El Salvador introduces life imprisonment for minors: criticism from worldwide organizations | EUROtoday

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A controversial bundle of penal reforms promoted by President Nayib Bukele got here into drive in El Salvador on April 26, 2026, which gives for all times imprisonment for minors.

Nayib Bukele

The president of El Salvador

FILE PHOTO: El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele speaks throughout a information convention with Chile’s President-elect José Antonio Kast (not pictured) on the Presidential House in San Salvador, El Salvador, January 30, 2026. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Photo

The textual content introduces the sentence of perpetual punishment for the crimes of homocide – together with femicide – rape e membership in felony gangsthought-about terrorist teams, denying the precise to parole or early launch.

Organizations such because the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Cidh) e Human Rights Watch (Hrw) denounce, nevertheless, that such measures are incompatible with worldwide constitutional requirements.

According to the CIDH “the imposition of life imprisonment on children and adolescents is incompatible with inter-American jurisprudence, as it is disproportionate to thegoal of rehabilitation”.

Along the identical traces thebee Hrw states that penal reform “contradicts international standards, as sentences for juveniles should be substantially shorter and offer real opportunities for rehabilitation.”