A resolution requesting information on El Salvador's human rights practices pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
This Senate resolution (S. Res. 195) requests a detailed State Department report on El Salvador’s human rights practices under section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The Secretary of State must prepare and submit a statement within 30 days, in collaboration with the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser. The report should compile credible information about alleged human rights abuses by the Salvadoran government, describe U.S. government actions to promote human rights (including during El Salvador’s state of exception) and to disassociate U.S. security aid from problematic practices, and provide additional assessments on detention, trafficking, and the handling of U.S. citizens or residents detained in El Salvador. The resolution is non-binding and serves to inform congressional oversight and policy discussion about U.S. assistance and human rights concerns in El Salvador.
Key Points
- 1Timing and collaboration: Requires the Secretary of State to deliver the information within 30 days of adoption and to prepare the report with the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser.
- 2Scope of human rights information: Must include credible information on alleged violations by the Government of El Salvador, such as torture, forced disappearances, transnational repression, due process concerns (including judicial independence), and treatment of non-Salvadoran detainees.
- 3U.S. actions on rights: Should describe steps the U.S. has taken to promote human rights in El Salvador, discourage abusive practices, and publicly or privately disassociate U.S. security assistance from rights violations.
- 4Additional assessments (security and detainees):
- 5- Assess whether U.S. security assistance could be used to support rendition, trafficking, detention, or imprisonment of non-nationals.
- 6- Assess conditions at CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo) and related torture allegations.
- 7- Describe actions to ensure releases of U.S. citizens/residents detained in El Salvador in line with U.S. court orders.
- 8- Address efforts to prevent detention, torture, or forced disappearances of U.S. citizens/residents by El Salvador or related efforts to facilitate such acts.
- 9- Describe steps to ensure due process for individuals detained in El Salvador through agreements with the U.S. Government.
- 10- Outline measures to protect U.S. citizens/residents from unlawful removal to El Salvador (rendering/trafficking).
- 11Purpose and effect: The resolution aims to inform Congress about El Salvador’s human rights situation and potential implications for U.S. foreign assistance and policy, rather than to create new legal obligations.