A/HRC/28/5
of the validation of the plan, the Government had launched a broad public consultation
process, which included the Salvadoran community abroad.
9.
The institutional focus of the Government of President Salvador Sánchez Céren was
the strengthening of the structural achievements of recent years, which had improved the
living conditions of sectors of society that had been excluded and impoverished for
decades.
10.
During its first universal periodic review, El Salvador committed to ratifying several
international instruments. In that regard, the delegation noted that in 2011, El Salvador had
ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) and in early 2014, it had also ratified the Second Optional
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition
of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2). In addition, the Legislative Assembly was in the
process of considering ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), the Convention relating to the Status of
Stateless Persons and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
11.
The Executive had also engaged in inter-agency consultations regarding the possible
ratification of other instruments, including the Optional Protocol to the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OP-CAT). In
that context, the Government had submitted for the consideration of the Legislative
Assembly a draft piece of legislation to lift the reservation of El Salvador to the
Convention. In addition, the definition of torture had been amended in 2011 to make the
crime imprescriptible and include all acts of torture, as defined by the Convention.
12.
Internal consultations were also under way to consider the possibility of becoming a
party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a
communications procedure; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) Convention against Discrimination in Education; International
Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 169, 189, 97 and 143; the Convention on the
Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity;
the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty
and the Inter-American Convention against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance.
13.
At the domestic level, there had been some developments in the construction of a
legal framework that would extend the recognition of the rights of particularly vulnerable
sections of the population and the Government had established some institutions and
mechanisms to monitor human rights.
14.
For instance, in June 2014, the Legislative Assembly had ratified the amendment to
article 63 of the constitution to add a clause recognizing indigenous peoples, for whom, in
that framework, policies which respect and develop their identity, world view, values and
spirituality will be set up.
15.
Also, after extensive consultations with organizations of persons with disabilities,
the National Policy on Comprehensive Care for Persons with Disabilities had been adopted
in April 2014 and the Legislative Assembly was debating the possible lifting of the
reservation to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Furthermore, sign
language had been recognized as an official language.
16.
In relation to older people, the Government had carried out a consultation process to
substantially revise the Act on Older People, under a human rights approach. That reform
would soon be introduced in the Legislative Assembly. The delegation added that El
Salvador was a strong supporter of the negotiations for a regional and an international
instrument for the protection of the rights of older people.
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