Amnesty urges El Salvador to disclose terms of Haiti troop deployment

Amnesty International on Monday urged El Salvador and Haiti to release the agreement governing the mass deployment of Salvadoran troops into the gang-plagued Caribbean nation, and for both countries to ensure that rights are respected.

Some 2,000 troops have been sent by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele to Haiti since the mid-October disappearance of four Salvadoran personnel.

The vast majority of the Salvadoran soldiers are not participating in the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), raising concerns about their rules of engagement.

"Both governments must make public the agreement governing the deployment and explain how they oversee the deployed forces, what rules govern the use of force, to whom they are accountable, and how people can report possible violations without fear of reprisals," Amnesty's Americas Director Ana Piquer said Monday.

Bukele initially stated the deployment aimed at bringing home the missing personnel.

However, he has subsequently hinted at a broader goal of eliminating Haiti's powerful gangs, as he did in his own country with a campaign that has raised allegations of rights abuses.

Piquer urged Bukele and Haiti's prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aime, to "ensure that all operations conducted by Salvadoran forces in Haiti comply with international human rights law."

She also called on both countries to establish "prompt, independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of human rights violations."

"The response to gang violence must not replicate the abuses and impunity that have characterized previous interventions in Haiti," she added.