EL SALVADOR: National Laws

Summary: General overview of El Salvador's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

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National laws on children's rights 

Status of the CRC in national law
Art. 144 of the Constitution of El Salvador provides that formalised treaties, properly ratified, constitute laws of the Republic once they enter into effect. Where there is a conflict between the law and the treaty, the treaty shall prevail. In reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Salvadoran party has noted that the Convention may be, and has been, raised in national courts.

Constitution- Many rights in the Constitution apply to citizens of El Salvador regardless of age, but the Constitution also makes a number of specific references to children:

• Art. 33 requires the state to regulate the relationship between parents and children;
• Art. 34 enshrines the right of every child to live in a familial environment with conditions that permit his or her integral development;
• Art 36 makes provision for the equal rights of children born in or out of wedlock, and for adopted children, as well as creating a duty on parents to give their children protection, assistance, education and security;
• Art 42 entitles employed women to paid rest before and after childbirth and to the conservation of her employment, and requires the State to regulate the obligation of employers to install and maintain crib rooms for children of workers;
• Art. 55 allows parents a preferential right to choose the education of their children; and
• Art. 90 addresses the qualifications for Salvadoran nationality as a result of birth

Legislation- Salvadoran law does not have a comprehensive children's act, but it does contain a number of comprehensive codes that cover specific areas of the law. Of particular importance to the rights of children are the Family Code, the Labour Code and the Penal Code. Other relevant laws include, but are by no means limited to:

• Juvenile Criminal Justice Act (previously Juvenile Offenders Act)
• Law on Surveillance and Control of Execution of Measures for Young Offenders
• Law for the Integral Protection of Children
• Law of the Salvadoran Institute for Full Development of Children and Adolescents
• Domestic Violence Act
• Basic System Health Integral Law
• General Education Act 

Legal Research
The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador (Asamblea Legislativa) maintains an official website in Spanish (http://www.asamblea.gob.sv/), and the Official Bulletin is also available online in Spanish through a government website (http://www.imprentanacional.gob.sv/).  In addition, many legislative documents are available through the Supreme Court of El Salvador’s Centre for Judicial Documentation (http://www.jurisprudencia.gob.sv/).  The Constitution is available in Spanish through the Legislative Assembly (http://www.asamblea.gob.sv/asamblea-legislativa/constitucion/constitucion-vigente) and in English through Constitution Net (http://www.constitutionnet.org/vl/item/constitution-republic-el-salvador).  A comprehensive guide to legal research in El Salvador is available through the GlobaLex initiative at New York University http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/El_Salvador1.htm), and both the U.S. Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/elsalvador.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2723.html) offer portals with links to many legal and government websites. 

Case law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

Case Law Research
The Supreme Court of El Salvador maintains an official Center for Judicial Documentation (http://www.jurisprudencia.gob.sv/) where full-text decisions are available in Spanish. 

Compliance with the CRC
The Committee on the Rights of the Child noted with appreciation both the use and citation of the Convention by Salvadoran courts and the Government’s numerous efforts to bring its legislation in line with the Convention.  However, the Committee also regretted that El Salvador’s national legislation was “not yet in conformity with the Convention in some areas, for instance, with respect to corporal punishment, the minimum age for marriage, the adoption regime and the administration of juvenile justice.”

In depth analysis
In many respects, the laws of El Salvador have implemented the Convention on the Rights of the Child quite effectively. The Law for the Integral Protection of Children (LEPINA) incorporates principles such as the best interests of the child and respect for the views of the child within its provisions, but the Committee has expressed concern that largely well-formulated legislation may not be having the desired effect in practice. The Committee recommended that the LEPINA be built upon to bring national law into greater conformity with the Convention, particularly with regards to including a prohibition on corporal punishment in the home.

Flaws in the national system of juvenile justice have been a source of persistent concern for the Committee, particularly in relation to the prevalence of children and adolescents deprived of their liberty, the mistreatment of children by law enforcement officials, and several high profile deaths in rehabilitation centres. In their 2010 Concluding Observations, the Committee made wide ranging recommendations for reform in this regard and encouraged the State to treat youth violence, particularly with respect to youth “maras” (gangs) as a social problem that cannot be addressed exclusively through the penal system. Beyond these reforms, the Committee has expressed particularly strong concerns over reports of torture and inhumane treatment of children at the hands of law enforcement officials, encouraging the State to speed up the implementation of an independent body to monitor the conduct of police forces.

Current legal reform projects
At of February 2008, a number of reform projects were under way, including the creation of an independent mechanism to monitor the conduct of police forces, and the passage of a Bill on the protection of victims and witnesses of domestic violence.