Two Paths, One Conclusion: GIPES and Amnesty International on Crimes against Humanity in El Salvador

23 July 2026

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Executive Summary

This report compares the findings of two independent investigations —the report by GIPES (March 2026) and the report by Amnesty International (July 2026) — on the possible commission of crimes against humanity in El Salvador during the state of exception, in force since March 2022 and, to date, extended on fifty-two occasions.

Both analyses, conducted separately, conclude that there is a basis, under Article 7 of the Rome Statute, for finding that crimes against humanity have been committed. They agree in identifying arbitrary imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearances, and other inhumane acts as the attacks probably perpetrated, and in finding that these were carried out in a widespread and systematic manner.

The two reports differ in their characterisation of the civilian population affected. GIPES's analysis, for its part, identifies certain attacks under Article 7(1) of the Rome Statute in addition to those identified by Amnesty International.

This report argues that the convergence between the GIPES and Amnesty International reports, reached independently, together with the complementary differences between the two works, strengthens the basis for action before the International Criminal Court or through mechanisms of universal jurisdiction.

1. The GIPES and Amnesty International Reports

27 March 2022 marked the beginning of El Salvador's state of exception, originally conceived as a temporary suspension of fundamental rights for a period of thirty days. However, this measure —which by definition requires a provisional and extraordinary character— has been renewed on fifty-two occasions, becoming, de facto, a permanent state of affairs that has now lasted more than four years.

The report El Salvador at a Crossroads: Crimes against Humanity under the Public Security Policy was published on 11 March 2026 by the International Group of Experts for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations under the State of Exception in El Salvador —hereinafter GIPES. It concludes that the evidence gathered meets the “reasonable basis” threshold required under the Rome Statute to affirm the commission of crimes against humanity within the framework of the state of exception.

On 15 July 2026, Amnesty International —hereinafter AI— published the report Security without Rights: Impact of mass arbitrary arrests and denial of due process on the potential commission of crimes against humanity in El Salvador. That report concludes that the documented facts could amount to crimes against humanity.

 Both documents were prepared separately and independently and, fundamentally, reached the same conclusion: there are grounds to hold that crimes against humanity have probably been committed in El Salvador during the state of exception. The sections that follow highlight principal points on which the two works converge, together with the distinct nuances identified, the noting of which may serve to support the complementarity of the two products.

2. Type of Crime

The Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court —hereinafter the ICC— was adopted in 1998 and, after a process spanning almost two decades, El Salvador acceded to it on 3 March 2016, becoming the 124th State Party to this system of international justice. The GIPES report and the AI report agree that, among the crimes defined under the Rome Statute, the elements examined indicate that one of them has probably been committed during El Salvador's state of exception: the crime against humanity.

The Court's jurisdiction covers four categories of crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. The GIPES report and the AI report agree that, among the crimes defined under the Rome Statute, the elements examined indicate that one of them has probably been committed during El Salvador's state of exception: the crime against humanity .

A crime against humanity is constituted when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population. The acts capable of constituting that attack are: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of population, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law, torture, rape or other forms of sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance of persons, apartheid, and other inhumane acts of a similar character.

3. Civilian Population

One element of the crime against humanity is that the attack or attacks comprising it be directed against a civilian population. The ICC has established that this means the population must be the primary object of the attack, rather than one merely incidentally affected.

GIPES has identified two categories of civilian population in El Salvador against whom the attacks are directed: 1. Members of gangs, and persons perceived as such; and 2. Government opponents, and persons perceived as such. On the basis of this division, GIPES splits its work into two parts, setting out certain attacks directed at the first population group and others directed at the second; although, over the course of the analysis, most of the attacks overlap.

AI, for its part, initially frames the civilian population in general terms as the primary object of the attacks. It subsequently notes, however, that it has found the attacks to follow a “selective and discriminatory” pattern against a civilian population sharing certain characteristics: 1. Residing in particular areas; 2. Physical appearance; or 3. Belonging to impoverished social groups.

4. Acts Constituting the Attack

The Rome Statute provides that the definition of a crime must be strictly construed and shall not be extended by analogy. Accordingly, with respect to the crime against humanity, an exhaustive list is established of the acts capable of constituting attacks against the civilian population. These are: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of population, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law, torture, rape, persecution, enforced disappearance, the crime of apartheid, or other inhumane acts of a similar character.

As noted above, GIPES's methodology identified two categories of civilian population, such that the examination of the identified attacks was conducted separately for each of the two groups.

With respect to gang members or persons perceived as such, GIPES concluded that there is a reasonable basis to find that the following attacks were committed: 1. Murder; 2. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty; 3. Torture; 4. Enforced disappearances; 5. Rape and sexual violence; and 6. Other inhumane acts. Within this last, broader category, GIPES's findings concern the following acts: forced nudity, denial of medical care to pregnant women, and forced witnessing of assaults against fellow detainees.

With respect to the group of government opponents or persons perceived as such, GIPES identified a reasonable basis for finding that the following attacks were committed: 1. Murder; 2. Persecution on political grounds; 3. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty; and 4. Torture.

AI's analysis, for its part, has concluded that the following attacks were probably committed: 1. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty; 2. Torture; 3. Enforced disappearances; and 4. Other inhumane acts. Within this last, broader category, AI focused on the following acts: the imposition of detention conditions incompatible with human dignity, prolonged incommunicado detention, and the denial of adequate medical care.

Thus, among the categories of attack defined in Article 7(1) of the Rome Statute, GIPES and AI agree in having found elements indicating the probable commission of: 1. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty; 2. Torture; and 3. Enforced disappearances.

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GIPES and AI agree in identifying the probable commission of other inhumane acts, the broader category of attack defined under Article 7(1) of the Rome Statute. Within this category, however, each organisation identified different types of acts probably committed.

Only GIPES has found elements indicating a reasonable basis for the commission of the following attacks: 1. Murder; and 2. Rape or sexual violence.

5. Widespread or Systematic Character of the Attacks

A fundamental element for a crime against humanity to be established is that the attack or attacks were carried out in a widespread or systematic manner .

The ICC has held that the widespread character of an attack is determined by its large-scale nature —meaning that it was massive, frequent, carried out collectively, and grave, against a multiplicity of victims. As to the systematic element of the attacks, the ICC has held that this means the attacks are carried out in an organised manner — hat is, that criminal patterns exist indicating they did not occur in isolation. For a crime against humanity to be established, it is sufficient that either of these two elements be met.

GIPES concludes that the attacks directed at both the population group of gang members or persons perceived as such, and that of government opponents or persons perceived as such, were perpetrated satisfying both elements: in a widespread and systematic manner. AI likewise finds that the attacks it has identified occurred in both a widespread and a systematic manner.

6. Conclusions

1. GIPES and AI have conducted separate and independent analyses that, fundamentally, converge in concluding that there are elements indicating that crimes against humanity have probably been committed in El Salvador during the state of exception.

2. GIPES finds that the attacks that would constitute crimes against humanity were directed at gang members or persons perceived as such, and at government opponents or persons perceived as such. AI finds that such attacks were directed at historically impoverished and stigmatised communities characterised by: residing in particular areas, having a certain physical appearance, or belonging to particular impoverished social groups.

3. The probable attacks constituting crimes against humanity identified by both GIPES and AI are: 1. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty; 2. Torture; 3. Enforced disappearances; and 4. Other inhumane acts.

4. With respect to the other inhumane acts identified, GIPES points to: forced nudity, denial of medical care to pregnant women, and forced witnessing of assaults against fellow detainees. AI, for its part, points to: the imposition of detention conditions incompatible with human dignity, prolonged incommunicado detention, and the denial of adequate medical care.

5. GIPES has found a reasonable basis to believe that, in addition, the following attacks were perpetrated: 1. Murder; and 2. Rape or sexual violence.

6. GIPES and AI agree in concluding that the identified attacks occurred in a widespread and systematic manner.

7. The fact that GIPES and AI, separately and independently, conclude that crimes against humanity are probably occurring in El Salvador corroborates the likelihood that such grave human rights violations may indeed be taking place there. The differences between the two reports reflect complementarity, not contradiction. Together, these findings strengthen the basis for action before the ICC or through the mechanisms of universal jurisdiction available domestically in other States.