Our Stakeholder report to El Salvador’s Universal Periodic Review, led by Dr Rebecca Smyth, Dr Rebecca Lawrence and Dr Alice Storey, makes specific recommendations to the government on the issue of (1) Access to abortion and (2) Prisoner’s rights.
Researchers
Consultancy background
In July 2024, the UPR Project at BCU submitted a Stakeholder Report to El Salvador’s fourth UPR cycle, led by Dr Rebecca Smyth, Dr Rebecca Lawrence and Dr Alice Storey. This submission focuses on access to abortion and prisoner’s rights. We make recommendations to the Government of El Salvador on access to abortion and prisoner’s rights. The implementation of these issue would also see the country moving towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals 5 which aims for gender equality and empowering all women and girls and 16 which aims for peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
On 1 November 2024, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for El Salvador, which cited the Stakeholder Report submitted by UPR Project at BCU:
“Some organizations raised concerns about allegations of deaths in State custody, torture and ill treatment, including against children, and about detainees under the state of emergency who were held incommunicado for weeks or months.” (para 17)
“Several organizations recommended that El Salvador end the extension of the state of emergency and restore the suspended constitutional and procedural guarantees; comply with the absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, end incommunicado detention; investigate all instances of harassment and arbitrary detentions committed by security forces in the context of protests and the state of emergency; and eliminate the armed forces’ role in public security tasks.” (para 28)
“JS3 The UPR-BCU recommended creating a comprehensive database of people in prisons and deaths in custody.” (para 19)
“They recommended providing resources to the penitentiary centres and ensuring that detention conditions comply with international standards; reducing prison overcrowding by applying alternatives to incarceration, especially for children and vulnerable people; and allowing unrestricted access to organizations and the Human Rights Ombudsperson’s Office.” (para 20)
“JS8 mentioned that access to contraceptives was limited, especially for women.” (para 47)
“Several organizations recommended adopting sex education policies and programmes at the national and local levels, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations and regions with high rates of sexual violence, including measures to promote access to modern contraceptives and campaigns to encourage changes in cultural patterns.” (para 83)
“The Birmingham City University Centre for Human Rights, JS5 and JS13 expressed concerned about illiteracy, low school attendance and increased dropout rates, especially in secondary education.” (para 50)
“They urged El Salvador to decriminalize abortion in all circumstances, ensure safe and legal access to abortion, and provide comprehensive post-abortion care without discrimination or prosecution.” (para 67)
(Outcome of the review yet to be published.)
About the UPR Project at BCU
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has been engaging with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) since 2016. Under the auspice of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all Member States.
Through the UPR Project at BCU, the CHR we engage with the UPR through taking part in the UPR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of stakeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project is designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help ensure that UPR recommendations are translated into domestic legal change in member state parliaments.
We fully support the UPR ethos of encouraging the sharing of best practice globally to protect everyone's human rights. The UPR Project at BCU engages with the UPR regularly as a stakeholder, having submitted numerous reports and been cited by the OHCHR.