The data shows that the Public Defender’s Office and the Institute of Forensic Medicine have the lowest personnel levels per 100,000 inhabitants. During the period analyzed, there were four public defenders and three medical examiners in criminal matters for every 100,000 people. Meanwhile, there were eight judges and eight prosecutors with competence in criminal matters for every 100,000 people.

With the exception of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, staffing levels in El Salvador’s justice institutions were well below international standards for the administration of justice.

The accompanying chart compares staffing levels at El Salvador’s justice institutions (2014-2017).

In El Salvador, there are information gaps in terms of internal independence of justice institutions (such as recruitment, selection, evaluation, disciplinary mechanisms). In some cases, there is no information system that allows data to be processed efficiently to provide an agile response to information requests. In others, it has been the lack of procedural information that does not allow greater precision in the mechanisms for the staff recruitment, selection, evaluation and discipline of justice entities. See the available data on the use of the disciplinary system for justice institutions (2014-2017) in the accompanying table.

During 2014-2017, data shows that El Salvador’s justice institutions accounted for just 7 percent of the country’s overall national budget. The judicial institution that received the lowest allocation of resources throughout 2014-2017 was the national public defender’s office. Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Office registered the largest increase in resources during that time. Much of the budgetary resources allocated to El Salvador’s justice institutions go towards paying salaries. In the case of the national public defender’s office, salaries absorbed approximately 90 percent of its total budget during 2014-2017. At the Attorney General’s Office, salaries absorbed some 61 percent of its resources during that same time period. During 2016 and 2017, salaries represented more than 70 percent of the judiciary's expenditures.   The accompanying table compares budget allocations among El Salvador’s judicial institutions (2014-2017).

During the 2014-2017 period, El Salvador was rated extremely low in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, with scores between 33 to 39 points (Transparency International uses a scale between 0 and 100, 0 meaning highly corrupt, and 100 meaning non-corrupt). This is well below the annual average reported by the international organization. The accompanying table shows El Salvador’s performance in this index. Public opinion polls show the main problems that citizens identify in the country are crime and the economy. However, since 2013, the proportion of Salvadorans who identify corruption as the country’s main problem has continuously grown. This demonstrates a greater awareness about corruption among the public, as illustrated in the accompanying graph.

The oldest and most problematic secondary legislation in recent years is the 1959 Law on Illicit Enrichment of Public Officials and Employees. There is a delay regulating actions that may constitute acts of corruption, especially regarding asset declaration and illicit enrichment. The outdated law still levies fines and infractions in colones, a currency that El Salvador has not used since 2001. The law establishes fines which range from $11.43 to a maximum of $1,142.86. El Salvador made strides in establishing regulations allowing authorities to seize illegally obtained assets and re-purpose them for state use. In 2017, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court overruled a reform adopted by the Congress that sought to put in place a 10-year statute of limitations for asset seizures and recovery.

Between 2014 and 2017, the government received complaints for 5,004 corruption related cases. Of these cases, 565 resulted in a dismissal, with the court suspending criminal proceedings due to a lack of evidence. Between 2014 and 2015, the Public Prosecutor’s Office opened investigations into 846 cases involving crimes related to the administration of justice, 452 of which went to trial. Prosecutors obtained a conviction in 86 cases. During the 2014-2017 period, 140 cases did not advance in court due to lack of evidence and resulted in some type of dismissal. During the same period, authorities initiated investigations of 6,064 cases of alleged corruption in public administration, 1,723 of which went to trial. There were 538 convictions and 145 acquittals. The crimes with the most number of acquittals are trafficking of prohibited objects in prison (92), bribery in exchange for committing criminal offense (12), peculation (7), and arbitrary acts (7), which together represent 81.4% of acquittals. No convictions were obtained for crimes of exaction, embezzlement, and illicit enrichment. The Monitor was unable to obtain data from the judiciary, since, according to the Office of Information and Response of the Judiciary, the national trial courts stopped producing statistics of convictions and acquittals by type of crime.

From 2014 to 2017, a total of 2,050 civil servants and public employees were investigated for violations of the Government Ethics Law. Of these, the courts only issued penalties for 7.3 percent (149 people). The Court of Accounts, the entity charged with auditing public funds, is one of the public agencies with the least amount of information publicly available concerning the investigations and procedures it carries out. The information available shows that the court received 682 complaints of irregularities between 2014 and 2017, mostly involving administrative and financial issues or irregularities concerning internal oversight of staff. 

El Salvador has adopted comprehensive specialized criminal legislation to combat violence and organized crime. Between 2014 and 2017, two new laws were enacted. The Special Law against Human Trafficking went into effect in 2016 and established an institutional protection structure, defined the functions of security and justice institutions in this area, and determined budget allocations for them.

The Special Law against Extortion, approved in 2015, defined types of crimes and additional procedural guidelines, and included extensive regulation on the use of telecommunications for investigating and prosecuting crimes of extortion.

However, despite this broad legislation, the legislative process does not follow a comprehensive analysis of the different forms of violence that affects the public. Rather, it appears that they are the result of isolated legislative efforts to bring about swift responses to crime.

El Salvador has an institutional structure to carry out investigations and prosecute criminal acts related to violence and organized crime. This structure includes 12 special units within the National Civilian Police (PNC) and six special units in the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic (FGR), of which the majority are related to crimes defined by the special laws against human trafficking and extortion. The Judiciary also has specialized courts. The first one, created in 2007, deals with organized crime and complex offences. The second, created in 2014, oversees matters of asset recovery and forfeiture. By the end of the 2017, the latter was still not fully implemented. In 2016, a special court was created to attend to crimes of violence and discrimination against women. These courts became operational in late 2017.

Of the three entities analyzed, the FGR reports having had the most qualified personnel, increasing from 69 attorneys in 2015 to 75 in 2017.



The establishment of these specialized courts is an effort to guide resources and capacities to streamline criminal processes that are of special interest. Despite these efforts, there were obstacles associated with a lack of judicial independence, poor prosecutorial work, and lack of capacity among courts to expand investigations and, in turn, effectively prosecute cases.

The following table highlights the type of offense of organized crime, among which those related to threats registered the highest number of admitted cases (61,810), followed by those related to homicide (31,519 cases), drug-related crimes (20,032), and kidnapping and deprivation of liberty (14,015). Notably, there was a high number of admitted cases that were later archived provisionally or definitively—some 9 out of 10 cases for threats and nearly 9 out of 10 cases for kidnapping and deprivation of liberty. Similarly, 8 out of every 10 cases of homicide were archived and three quarters of drug cases were closed. The cases of extortion and drugs registered the highest percentage of prosecuted cases that ended with a conviction. In extortion cases, 66.6 percent of prosecutions resulted in a conviction.



When it comes to compiling and reporting information on sentences disaggregated by types of crime, difficulties involving statistical output persist within the Judiciary. This is mainly due to delays in the processing of information in judicial offices.

In 2016 and 2017, the police force amounted to approximately 26,000 members, 85% of whom were men and 15% women. The average age of police officers was 42 years old.

According to the information provided by the National Civilian Police (Policía Nacional Civil, PNC), the police have approximately one police station for every 58 square kilometers in the country. These stations are made up of low-level officials, and generally have a very low number of police officers and weak infrastructure.

Notably, the National Academy of Public Security trains a large number of security officers for private companies. Just between 2014 and 2017, the academy graduated a total of 6,521 individuals to carry out work for private entities, a significantly larger number than the 2,045 police officers who graduated in the same period.

The proportion of the budget allocated to the PNC, in comparison to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security’s total budget, is very high. Between 2014 and 2017, the PNC represented more than 60% of the Ministry’s total budget allocation. Of these resources, the highest amount allocated to the PNC in a single year was $290 million in 2015. 

Personnel salaries account for a large portion, some 80%, of the PNC’s budget.

Between 2014 and 2017, the Salvadoran government used the regulatory powers of the executive branch to design a legal framework to ensure the continued involvement of military personnel in public security. This involvement went beyond conducting joint patrols with the police: the executive orders gave the military the power to plan operations and control the perimeter of prisons and schools. Current laws pose severe limitations to civilian oversight of the Armed Forces in public security tasks. Legislation allowing the Armed Forces’ participation in public security activities also grants it autonomy by focusing on expanding the scope of the Armed Forces’ role, but not on police oversight of its performance on public security activities nor on prevention of rights abuses.

Official data from El Salvador’s Ministry of National Defense (MDN) shows that the number of military personnel assigned to public security tasks rose from 7,900 in 2014 to 13,827 in 2017, a 75% increase. Meanwhile, the police force shrank by 7.2% over the same time period. According to the MDN, military personnel was assigned to public security tasks in nearly 20% of the country’s municipalities. Budgets approved by the Ministry of Finance show that funds allocated to the Ministry of National Defense (MDN) decreased by $8,109,775, or 5.4%, between 2014 and 2017. The funds were not disaggregated in a way to show the amount received by the Armed Forces or their participation in public security activities. However, the Institutional Operative Management line item category, which covers the maintenance of Naval, Air Force, and Army units, accounts for more than 90% of the MDN’s budget. Available information also shows that the funds allocated to the Armed Forces constitute around 3% of the national budget, or 0.6% of GDP for 2014 to 2017. According to the Ministry of Finance, institutions such as the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the National Civilian Police, and the Supreme Court of Justice were allocated more resources than the Ministry of National Defense. However, and notably, the Ministry of National Defense had a cumulative budget of over $585 million between 2014 and 2017, while the Office of the Prosecutor General (FGR) had a budget of just $221,269,785 for the same period. In other words, the Armed Forces received $364,070,535 more than the FGR at a time when the country is not at war and despite the fact that the FGR is the main entity in charge of investigating crimes nationwide.

Data from the Ministry of National Defense show that a total of 391 official complaints were filed with the MDN for human rights violations. These complaints increased steadily from 43 in 2014 to 154 in 2016, before declining to 78 in 2017. Meanwhile, external accountability entities, such as the Office of the Public Defender for Human Rights (PDDH) registered a much higher number of complaints. The PDDH recorded a total of 867 complaints against the MDN over the same period, with no fewer than 100 reports per year, despite an overall trend showing a declining number of complaints. Data from Iudop public opinion surveys between 2014 and 2017 show that between 40% and 46% of Salvadorans expressed having “some” or “a lot” of confidence in the Armed Forces. However, 2017 saw a marked drop in public confidence in the Armed Forces, with four out of every 10 Salvadorans reporting they had “some” or “a lot” of confidence in the Armed Forces, a drop of some 6% from the previous year. Furthermore, public opinion surveys show that citizens have much less confidence in the PNC than in the Armed Forces. Between 2014 and 2017, the level of public confidence in the PNC never exceeded that of the Armed Forces. The following graph shows the level of confidence in both entities between 2014 and 2017.

Across all categories of human rights violations, the prevailing trend is the low proportion of cases that are prosecuted, and even smaller proportions that end in conviction. Between 2014 and 2017, the Public Prosecutor’s Office's most frequently initiated cases involve unlawful entry, deprivation of liberty and unlawful searches and investigations. Of these three crimes, only 8.5 percent of the cases were taken to court. Regarding cases of crimes against humanity, twice the number of cases were initiated for torture than those initiated for forced disappearances, and only a fifth of the crimes involving torture or forced disappearances were ever prosecuted. During the 2014-2017 period, the information compiled points to various instances of extrajudicial executions. The increase in confrontations between police and gang members has resulted in a greater proportion of deaths at the hands of the police. However, in the case of El Salvador, extrajudicial execution has not been defined in the criminal code. Consequently, the Public Prosecutor’s Office does not provide specific data on the alleged commission of extrajudicial executions. An analysis of press articles carried out by Iudop identified 111 events in 2016 that displayed characteristics of alleged extrajudicial executions, in which 278 fatalities were reported. Of these, 50.4 percent were deaths from confrontations between alleged gang members and police and members of the army, 26.1 percent from confrontations between combined forces and alleged gang members, and 21.6 percent deaths caused by alleged death squads. The chart below shows the ratio of civilians to police officers killed during incidents of “unlawful aggression” from 2014 to 2017 recorded by the University Observatory for Human Rights.

The appropriate Salvadoran institutions- such as the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Human Rights Ombudsman- lack an official corresponding registry as well as special units charged with handling rights violations of human rights defenders. They also lack specific protocols and guidelines to respond to these kinds of violations.

Because El Salvador lacks a national protection mechanism to guarantee the safety of human rights defenders, when a violation against defenders occurs, the incidents are registered and treated like common crimes. This results in an extremely low level of effectiveness in responding to complaints filed by defenders.

The Monitor was unable to find quantitative data on attacks and defamation campaigns against defenders. According to data from secondary sources, members of the LGBTI community have faced violence by state agents, criminal groups and society in general. 

Youth defenders have been victims of harassment and stigmatization by state security forces, while indigenous communities and environmental defenders have been the target of intimidation and harassment by sectors involved in the exploitation of natural resources.

The Institute for Access to Public Information, an entity in charge of overseeing the correct interpretation of the Access to Public Information Law (LAIP, by its Spanish acronym), created a central transparency portal—a repository for information that government bodies are required to make public—featuring information from nearly 300 institutions. In another step forward, the Institute for Access to Public Information (IAIP by its Spanish acronym) developed a methodology for evaluating the quality of the records released by institutions in response to information requests. Nearly half of the country’s municipalities haven’t publicized information that, as is required under law, needs to be publicly available in the central transparency portal. 

The Monitor focused on the level of compliance with transparency laws and norms at five institutions: the Attorney General’s Office, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, and the National Police Force. While all of the institutions have made financial information available to the public in their respective transparency portals, in several cases this information is incomplete. There are information gaps in areas such as salaries, hiring and procurement practices, subsidies and tax incentives, and public funds allocated to private entities. The accompanying table shows the types of financial information that El Salvador’s National Police Force has made publicly available over the years.

In 2015, the Salvadoran Congress passed a Probity Law, which, among other provisions, requires public officials to submit a declaration of their assets upon entering and leaving public office. The law also created a specialized agency within the Supreme Court to oversee its implementation, its regulations, and other normative instruments. The IAIP asserted that the agency needed to make the asset declarations public. In 2017, however, the Supreme Court declared the asset declarations and reports for the probity agency classified, and went even further by declaring any investigation process for illicit enrichment secret until a trial concluded and resulted in a conviction, or until seven years had passed since the court decided against opening a trial.