El Salvador was not directly involved in the process to develop a Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. It was, however, among the first group of states to endorse the Political Declaration in Dublin in November 2022. At the Dublin Conference in November 2022, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines underlined the importance of accountability for international humanitarian law (IHL) violations and stressed the explosive weapons users must be aware of legal and moral standards of the international community.1
Statements and positions
At the 2024 UN Security Council open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, El Salvador drew attention to the ‘particularly severe’ impact on civilian populations from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. It encouraged all states that had yet to endorse the Political Declaration to do so, and called for endorsing states to make efforts to implement the Declaration fully.2
El Salvador has several times aligned with other states to deliver statements on explosive weapons in populated areas in multilateral forums. With 22 other Latin American and Caribbean states, El Salvador participated in the Santiago Regional Meeting on Protecting Civilians from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas in 2018, resulting in the Santiago Communiqué in which the participating states agreed to take further action on the issue.3 In 2018 and 2019, El Salvador joined some 50 and 71 states respectively to endorse joint statements on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas at the UN General Assembly First Committee, calling attention to the devastating and long-lasting humanitarian impact of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and urging states to reverse the trend of high levels of civilian harm.4