IACHR
Press Release
IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression Seriously Concerned about the National Defense Ministry’s Refusal to Comply with a Court Order for an Inspection of the Archives of El Salvador’s Armed Forces
October 8, 2020
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression are seriously concerned about the National Defense Ministry’s refusal to comply with a court order for a court-led inspection of the archives of El Salvador’s Armed Forces, in relation to the case regarding the massacre in El Mozote and nearby sites. The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship urge the Salvadoran State to comply with its obligation to order, organize, and make available to court officials any documents and other records linked to the serious human rights violations that are under investigation in this case, in order to safeguard the right to truth and justice.
According to publicly available reports, on September 21, an official of the National Defense Ministry allegedly prevented an inspection of the archives of the Salvadoran Armed Forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered by the investigative court in San Francisco Gotera, Morazán. This inspection was meant to be one of several conducted in military archives that this court ordered in the context of the case regarding the massacre in El Mozote and nearby sites.
In a statement broadcast on all public media on September 24, the government said it refused to comply with this court decision for various reasons—including the risk of disclosing information that is strategically valuable for the State—and because the judge in San Francisco Gotera lacks competent jurisdiction over the Armed Forces. The government further noted that the records that are being sought were destroyed in the past. The government also committed to declassifying all documents found at facilities operated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces and in the barracks whose personnel allegedly took part in the massacre in El Mozote and nearby sites, and to handing over that information to the Office of El Salvador’s Attorney General.
The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression deplored the obstruction of a court-ordered inspection on September 21. They noted that the Inter-American Court ordered the State of El Salvador to take any appropriate measures to grant court officials—and Salvadoran society—public, technically feasible, and systematic access to any archives containing information that is useful and relevant for cases concerning human rights violations allegedly committed during the armed conflict in the country.
The Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have stressed that, in cases of this type, State authorities cannot resort to mechanisms like official secrets or confidential information, or cite the public interest or national security, to refrain from providing information required by the authorities in charge of pending investigations or other judicial proceedings. In particular, the institutions of the Inter-American Human Rights System have said that decisions concerning the existence of documents or moves to declare such information secret and to deny court officials access to it can never be left exclusively to the State institution whose members allegedly committed that crime. The IACHR further notes that it recommended—in the context of an on-site visit to El Salvador in December 2019—that the State restore any archives of the security forces that were active during the country’s internal armed conflict that might have been destroyed, as well as any documents that were not produced when they legally should have been.
The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression note
the Salvadoran government’s decision to declassify military documents linked
to the massacre in El Mozote and nearby sites. However, they call on the
State of El Salvador to ensure that court officials have full access to any
information that could help to expose the truth about the serious human
rights violations that are under investigation, and to work toward restoring
any archives that may have been destroyed. The Commission and its Special
Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression further urge the State to
investigate—through the relevant public institutions—the conduct of
officials who prevented this inspection, as well as to enforce any
applicable administrative, disciplinary, or criminal sanctions.
Finally, the IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression
denounce harassment against human rights defenders and the media during the
inspection of military archives, which was—according to publicly available
reports—encouraged by military veterans.
The Commission and its Special Rapporteurship recognize the contribution of human rights defenders, court officials, and the media to efforts to promote and enforce respect for human rights and, in particular, the right to truth of victims and of Salvadoran society as a whole. In this context, the IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship urge the State to ensure that defenders and journalists can do their work without suffering any form of intimidation.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 247/20