Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a Monday release, said that a new law in El Salvador, which transfers incarcerated children to the adult prison system, violates international juvenile justice standards. This comes amidst the conviction of more than a thousand children on allegedly tenuous charges including unlawful gang association, in which the state is accused of coercing children into pleading guilty for crimes they did not commit.

There are concerns that the transfer of children into the adult prison system could expose children to abuse, torture, beatings, and medical negligence, which have been documented in El Salvador’s adult prison system by human rights groups. In addition, HRW found that many “detainees in adult prisons are cut off from the outside world and denied any meaningful legal recourse.” HRW highlighted the risk that detention systems pose to children, even if they are held in separate areas from adults. In order to comply with international juvenile justice standards, juvenile detention systems should be designed to protect the well-being of juveniles, juveniles should be given legal counsel, and parents or guardians should be notified of their detention, and be allowed to communicate with them.

Many of the children that will be transferred under the new law were arrested on charges of gang association. The extensive use of unlawful association as grounds for conviction has been criticized for how vague it is, and its infringement on freedom of association, which is protected by several treaties.

The new law is a continuation of El Salvador’s ongoing attempts to combat gang warfare. In 2022, the country’s legislature adopted emergency counterterrorism measures in response to a surge of gang violence that suspended fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of association, which allowed the state to arrest anyone over 12 years old.