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CICC and the Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos conduct a joint mission to San Salvador to meet with various government actors

Apr 2008

In late April, Francesca Varda, CICC Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, Wilfredo Medrano, president of the El Salvador Coalition for the ICC, and Norwin Solano, a lawyer from the Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos, conducted a joint mission to San Salvador to counteract pervasive misinformation regarding the Rome Statute’s mandate and jurisdiction, provide information relating to how countries around the world have resolved specific constitutional questions, and, most specifically, address the question of whether a constitutional amendment is needed in El Salvador.

While Guatemala's, Costa Rica's, and Honduras’ constitutional courts were able to give a favorable opinion in advance of ratification, the Salvadorian system is different in that the constitutional review would have to happen after accession, opening the Statute up to more challenges and legal limbo. In meetings with high-level government officials, parliamentarians, and NGOs, it became clear that key stakeholders nationally believe accession to the Statute would require a constitutional amendment.

Upcoming parliamentary elections early next year could make 2008 a pivotal year for international justice in El Salvador since its domestic laws require that two consecutive legislative assemblies approve an amendment to the Constitution. Thus if no action is taken by the current legislative assembly, the constitutional reform process would be significantly delayed as efforts to pass the amendment could only begin with the 2009 legislative assembly. Given the three-year terms of the legislative assemblies, the completion of the amendment process would then be prolonged to 2012, when the subsequent legislative assembly takes effect, representing an unacceptable delay in bringing El Salvador into the Court.