EL SALVADOR: Small U.N. Mission Should Stay, Boutros-Ghali Says

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 1996 (IPS) - The small U.N. Observer Mission to El Salvador should be replaced by a smaller office that can oversee El Salvador’s human rights and social conditions, says U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

In a report issued Tuesday, Boutros-Ghali warns that El Salvador still needs U.N. oversight even though the Observer Mission, called MINUSAL, is set to expire Tuesday night.

“The mandate of MINUSAL ends today,” U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa noted Tuesday. “But U.N. presence is still required in El Salvador…We are not ending the observer mission in El Salvador.”

The U.N. chief argued that the United Nations’ duty to verify compliance with El Salvador’s peace accords had not ended, and that “a continued presence in El Salvador is required, although not at the same level as that of MINUSAL, for a further period lasting until the end of 1996.”

He has proposed the maintenance of a “small group of experts” supported by a U.N. envoy. The group would be called the U.N. Office of Verification (UNOV) and would last from May until December.

MINUSAL, itself a smaller version of the ONUSAL peacekeeping force deployed since 1992, was approved by the U.N. General Assembly from last May until Apr. 30. The team, consisting of eight staff and three civilian police consultants, cost 2.5 million dollars to maintain for the past year.

Boutros-Ghali complained that, at a time of U.N. budget cutbacks, “I will not, to my regret, be in a position to carry out activities in El Salvador” unless the Assembly agrees to provide additional funds for UNOV. MINUSAL, in fact, was considered for cancellation earlier this year to close the U.N. budget gap.

But the secretary-general said the office was necessary given the incomplete nature of the Salvadoran peace process, which ended some six decades of struggle between the Salvadoran government and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).

“It is ever more apparent that once implemented, the programmes designed to ensure the productive reintegration of combatants and others most affected by the war…will fall far short of ensuring the successful reintegration of this segment of the population,” Boutros-Ghali warned.

MINUSAL reports that one of the key aspects of the peace process — a programme to transfer land tenure to peasants who lived on territory controlled by the FMLN — has progressed slowly because of a large backlog in filing land deeds.

MINUSAL estimates that more than 3,000 beneficiaries of the land transfer programme have yet to receive titles to their property, while more than 22,000 people are still waiting to have their titles registered.

Former combatants also have only been able to receive credit on “harsh” terms, the U.N. chief added, making it difficult for them to re-enter society or to service their debts.

The larger problem, Boutros-Ghali wrote, is that the slow progress toward reforming El Salvador’s dreaded police and paramilitary outfits has taken a step backward with the introduction of new anti-crime measures on Mar. 19.

“The recent adoption of emergency legislation designed to fight crime, which represents a substantial departure from the process embodied in the peace accords, contradicts, in some instances, basic human rights and due process standards and may exacerbate the already explosive situation of overcrowding in Salvadoran prisons,” Boutros-Ghali argued.

The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), a U.S.-based group that supports the FMLN, contends that the new legislation to crack down on crime avoids dealing with the nation’s real problems.

“This definitely is a step backwards,” CISPES spokesman Greg Wilpert told IPS. “The law limits the right to be tried by a jury…and eliminates the right to parole.” He added the new “emergency” measures would allow police to arrest suspects simply on the basis of age or looks — a move, Wilpert claimed, that is sure to target Salvadoran youth.

Wilpert argued the laws may also add to prison overcrowding by allowing for detention before formal charges are filed. According to the government’s Department of Statistics, there are already 8,834 inmates in Salvadoran prisons, the official maximum capacity of which are only 3,500. Of that total, Wilpert noted, 6,406 have not been found guilty of a crime, because of backlogs in the court system.

Forty-five Salvadoran justices have declared the legislation unconstitutional, and the FMLN opposition in Parliament have said they will challenge the provisions.

Wilpert said the Salvadoran government has failed to comply with several demands, including reform of the national police, by the peace process deadline of Apr. 30. This is the sixth deadline the government, now headed by President Armando Calderon de Sol, has missed, Wilpert argued.

Boutros-Ghali added that there have been some improvements in recent months. President Calderon, he noted, has decided to appoint a National Council on Public Security and has disbanded the “analysis unit”, a paramilitary structure operating outside the National Civil Police.

However, he added, “there remain personnel who operate outside the legally established structure of the National Civil Police.” Moreover, he said, three years after police reform began, the new police units are “still floundering”.

Wilpert contended that security is still a problem, particularly for FMLN officials. He said that 47 FMLN members have been killed since the peace accords were signed four years ago, and that political killings have been committed even in the past year.