18 percent to the judicial branch.
Non-identified individuals carried out 15.3 percent of the abuses, and 14 percent were attributed to the militarised National Police, to be dismantled in December.
The document which was presented on Monday to U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali reported 21 arbitrary executions, five attempted arbitrary executions, 20 death threats, three cases of torture and 15 cases of excessive use of force.
However, an improvement was seen compared to the March-June period during which 333 denunciations were registered, among them 28 arbitrary executions, nine attempted executions, 50 death threats, three cases of torture and 14 cases of excessive use of force.
From 1980 to 1992 El Salvador suffered a bloody civil war which cost 80,000 lives, left 2,500 people disappeared and 12,000 disabled.
According to the report, since an accord between insurgent forces and the government put an end to the war on Jan. 16, 1992 no case of forced disappearance - a technique which has commonly been used by Latin American security forces to do away with people without leaving tracks - has been registered. The document states that this is unprecedented in Latin America and "even more so during a transition to democracy."
The U.N. Mission in El Salvador called for the eradication of the use of politically-based violence and the dismantling of organised crime, "upon which it operates.
"The existence of organised crime networks, in some of which there are elements to suppose the cover-up or participation of senior security force members" poses a serious danger for El Salvador's peace process and democracy.
In recent days, the administration of President Armando Calderon Sol has received harsh criticism for the army's participation in a police action which left three dead and 20 wounded.
In addition, an attack against three leaders of the former rebel, now political party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) - which left one dead and two wounded - has returned politically-motivated crime to the headlines.
Since the 1992 signing of the peace accord, over 60 former guerrillas have been murdered, and no case has yet been resolved.
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