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Republic of El Salvador

Citizenship and Country Documents

US Government Reports
  • State Department - Country Documents
  • Library of Congress - Law Library of Congress (LLOC)
    • Family Reunification Laws in Selected Jurisdictions - July 2014
Foreign Government Reports
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • Citizenship
      • ZZZ103512.FE - Whether individuals born of Salvadoran parents in the Mesa Grande refugee camp in Honduras during the 1980s are Honduran citizens -July 2010
    • Identity Documents
      • SLV43441.E - The Personal Identification Card (carnet de identificacion personal); issuing procedure and type of information it contains; distinction from the personal identity card (cedula de identidad personal); whether the government issued this document in 2001 - 2001-2005
    • Travel/Minor
      • SLV103499.E - Documents required and procedures to follow when one parent travels abroad with a minor in the absence of, or without the consent of, the other parent - June 2010

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Children

US Government Reports
  • Department of Labor - Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor - 202220212020, 2019, 2018
  • Law Library of Congress - El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico: Laws governing Travel of Unaccompanied Minors - Aug. 2014
Foreign Government Reports
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV40352.E - Laws regarding rape of minors by police and rape in general, and their effectiveness; whether police officers are provided with gender sensitivity training SLV40352.E (2001 to January 2003) - January 2003

International Organizations

  • UNICEF
    • BROKEN DREAMS:Central American children’s dangerous journey to the United States.  Aug. 2016

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International

Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers - Child Soldiers Global Report - January 2004

  • Center for Gender and Refugee Studies

    • Childhood and Migration in Central and North America: Causes, Policies, Practices and Challenges - Feb. 2015


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Corruption

Foreign Government Reports
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV105260.E - Police corruption and abuse; government measures to fight police corruption and abuse; police oversight mechanisms and their effectiveness; procedures for filing complaints against police officers -  Sept. 2015
    • SLV104089.E - Crime and state efforts to combat crime; state protection programs for victims and witnesses; requirements to access programs; statistics on granted and refused applications for protection; duration and effectiveness of these programs - June 2012
    • SLV104090.E - Police corruption and abuses; police oversight mechanisms and their effectiveness; procedures for filing complaints against police officers for corruption or inaction - June 2012
    • SLV103498.FE - Police corruption and government measures to fight corruption - June 2010

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • In Sight Crime
    • Corruption in El Salvador: Politicians, Police and Transportistas - March 2014


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Elections

Foreign Government Reports
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV101209.FE - Results of the legislative and municipal elections of April 2006 - April 2006
 

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Ethnic Groups / Race

Non-Government Organization Reports
  • World Directory of Minorities - Indigenous People - 2016

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Ethnic Groups / Race - Pipil

Non-Government Organization Reports
  • World Directory of Minorities - Pipil

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Ethnic Groups / Race - Lencas

Non-Government Organization Reports

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Ethnic Groups / Race - Cacaopera (Kakawira)

Non-Government Organization Reports

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Gender

Foreign Government Reports
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV105267.E - El Salvador: Domestic violence, including legislation, state protection and support services - Sept. 17, 2015

    • SLV105266.E - El Salvador: Violence against women, including non-domestic sexual violence, legislation, state protection and support services - Sept. 15, 2015

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International
    • The State As A Catalyst For Violence Against Women. March 2016
    • Separated Families, Broken Ties: Women Imprisoned for Obstetric Emergencies and the Impact on their Families. Dec. 2015

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Human Rights

US Government Reports

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Amnesty International - 2022/2023,  2021/2022
    • El Salvador: Behind the veil of popularity: Repression and regression of human rights in El Salvador - Dec. 2023
  • Human Rights Watch -  2022, 2021, 2020, 20192018201720162015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
    • “We Can Arrest Anyone We Want” Widespread Human Rights Violations Under El Salvador’s “State of Emergency” - Dec. 2022
  • International Displacement Monitoring Centre
    • New humanitarian frontiers - Addressing criminal violence in Mexico and Central America - Oct. 2015
  • Norwegian Refugee Council
    • The search for protection: A snapshot of Latin American legal protection frameworks - June 2023
    • The world's most neglected displacement crises in 2022 - May 2023 
    • "I want my place": Housing, land and property rights for persons affected by displacement in El Salvador  - Oct. 2022

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Justice System

Foreign Government Reports
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV201162.E - El Salvador: Law enforcement efforts against gangs, including anti-gang legislation and arrests since a state of emergency was declared in March 2022 (2019–November 2022) - Dec. 2022
    • SLV105261.E -  El Salvador: Procedures for reporting a crime and obtaining a copy of a police report; whether a copy of a police report can be obtained by a person who is outside the country or by a third person - Sept. 2015
    • SLV105258.E - Crime and state efforts to combat crime; state protection for victims and witnesses, including requirements to access programs, statistics on granted and refused applications for protection, duration and effectiveness of these programs (2012-August 2015) - Sept. 2015
    • SLV104091.E - The organizational structure of the National Civil Police (Policía Nacional Civil, PNC) - June 2012
    • SLV103834.FE - The procedure for obtaining a police report; whether this report can be obtained by a person who is outside the country or by a third person - Dec. 2011
    • SLV43482.E - The National Civilian Police (Policia Nacional Civil, PNC); recent attempts to fight police corruption; treatment of police officers suspected of being criminals or involved in criminal gangs; whether complaints against the police are treated seriously by government authorities (Updates and replaces SLV37937.E of 27 November 2001) -Apr. 2005
    • SLV43483.E - Crime situation and state protection efforts to combat criminality, including witness protection and international crime-fighting collaboration (2004-March 2005) - April 2005
    • SLV42327.E - Treatment of homosexuals by the authorities and general public 2002-2004 - March 2004

Non-Government Reports

  • Amnesty International 
    • El Salvador: Behind the veil of popularity: Repression and regression of human rights in El Salvador - Dec. 2023

  • In Sight Crime
    • Corruption in El Salvador: Politicians, Police and Transportistas
      • Chapter 1. The Infiltrators: Corruption in El Salvador's Police - March 2014
      • Chapter 2. 'Chepe Luna,' the Police and the Art of Escape - March 4, 2014
      • Chapter 3. Operation Chameleon in El Salvador: Anatomy of a Failure - March 5, 2014
      • Chapter 4. How an El Salvador Drug Trafficker Smuggled Cocaine Into the US - March 6, 2014
      • Chapter 5. The Fixer and El Salvador's Missed Opportunity - March 7, 2014

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Law

Citizenship and Electoral Right

US Government Reports

  • Library of Congress - Law Library of Congress (LLOC)
    • Family Reunification Laws in Selected Jurisdictions - July 2014

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV40352.E - Laws regarding rape of minors by police and rape in general, and their effectiveness; whether police officers are provided with gender sensitivity training (2001 to January 2003) - January 2003
  • UK Home Office Country
    • Country Policy and Information Note - El Salvador: Actors of Protection - Feb. 2021

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Maps


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Medical Availability

Intergovernmental Organization Reports
  • World Health Organization Page

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Political Figures and Parties

US Government Reports

Non Government Organizations

  • Congressional Research Service
  • U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America: An Overview - Feb 2021

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Refugees / IDPs

Intergovernmental Organization Reports

  • UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
    • Brief report on the situation of IDPs (Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico) - Dec. 2023

    • Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum-Seekers from El Salvador. March 2016


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Religion

US Government Reports

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Sexual Orientation 

Foreign Government Reports

  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV104903.E - Situation of sexual minorities, including treatment by society and authorities; support services and state protection, including implementation of anti-discrimination legislation (2012-June 2014) - July 2014

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Specific Country Issues - Gangs

US Government Reports

 

  • Law Library of Congress: El Salvador -Chiefs and Members of MS-13 Gang Sentenced in Historic Trial - Dec. 201
  • Gangs in Central America - August 2016
Foreign Government Reports
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV105259.E  - Anti-gang law enforcement efforts, including anti-gang legislation (2011-2015) -September 2015
    • SLV104900.E - The presence and activities of Mara Salvatrucha (MS or MS-13) and of Barrio 18 (Mara 18 or M- 18) in El Salvador, including recruitment; information on measures taken by authorities to fight maras, including legislation and protection offered to victims of the maras (2011-June 2014) - July 2014
    • SLV103445.FE - The presence and activities of Mara Salvatrucha (MS or MS-13) and of Mara 18 (M18) in El Salvador, recruitment, measures taken by the government to fight the maras, and protection offered to victims of the maras (2008-2010) - June 2010
    • SLV101083.FE - Crime in El Salvador; government actions to fight crime, including crime linked to gangs (maras); international co-operation to fight crime, including gang-related crime. - April 2006

Non-Government Organization Reports

  • Crisis Group International
    • A Remedy for El Salvador’s Prison Fever - Oct. 2022
    • Mafia of the Poor: Gang Violence and Extortion in Central America - April 2017
  • InSight Crime
    • Symbiosis: Gangs and Municipal Power in Apopa, El Salvador - 2017
    • El Salvador's Gang Truce: Positives and Negatives - June 2013
  • Washington Office on Latin America
    • One Year into the Gang Truce in El Salvador: Can the Funes Administration Turn the Fragile Truce into Sustainable Public Policy? - April 2013
  • UK Home Office - Country Policy and Information Note

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Specific Country Issues - Kidnappings

Foreign Government Reports
  • Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs)
    • SLV104088.E - Kidnapping and abductions; steps required for kidnapping victims to denounce perpetrators and whether they must identify their kidnappers; information on the anti-kidnapping unit, including information on protection offered to police officers who receive threats - June 2012

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Speech / Press / Internet

Non-Government Organization Reports

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Timeline

Trafficking

US Government Reports

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Terrorism

None Available

US Government Reports


Updated March 28, 2024