El Salvador: Joint Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee

25 August 2026
  • Authored by:

    Global Detention Project, Global Strategic Litigation Council, Cristosal, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, Transnational Disputes Clinic at Cornell University and International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University

  • Type of publication:

    Submissions & Recommendations

  • Download document:

    El Salvador - CCPR - 2026.pdf (506.17 KB)

In March and April 2025, 252 Venezuelans were expelled from the United States to El Salvador under a secretive bilateral agreement between the two countries. Upon arrival, the Venezuelans were immediately detained and held incommunicado in the notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo/ Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), a maximum security prison established by President Bukele as part of the government’s “war against gangs.”

Their detention lacked any legal basis and they were exposed to appalling treatment and conditions including beatings; verbal and psychological abuse; painful and excessive handcufffing; placement in punishment cells; restrictions on access to food, water and medicine; lack of access to the outdoors; and confinement to cells for 23 hours each day.

Later, on 18 July 2025, President Bukele announced that all Venezuelans detained at CECOT had been handed over to Venezuelan authorities in exchange for the release of prisoners–amongst them U.S nationals–in Venezuela. By returning these individuals to Venezuela without assessing their protection needs, the state breached its non-refoulement obligations.  

Together with a coalition of partners including the Global Strategic Litigation Council, Cristosal, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, the Transnational Disputes Clinic at Cornell University, the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University, and Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Right Center, the GDP submitted information to the UN Human Rights Committee regarding El Salvador’s detention, abuse, and deportation (chain refoulement) of Venezuelans expelled from the United States, highlighting the legal obligations El Salvador is violating under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee as part of the List of Issues Prior to Reporting process, the submission seeks to ensure that the detention and ill-treatment of Venezuelan nationals deported to El Salvador are addressed in the Committee’s forthcoming questions to the State–helping to ensure that these grave violations are subject to international scrutiny.

Amongst numerous recommendations, we urged the Committee to investigate the following:

  • The steps taken to investigate allegations of enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention, as well as those taken to remedy such instances.
  • The measures in place to promptly and effectively investigate allegations of abuse, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and other ill-treatment of individuals detained in CECOT; and to identify and hold accountable those responsible.
  • The remedies available for victims, including the reparations that the state has made–or will make–to them.
  • The legal basis under Salvadoran law for the detention of Venezuelans in CECOT.
  • The judicial remedies available to detainees to challenge the legality of their detention.
  • The steps the country is taking to enable non-citizens to challenge the conditions of their detention.
  • Information regarding what, if any, assessments were made prior to the deportation of Venezuelan nationals to Venezuela.
  • Any additional legal arguments or evidence to support El Salvador’s claim that the United States had the “the jurisdiction and legal responsibility” over the individuals it expelled to El Salvador after their arrival to the country.