On Tuesday, 20 May, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved the “Foreign Agents” law, which imposes tax burdens and financial controls and audits on human rights organizations, thus creating serious obstacles to their work and opening new legal avenues for their criminalization. This takes place in a context of deepening authoritarian trends and criminalization of human rights defense in the country, as we recently denounced together with other international organizations. Examples of this context include the arbitrary detention and criminalization of woman defender and lawyer Ruth Eleonora López and the repression against the community of El Triunfo and the arrest and criminalization of two of its leaders.

One of the articles contained in the law with the greatest repercussions for the security and work of human rights organizations – and that legitimizes arbitrary controls and sanctions by the government – is Article 9, which prohibits organizations from “carrying out activities for political purposes” that have the objective of “altering the public order” or that threaten “national security or the social and political stability of the country”. Furthermore, the law sets fines ranging from US$100,000 to US$250,000 for organizations that do not comply with the requirements and establishes absolutely arbitrary enforcement procedures. Among the latter is a provision that if they are not granted administrative authorization, organizations cease to operate legally and lose the ability to make use of their assets and resources.

This law comes after a prolonged smear, stigmatization and defamation campaign conducted by the government and its allies against human rights defenders and organizations, carried out foremost through digital means, using official accounts, including President Nayib Bukele’s account and other high-ranking officials, as well as “bot farms” that seek the viral spread fake news and hate speech. This campaign has intensified particularly since the 2022 imposition of the state of emergency, during which the voice and work of human rights organizations has been fundamental in denouncing the abuses committed as well as in accompanying and demanding justice for the victims.

IM-Defensoras expresses its concern over the approval of this law, which deepens the authoritarian lurch of Nayib Bukele's government and exposes women human rights defenders in El Salvador to a context of control, financial scrutiny and arbitrariness that seriously jeopardizes their work and even their personal and collective security.

We call on the international community to remain vigilant of the situation in El Salvador, to speak out against the approval of this restrictive law and to stand in solidarity with women defenders and human rights organizations in the country.