Children ‘tortured, abused’ in El Salvador’s prisons: Report
Al Jazeera
More than 3,000 minors, many with ‘no apparent connection to gangs’, have been arbitrarily arrested, Human Rights Watch says.
Thousands of children have been arrested in a mass antigang campaign in El Salvador since 2022 with many suffering abuse while in custody, said Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The arrest campaign, beginning in March 2022 as part of El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s pledge to root out gangs from the once crime-ridden country, has created “severe human rights violations against children”, said the group in a new report on Tuesday documenting the abuses.
Police rounded up 3,319 minors in “countless indiscriminate raids” often targeting those in “low-income neighbourhoods” known to be hotbeds of crime, said the HRW report.
Many of those arrested have “no apparent connection to gangs’ abusive activity”, and were apparently targeted based on their physical appearance or socioeconomic background, it said.
At least 60 children suffered abuse in custody, the report alleged, including beatings and torture. Some were deprived of adequate food, healthcare, and contact with their families or coerced into making false confessions.
