Amnesty International released an 85-page report on Monday, outlining the deterioration of human rights in El Salvador over the 21 months that the country has been in a state of emergency to combat gang violence. The human rights organization says that El Salvador’s emergency measures have violated human rights by perpetrating massive arbitrary detentions, torture and cruel treatment in detention centers.

El Salvador has been in a state of emergency since March 2022. To combat gang violence, Salvadoran authorities adopted aggressive security policies, known as mano dura (iron fist). Amnesty International observed that the measures have three “alarming characteristics,” including “the massive nature with which human rights violations are occurring,” “the high degree of state coordination in the design and implementation,” and “a state response that tends to hide, minimize and delegitimize these facts, refusing to acknowledge and diligently investigate the abuses.”

In March, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced concern over the mass detentions due to authorities’ poorly substantiated investigations and profiling of detainees’ physical appearance or social background. The newest data from Amnesty International revealed that El Salvador is currently the country with the world’s highest incarceration rate, with approximately 102,000 people imprisoned, an overcrowding rate of 236 percent and more than 190 deaths in state custody. Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, also contended that the mass detentions show a pattern of systematic abuses against marginalized and impoverished communities.

Apart from mass incarceration, Amnesty International also claimed that the government is weaponizing its power to target human rights defenders, journalists, civil society organizations and judicial officials who have demonstrated independence.

InSight Crime, an American think tank, released another report Wednesday saying that the indiscriminate arrests have effectively crippled El Salvador’s gangs and driven violence to record lows. Following the success in quelling gang violence, the El Salvador Congress repealed the offense of dissemination of gang messages through media last month.

At the end of its report, Amnesty International called on El Salvador to halt human rights violations and act in accordance with international human rights law. The report also called on the international community to press authorities to follow recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations.