El Salvador Passes Law Allowing Life Sentences for Children as Young as 12

El Salvador has enacted a law allowing life imprisonment for children as young as 12 convicted of serious crimes including homicide, rape, terrorism, and gang membership, set to take effect April 26. President Nayib Bukele championed the constitutional amendment, which was approved in March by the legislative assembly controlled by his Nuevas Ideas party. The measure comes amid a four-year state of emergency that has imprisoned over 90,000 people—nearly 1.9 percent of the population—with some held without charges and up to 900 tried simultaneously in mass trials. UNICEF and international human rights experts have condemned the policy, with investigators alleging crimes against humanity and Bukele himself acknowledging at least 8,000 innocent detainees among those imprisoned.

New Law Allowing Life Sentences for Minors

• ▪El Salvador published a new law that will allow authorities to penalise minors as young as 12 with life imprisonment for severe crimes, including homicide, terrorism or rape
• ▪The Salvadoran government released the law on Tuesday, which is slated to take effect on April 26
• ▪The life sentences for minors was approved as part of a constitutional amendment in March
• ▪El Salvador's legislative assembly is overwhelmingly controlled by Nayib Bukele's Nuevas Ideas party

El Salvador's Four-Year State of Emergency and Mass Incarceration

• ▪El Salvador's state of emergency was initially designed to last 30 days but has been renewed dozens of times
• ▪President Nayib Bukele oversees a four-year-long state of emergency against crime in El Salvador
• ▪El Salvador has been under a state of emergency since March 2022 that has suspended certain civil liberties in favour of greater police and military powers
• ▪More than 90,000 people have been imprisoned in El Salvador during the state of emergency
• ▪El Salvador approved mass trials in 2023 to allow up to 900 people to be tried at once
• ▪Human Rights Watch estimates that nearly 1.9 percent of El Salvador's population is behind bars, one of the highest rates in the world

Human Rights Concerns and International Criticism

• ▪Nayib Bukele acknowledged that at least 8,000 detainees were innocent
• ▪The International Group of Experts for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations under the State of Emergency in El Salvador alleged that crimes against humanity had been committed over the last four years
• ▪UNICEF voiced deep concern for the prospect that children could be sentenced to life behind bars in El Salvador
• ▪Jose Guevara stated that crimes in El Salvador are not isolated cases, but a policy in which crimes are committed on a large scale and in a systematic manner
• ▪Human rights monitors have repeatedly called on Nayib Bukele and the Salvadoran government to put an end to its state of emergency and related anti-crime measures
• ▪The International Group of Experts for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations under the State of Emergency in El Salvador published its final report last month

Perspective of International human rights experts

• ▪Jose Guevara characterized violations in El Salvador as a systematic policy of crimes committed on a large scale rather than isolated incidents

Perspective of President Nayib Bukele and Nuevas Ideas party

• ▪The Bukele administration has maintained El Salvador's state of emergency for four years despite it being initially designed to last 30 days
• ▪President Nayib Bukele championed the constitutional amendment enabling life sentences for minors as young as 12 in El Salvador