"Relentless Pursuit"... Countries That Abolished Statutes of Limitations for 'Femicide'

El Salvador Passes Criminal Code Amendment
Seven Femicide Cases Already This Year

El Salvador, a Central American country implementing a 'War on Crime' policy, has abolished the statute of limitations for femicide cases.

According to Diario El Salvador and other Central American media on the 22nd (local time), the El Salvador Congress passed an amendment to the Criminal Code in a plenary session the day before. Out of 84 lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties, 76 voted in favor. As a result, the previous 15-year statute of limitations for femicide cases has been eliminated. Accordingly, the prosecution can now indict related charges at any time.

El Salvador punishes crimes such as murder and sexual assault against women, known as 'femicide,' more severely than ordinary crimes. This is similar in other Central American countries. Mexico, Peru, and Brazil (in cases where the victim is a minor) have also generally abolished the statute of limitations for femicide. However, some states still have remaining statutes of limitations.

Marcela Pineda, a lawmaker from the ruling party Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas), pointed out, "In 2018 alone, 225 women were murdered," adding, "The previous legislature only declaratively declared a war on related crimes for three days."

El Salvador government officials added that femicide cases, which numbered 80 in 2021, slightly decreased to 53 last year. So far this year, seven cases have been reported.

Meanwhile, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has shown strong determination to eradicate corruption and reduce crime rates since taking office in June 2019. To eliminate violent crimes such as murders, drug trafficking, robbery, and kidnapping nationwide, he declared a state of emergency on March 27 last year and has been arresting criminals.

In particular, notorious criminal organizations such as 'MS-13' (Mara Salvatrucha) and 'Barrio 18' in El Salvador are involved in murders, drug trafficking, robbery, and kidnapping. It is known that these gang members number around 70,000. The military and police detain suspects at gang strongholds if there is even slight suspicion, and impose preventive detention for up to 15 days.

However, human rights organizations report that serious human rights violations occur during this process, including the effective deprivation of freedom of communication privacy. The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that El Salvador society is rapidly militarizing and that torture and abuse are widespread during detention.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.