2019 Salvadoran NGOs submit report to UN Universal Periodic Review

In March 2019, the Central American Network for the Defence of Transborder Waters – El Salvador (Red Centroamericana por la Defensa de las Aguas Transfronterizas - El Salvador, RedCAT) and Franciscans International (FI) submitted a joint report as Civil Society Organization input to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.

In October 2019, RedCAT and FI presented the report to the members of permanent country missions at the UN in Geneva and lobbied them during the UPR pre-sessions to encourage representatives of member states of the Human Rights Council to ask specific human rights questions to the Salvadoran government during the UPR examination and to include particular recommendations in the Working Group’s final report. In December 2019, the UPR conducted its third examination of El Salvador’s compliance with international human rights obligations and recommendations. 

The joint NGO report highlighted the particular vulnerability of El Salvador’s water resources, the lack of adequate legal mechanisms in El Salvador to protect citizens’ right to water or to implement the 2017 metallic mining ban. The report also highlighted the threat posed to El Salvador’s principal water supply, the Lempa River, by mining operations in Honduras and Guatemala, particularly the Cerro Blanco mine. 

RedCAT and Franciscans International recommended new legislative and administrative measures to improve the quality, protection and management of water resources in El Salvador and the participation of local communities in decision-making. In particular, they urged cooperation with neighbouring countries, especially progress on establishing a Treaty on Crossborder Waters with Guatemala and Honduras.

In March 2020, the Human Rights Council adopted the final report of the UPR Working Group which included a range of recommendations made to El Salvador as part of the State peer review process. This included the following recommendations:

“Recognize the right to water and sanitation in legislation, and adopt effective measures to improve the quality and quantity of water, particularly in border areas”; and “Take the necessary legal and policy actions in order to ensure the right to safe drinking water and sanitation and to combat the pollution of water resources, including in the context of mining” (United Nations Human Rights Council 2020).