(2017) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (making the invisible visible)

It reports and analyzes the cases of internally displaced persons due to violence assisted by Cristosal and the Quetzalcóatl Foundation during 2017. These are part of a database of 186 cases and 701 victims, representing an increase of 53% compared to those reported in 2016. The document presents an analysis of the situation of generalized violence that has generated, in a particular way, significant flows of internal displacement caused by violence. The document also highlights the characterization of internally displaced persons and the nature and dynamics of displacement. The definition provided by the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement is taken up in order to define this phenomenon. Internally displaced persons are understood to be: “(…) persons or groups of persons who have been forced to abandon or flee from their home or place of habitual residence as a result of or to avoid the effects of an armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, human rights violations, or natural or man-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border” (p.5). The report also discusses the numbers that different organizations and the State itself have formulated to account for the magnitude of the phenomenon. As a whole, it intends to make visible and draw attention to a problem that is traditionally hidden and that the Salvadoran State has repeatedly refused to recognize or has tried to minimize, omitting its responsibility to fully protect and assist the victims. In this sense, this document shows that it is possible to think of protection strategies and actions for the victims. Through judicial mechanisms, the resolution of five appeals for protection in favor of the victims has been achieved. At a methodological level, this study was developed using a mixed approach, which integrates quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The Report presents its own data, taking up the cases that Cristosal and the Quetzalcóatl Foundation assisted during 2017, which were registered through a single registration form, which allowed the information collected by both institutions to be homologated to later be analyzed based on the main study variables. The registered cases respond to the organizations’ field of action, so the sample does not allow them to have national validity. The purpose is not to calculate the magnitude of internal displacement in El Salvador, but to trace trends and highlight the phenomenon so that it can be made visible and be part of the national dialogue and agenda. Methodologically, this investigation is different from other efforts such as the one carried out by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) or the report on Characterization of Human Mobility, recently published by the government of El Salvador.

(2017) FORCED DISPLACEMENT DUE TO VIOLENCE IN EL SALVADOR

This document reports and analyzes the cases of internally displaced persons due to violence assisted by Cristosal and the Quetzalcóatl Foundation during 2017. The information considered here only takes into account the families displaced within…

Data infographic, Making the invisible visible

Data from the report on forced displacement due to violence in El Salvador Making the Invisible Visible facilitated the preparation of an infographic. Said data is not a country-level sample of events in El Salvador, but rather a record of information provided by…