Human Rights Watch (HRW) on March 16 raised concerns that El Salvador's government is forcibly "disappearing" and arbitrarily detaining Salvadorans deported from the US a year ago.

HRW reported that between mid-March and mid-October 2025, at least 11 Salvadoran men deported from the US to El Salvador were immediately detained and denied contact with relatives or lawyers. Interviews with 20 relatives and attorneys revealed that none of the detainees appeared to have been brought before a judge, and in several cases, families were not informed of where the men were held or why they were detained. When relatives contacted authorities for information, officials reportedly refused to provide details, stating they lacked a legal mandate or had no record of their connection to the detainees.

Juanita Goebertus, the American director at HRW, condemned the Salvadorian government, stating: "Whatever the criminal history of these Salvadoran men, they have a right to due process, to be taken before a judge, and their relatives are entitled to know where they are being held and why."

Since the beginning of 2025, the US has deported more than 9,000 Salvadorans to El Salvador. Some of them have been sent to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), a mega prison notorious for its abusive conditions. HWR has reported that deportees sent to CECOT have been subjected to torture, and held incommunicado in inhumane conditions.

Enforced disappearance is universally prohibited as a human rights violation and is criminal under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 2 of the 2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance defines "enforced disappearance" as:

[T]he arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of law.

The language mirrors the definition of "enforced disappearance of persons" under Article 7(2) of the Rome Statute. Although El Salvador has not signed on to the Convention, it is a state party to the Rome Statute.

El Salvador has been in a state of emergency since 2022, which has allowed the government to suspend due process rights, including an individual’s right to be informed of charges against them and the right to a hearing before a judge within 72 hours upon arrest.

From JURIST, March 16. Used with permission.