El Salvador: 1) Guerrilla treatment of civilian nurses; 2) Treatment of returnees by the government

1) In a report entitled The Civilian Toll, 1986-87, Americas Watch cites one case of a homeopathic nurse who was assassinated by the FMLN after being forced to cooperate with them in the search for the Mayor of his village. He was allegedly killed by the FMLN as a spy, and his sister told Americas Watch that he "often gave medical assistance to the Armed Forces". [ Americas Watch, The Civilian Toll, 1986-1987, (New York: Americas Watch, August 1987), pp. 134-135.] For details of this incident, please refer to the attached page from The Civilian Toll, 1986-1987, (New York: Americas Watch Report, August 1987). Additional information on the treatment of civilian nurses by guerrillas in El Salvador is not currently available to the IRBDC.

2)             Over the past decade, there have been arbitrary executions of suspected FMLN sympathizers by government forces and Death Squads in El Salvador. [Amnesty International, Death Squads: A Government Strategy, (London: Amnesty International Publications, October 1988), pp. 15-17; ICCHRLA Newsletter, 1989, Nos. 1 & 2, p. 30.] People from all sectors of Salvadoran society have been the targets of Death Squad activity, including teachers, academics, trade unionists, human rights workers, journalists, the judiciary, members of cooperatives, displaced persons and returned refugees. [ "Death Squads", pp. 24-35.]

Please consult the attached pages from the Amnesty International publication, Death Squads: A Government Strategy, which discuss the interrogation, arrest, and disappearance of displaced persons or returned refugees.

 For examples of harassment or imprisonment of returnees, please refer to the attached articles: "Salvadoran Returnee Captured" El Sol, (Silversprings, 21 September 1987), and "Report says Salvadorans harassed on return home" (by John Robinson, Boston Globe, 13 May 1987) cited in Documents on Danger to Salvadoran Deportees by Centro Presente, May 1989.

Persons who fled conscription, or are deserters, may also face severe penalties upon return. Although precise information on the legal punishment for desertion from the Salvadorean armed forces is currently unavailable to the IRBDC, it is clear that a deserter might face some repercussions. Military service is compulsory for all Salvadorans between the ages of 18 and 30, and there is no provision for conscientious objection or alternative service. [ A. Eide and C. Mubanga-Chipoya, United Nations, Conscientious Objection to Military Service, Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, (New York: United Nations Publications, 1985) pp. 23, 26; Blaustein and Flanz, eds., Constitutions of the Countries of the World, (Dobbs Ferry: Oceana Publications Inc., 1984) Article 215, p. 64.] Under-age recruitment is practised by both the military and by the FMLN guerrillas. [ Americas Watch, The Civilian Toll 1986-87, (New York: Americas Watch Publications, 1987), pp. 111 and 153.] In addition, "conscientious objectors may be imprisoned and treated as deserters" [Conscientious Objection to Military Service, p. 28.] but the punishment is unspecified. In an article commenting on conscientious objection and political asylum, the author observes that in El Salvador, "the well-documented reality is that individuals who attempt to refuse recruitment, or who desert subsequent to being inducted, are assumed to be guerrillas, or guerrilla sympathizers, and face a high probability of torture or death." [ Karen Musalo, "Conscientious Objection to Military Service Accepted as Valid Basis of Claim for Political Asylum for Salvadoran Men", Immigration Newsletter, Volume 16, No. 3, May-June 1987, p. 5.]

The diversity of reactions to returnees by the government suggests that it is not possible to predict the potential response of the government to any individual or group of returnees.