LSN El Salvador Human Rights
LSN-El Salvador has been an active participant in international human rights advocacy, helping to draft the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This landmark treaty, affecting 600 million people with disabilities worldwide, will build a global framework of international law to create, change and enforce laws that promote human rights for all.
LSN El Salvador Director Jesús Martinez testified before the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 2001, in Washington, D.C. on the need for increased U.S. allocations for landmine victims and other people with disabilities around the globe.
Since 2002, LSN-El Salvador has been an active participant in the El Salvador Municipal Committee of Participative Coordination of City Hall for people with disabilities. This relationship has resulted in City Hall’s approval of the construction of 700 ramps on main street curbs, hospitals, parks, universities and schools. LSN-El Salvador Director Jesús Martínez was invited to cut the ribbon during the ceremony celebrating the approval of the construction. LSN-El Salvador is also working to develop a forum with representatives from related institutions to increase awareness of the needs of people with disabilities, and increase the levels of accessibility in public spaces.
On El Salvador’s National Day of People with Disabilities (December 2), LSN-El Salvador, in cooperation with other organizations, including ACOGIPRI (Cooperative Association of the Independent Group Pro-Rehabilitation), ALGES (Association of Injures of the War of El Salvador), ALFAES (Association of Injures of the Army Force of El Salvador), ASS (Salvadoran Association of Blind People), organizes a march and other activities in the capital of San Salvador. On average, 200 people participate; among them at least 50 LSN survivor clients. The activities provide an opportunity for survivors and people with disabilities to gather together, assert their human rights, and rally for fair and equal treatment.
LSN El Salvador also organizes workshops for survivors to educate them about their human rights. The forums educate survivors about current laws and reforms, and the international treaties and agreements under which El Salvador is bound to uphold.
With LSN’s support, survivors from the Panchimalco region created a local association to work with municipal authorities on issues related to their human rights. This association will enable survivors to work with local authorities, social services and other organizations to address their concerns on a more formal level.