At the public hearing held during the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) 193rd Period of Sessions (July 14-25, 2025), “civil society organizations stated that the Salvadoran criminal justice system is being misused, compounding concerns around the erosion of independence of the judiciary and the prosecution service and the adoption of regressive legal reforms since 2021. They also warned that the criminalization of human rights defenders and journalists—alongside increased harassment, intimidation, and violence against them, and the adoption of the Foreign Agents Law—has had a chilling effect on their work, restricted civic space, and forced dozens of people into exile while triggering the closure of several civil society organizations.”’
In this RRN letter to authorities in El Salvador, we denounced the criminalization of human rights lawyers Rudy Joya and Ivania Cruz; both are spokespersons for UNIDEHC (Human and Community Rights Defense Unit). They have suffered retaliation for filing multiple legal actions against members of the Bukele Administration for human rights abuses and corruption. Under the Organized Crime Court, which is typically reserved for violent gang members, the human rights lawyers were falsely charged with “illicit groupings.” Arrest warrants were issued for them after their preliminary hearing.
On August 15, the IACHR repeated its recommendation to end the State of Emergency. We echo the recommendation of the international body to instead develop a “comprehensive, multi-sectoral public security policy that addresses the causes and consequences of crime, based on evidence and with a human rights perspective.” We also urge the immediate removal of the fraudulent charges against Rudy Joya and Ivania Cruz.