Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Delivered by First Secretary Emma Hodder
Mr Vice-President,
We warmly welcome the delegation from El Salvador and acknowledge El Salvador’s progress since its last Universal Periodic Review to reduce the number of homicides and instances of forced displacement caused by criminal groups in the country.
New Zealand recommends that El Salvador:
- Set a timeline to lift the state of emergency and revise and repeal the laws and regulations passed thereunder that permanently suspend due process guarantees, and to ensure that fair trial guarantees and due process rights are respected and upheld for all persons arrested during the state of emergency.
- Take steps to ensure that the conditions of all prisons and detention centres meet the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
- Ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
- Adopt immediate measures to provide sexual and reproductive health rights for women in El Salvador, including through repealing the total prohibition of abortion and the criminalisation and detention of women for so-called abortion-related offences under article 133 of the Criminal Code.
We thank the delegation for their participation today and wish them a successful review.
Thank you.