A/HRC/45/45/Add.2
also been established; a programme to provide compensation in the form of a pension was
launched in 2016.
50.
As part of the health component of the programme, a network of focal points has
been set up in hospitals to attend to victims, outpatient and specialized care services have
been put in place and psychosocial support days have been organized for victims. In
addition, technical guidelines on the care of victims of serious human rights violations have
been drawn up, as has a manual on the training of psychosocial care teams. The measures
put in place under the reparations programme in respect of historical memory and
guarantees of non-recurrence are detailed in the following sections. With regard to
measures in the field of education, academic scholarships have been established that are
open to victims and their families; and, since 2017, at the request of the Ministry of
Education, the University of El Salvador has facilitated the admittance of a significant
number of family members of the victims of the El Mozote massacre into university
programmes.
51.
In terms of symbolic reparation, the Government has issued public apologies and
acknowledged responsibility for the massacres at San Francisco Angulo, El Calabozo,
Tenango and Guadalupe, and Las Canoas, among others. Public apologies have also been
made in compliance with rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the cases
of the Massacres of El Mozote and Nearby Places v. El Salvador, Serrano Cruz Sisters,
Contreras et al. and Rochac Hernández et al. No official of the armed forces has
apologized on behalf of the military.
52.
Another series of measures has been taken in compliance with the above-mentioned
rulings for the victims of these cases. These measures include the establishment of a
development programme for El Mozote, the award of compensation, the establishment of a
register of victims of El Mozote and the provision of psychological and medical services
for victims and their families. President Bukele spoke with the El Mozote families and
reaffirmed his commitment to promoting reparations in compliance with the ruling of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
53.
The reparations programme and the various initiatives associated with it represent an
important and valuable step, but the scope of the programme is limited and insufficient.
Thus far, only around 5,000 victims have been registered under the programme. 27 Civil
society organizations have noted the existence of bureaucratic obstacles and insufficient
resource allocation for the programme and, more recently, its loss of momentum. Monetary
compensation is subject to the availability of funds and is limited to paltry sums, inferior to
those granted to veterans from the war. Likewise, there has been no effective outreach
process for the programme to inform all of the victims who may be interested in registering.
The census of victims was not conducted systematically, as it varied depending on victims’
exposure to the limited information available on the programme. Both of these elements
have contributed to the extremely limited number of registrations compared to the actual
number of victims. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the majority of the registered
victims had been contacted by civil society organizations. Moreover, according to
information provided by the Government, sponsorship by civil society organizations is
taken into account when victims are registered. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that the
status of victim is inherent to the person concerned and should not require proof or
corroboration by third parties. While the support of social organizations in the reparation
process is important, they should not be used as overseers or sponsors of such status, nor as
the primary mechanism for information regarding the programme and registration of
victims.
54.
Although specific assistance has been provided to certain groups of victims, the
reparations programme does not include universal access for victims and their descendants
to educational and physical and mental health services, beyond the general care provided
for the community. This has severely limited the number of victims who have benefited
from the programme.
27
GE.20-09158
Written report submitted by the Government during the visit.
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