A New Generation of Disappearances: Gangs and the State in El Salvador

2021 ◽  
pp. 189-202
Author(s):  
María José Méndez
Keyword(s):  
El Salvador ◽  
State Government ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Mara Salvatrucha ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Salvadoran Civil War ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Conflict Period

Around 17,000 Salvadorans have disappeared in the third decade of the post-conflict period (2010-2020). This number more than doubles the estimated 8,000 people who disappeared during the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992). Despite its astounding scale, the phenomenon of disappearance in El Salvador has garnered little attention from the international community and has yet to be fully examined. This chapter redresses this invisibility by contrasting a top-down and a bottom-up view on the phenomenon. According to state government officials, disappearances primarily occur at the hands of the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs. Those inhabiting the peripheries of El Salvador and suffering the deep psychological impact of having a missing relative also hold transnational gangs responsible. However, they connect the phenomenon to abuses by state forces and to complex entanglements between state agents and gangs. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in El Salvador in 2018, this chapter argues that the new generation of disappearances in El Salvador must be analysed in relation to a broader continuum of state violations and state-criminal relations. It also points to the crucial need to engage the perspectives of relatives of the disappeared to make fuller sense of the phenomenon

The Law of Pillage, Conflict Resources, and Jus Post Bellum

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Radics ◽  
Carl Bruch
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Economic Crime ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Jus Post Bellum ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Law ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Conflict Period

This chapter explores the role of the law of pillage in the emerging body of jus post bellum with respect to temporal considerations as to its application; its relationship to the law of occupation; the scope of actors to whom pillage applies; and the legal and practical implications of approaching pillage as an economic crime. The chapter discusses questions such as to what extent does the law of pillage continue to apply during the post-conflict period and to whom does it apply? Would it include unelected transitional government officials who might be found liable for making decisions on natural resource concessions? Does the law of pillage apply to occupying forces having de facto or de jure control over a country? How would it relate to immovable state property in occupation? The chapter discusses the viability of war crimes prosecutions for pillage as well as of alternative avenues of accountability.

Policing and the Legacies of Wartime State Predation: Evidence from a Survey and Field Experiment in Liberia

2021 ◽  
pp. 002200272110130
Author(s):  
Robert A. Blair ◽  
Benjamin S. Morse
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Security Sector Reform ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Sector Reform ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
State Security ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Conflict Period

How does violence during civil war shape citizens’ willingness to trust and rely on state security providers in the post-conflict period? Can post-conflict security sector reform restore perceptions of state security forces among victims of wartime state predation? Using a survey and field experiment in Liberia, we show that rebel-perpetrated violence is strongly positively correlated with trust and reliance on the police after conflict is over, while state-perpetrated violence is not. Victims of wartime state predation are, however, more likely to update their priors about the police in response to positive interactions with newly reformed police officers. We also show that abuses committed by police officers in the post-conflict period are negatively correlated with citizens’ perceptions of the police, potentially counteracting the positive effects of security sector reform. We corroborate our quantitative findings with detailed qualitative observations of interactions between civilians and police officers in the field.

scholarly journals Cryptoglossia as part of linguistic practice of the slavophone population of Kosovo and Metohija

2011 ◽  
pp. 241-254
Author(s):  
Mitra Reljic
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Linguistic Practice ◽  
Study Material ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Life Circumstances ◽  
Conflict Period

Due to frequent interethnic crises, territory occupations and other similar life circumstances, the Slavic population of Kosovo and Metohija, particularly the Serbs, have been too often forced to disquise their linguistic and national identities. In terms of its range of practice and of aspects of manifestation, this phenomenon, here referred to by the term cryptoglossia, was especially evident in the early post-conflict period at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. The paper discusses the causes, different aspects of manifestation, and consequences of the phenomenon, illustrating them with a number of examples taken from our study material.

scholarly journals Tiempo y muerte en las pandillas transnacionales de El Salvador

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (42) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Hugo César Moreno Hernández
Keyword(s):  
El Salvador ◽  
Mara Salvatrucha

<p>El presente artículo presenta la visión de pandilleros salvadoreños sobre la muerte y cómo la estrecha relación que tienen con lo mortífero les lleva a una vivencia del tiempo en clave de presente casi perpetuo. Su posibilidad diacrónica sólo es posible por marcadores como el hospital, la cárcel y el cementerio. Se busca dejar oír la palabra de pandilleros salvadoreños de la Pandilla 18, tanto activos dentro del grupo como de aquellos denominados calmados. Aparece también la voz de un pandillero calmado de la Mara Salvatrucha. Es importante esta distinción en cuanto deja ver cómo la muerte se enseñorea en la vida cotidiana de estos jóvenes y adultos miembros de agrupaciones complejas simplificadas por las políticas de criminalización.</p>

scholarly journals Responses of a Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service During Military Conflict Versus COVID-19: A Retrospective Comparative Cohort Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Jaffe ◽  
Roman Sonkin ◽  
Evan Avraham Alpert ◽  
Erik Zerath
Keyword(s):  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Motor Vehicle Collisions ◽  
Vehicle Collisions ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Military Conflicts ◽  
Comparative Cohort Study ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Military ◽  
Conflict Period

ABSTRACT Background Decreases in routine healthcare practices have been shown to occur during disasters. However, research regarding the impacts of natural disasters, pandemics, or military conflicts on emergency medical services (EMS) is scarce. Objectives This study assessed the impact of a military conflict versus the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on a national EMS organization in terms of responses to overall daily emergencies, medical illnesses, motor vehicle collisions, and other injuries. Methods This retrospective comparative cohort study assessed daily routine emergency ambulance calls to Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national EMS organization. This included overall emergency calls as well as those related to medical illnesses, motor vehicle collisions (MVCs), and other injuries. All data were obtained from the MDA command and control database. During the military conflict Operation Protective Edge (2014), the civilian population was subjected to intensive rocket attacks for 24 days, followed by 26 days of a progressive withdrawal of operations and then to a post-conflict period. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (March-April 2020), the population was subjected to 32 days of total lockdown, followed by 27 days of progressive relief of confinement, and then to a post-lockdown period. Results The total number of emergency calls in this study was 330,430. During the conflict, the mean number of daily calls decreased, followed by an increase during Relief and Post-Conflict with higher values in Post-Conflict than in Pre-Conflict. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a decrease in the mean daily number of calls during Lockdown. It remained low during Relief and increased during Post-Lockdown. However, it remained lower in Post-Lockdown than during Pre-Lockdown. Calls related to medical illnesses decreased during the conflict and during the lockdown. The post-conflict period was characterized by a similar baseline call magnitude but not during the post-lockdown period. Decreases in calls for MVC and other injuries were significant during the lockdown but not during the military conflict. Post-lockdown was accompanied by return to baseline call volumes for MVC, whereas calls for other injuries increased above baseline both after the lockdown and military conflict. Conclusion This study shows decreasing trends in routine daily calls for EMS during both Operation Protective Edge and COVID-19. However, different patterns of needs for EMS were evidenced for medical illnesses, MVC, or calls concerning other injuries. These results are instrumental for managing the operational demands of EMS during military conflicts and pandemics.

Part III Structure of State Government, 10 The State Judicial Branch

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Williams Robert F
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
State Courts ◽  
State Supreme Courts ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Supreme Courts ◽  
Federal Judiciary ◽  
Adequate Funding ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Advisory Opinions

This chapter discusses the differences between the federal and state judiciary. Many state judges are elected through a variety of mechanisms. The workload of state supreme courts has evolved over the years from a private-law orientation to more constitutional law and public policy kinds of cases. In addition, state courts exercise a number of nonadjudicatory powers such as rulemaking on practice and procedure before the courts and regulation of lawyers. Some state courts have the authority to issue advisory opinions and answer certified questions, and some of them have asserted certain inherent powers such as to require adequate funding levels. State courts also retain the power to develop common law doctrine, as well as to resolve disputes among state and local government officials and agencies in ways that rarely involve the federal judiciary. State courts are also not bound by the rigid federal doctrines of standing, mootness, and ripeness.

The Legal Consequences of Faits Accomplis

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karine Mac Allister
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Response ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
Legal Consequences ◽  
Conflict Period

This paper discusses the legal consequences following the transfer of settlers into occupied territories more precisely the dichotomy between the rights of settlers the rights of protected persons victims. At the heart of the matter are the questions: What to do with settlers transferred into occupied territories in the post-conflict period? Should settlers be removed from the territory where they were transferred to allow victims to access restitution? In the alternative, should settlers be considered to have acquired a de facto ‘right to stay’ or a right not to be expelled under international human rights law the principle of humanity? Do settlers have rights? Do all settlers have the same rights? There is no consensual answer to these sensitive questions where proposed solutions vary on a spectrum from collective expulsion to the unconditional integration of settlers. Emerging from a case analysis is an international response to settler transfer that is complaisant of fait accompli resulting in a balance tilting in favor of the status quo to the not infrequent detriment of protected victims’ rights. This article attempts to reconcile conflicting rights by proposing a response framework cognizant of all relevant branches of international law.

Negotiating War in El Salvador: The Politics of Endgame

1986 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique A. Baloyra
Keyword(s):  
El Salvador ◽  
Democratic Regime ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Municipal Governments ◽  
La Palma ◽  
Legal Power ◽  
Democratic Administration ◽  
And Control ◽  
Clear Majority ◽  
Do So

Important changes occurred in El Salvador between the parley of government and guerrilla representatives at La Palma (15 October 1984) and the exchange of kidnapped government officials for imprisoned and wounded guerrillas (24 October 1985). During that year Salvadoran politics entered into the endgame of a political transition that may yet culminate in a democratic consolidation. Reaching the endgame stage of the transition hinged on the outcome of the March 1985 election, which gave the Christian Democratic administration of José Napoleón Duarte a clear majority in the Legislative Assembly and control of most municipal governments. The election completed the process of investing formal-legal power in a government committed to democratization. Equally important, it strengthened the credibility and legitimacy of that government, both domestically and abroad. However, that third consecutive electoral victory by the Christian Democrats did not, of itself, guarantee the consolidation of a democratic regime. The election simply created a more favorable climate in which the Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC) and others could do so, but formidable political obstacles still remain.

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