El Salvador Humanitarian Needs Overview (December 2023)

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This document is consolidated by OCHA on behalf of the Humanitarian Country Team and its partners. It provides a shared understanding of crises, including the most pressing humanitarian needs and the estimated number of people in need of assistance. It represents a consolidated base of evidence and provides inputs for joint strategic response planning.

Summary of humanitarian needs and key findings

The Humanitarian Country Team, formed by United Nations agencies, national and international NGOs, government institutions and cooperating partners, has prepared this analysis that qualitatively and quantitatively describes the humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable population in El Salvador.

The humanitarian situation in El Salvador is caused by extreme weather events (drought and excessive rainfall), human mobility situations, and persistent economic impacts.

Humanitarian needs estimates were calculated using the Joint Intersectoral Analysis Framework (JIAF), which comprehensively analyzes the severity of needs faced by people, using a range of cross-sectoral indicators. The results of this analysis reveal that the number of people in humanitarian need have increased slightly, from 1,115,112 to 1,119,198, equivalent to 18 per cent of the total population. This population is distributed throughout the country, especially in the central and eastern departments which are the most highly affected within the Dry Corridor.
The impacts of El Niño is one of the main factors affecting populations. The World Food Programme (WFP) National Food Security Survey for June 2023 estimates that 1,044,895 people are moderately or severely food insecure (Phase 3) or worse (Crisis) on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). This is due to multiple economic and climaterelated factors, especially the expected impacts of El Niño. According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), the poorest households in the Dry Corridor in Honduras and El Salvador will resort to crisis strategies such as reducing portion sizes at meals, borrowing food, relying on help from family or friends, restricting adult food consumption to allow children to eat, or reducing the number of daily meals to address the lack of food availability at home.

These conditions are exacerbated by structural inequalities in accessing basic services such as lack of access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services, which contribute to increased food insecurity, rates of child malnutrition and associated diseases.

Human mobility also continues to affect the population. Although the government has made progress in improving the conditions that drive human mobility, challenges remain in reducing the structural causes that cause forced displacement and migration from El Salvador. Between October 2022 to September 2023, some 62,846 Salvadorans were intercepted in the United States1 . Asylum applications in Mexico from people from El Salvador remain at levels similar to previous years. As of September 2023, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) reported 5,033 asylum applications from Salvadorians, which was the fourth highest nationality in applicants2 .

Data from the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration (DGME) reveals that 14,437 Salvadorans returned to El Salvador from the United States and Mexico in 2022. This represents a 70 per cent increase compared to 2021. As of September 2023, the number of people returned to El Salvador reached 8,833.
Among the main reasons cited for leaving the country are economic factors (75 per cent), family reunification (14 per cent), and insecurity (8.4 per cent)3 .

Communities historically affected by violence require specialized humanitarian assistance services as they deal with people displacing and people returning to the community.

State-reclaimed communities, formerly controlled by gangs, have urgent protection needs that could not be previously addressed. Despite significant government efforts to restore security and ensure access and free mobility in these territories, a comprehensive humanitarian response is needed. This response should guarantee access to protection and restore rights, especially for vulnerable groups such as women, female heads of household, children, adolescents,
LGBTIQ+ people, and people with disabilities.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) continues to be a relevant and complex problem in El Salvador due to the persistent inequalities between women and men. Gender stereotypes normalize this type of violence against women, girls and adolescents, people with disabilities, indigenous people, LGBTIQ+ individuals and the elderly to a greater extent. During emergencies, these people face greater challenges to dignified economic participation, property tenure, limitations in access to sexual and reproductive health, water, sanitation and hygiene services, among others.

While cases of femicide have decreased, cases of other types of GBV remain high.

The Attorney General's Office4 found that between June 2022 to May 2023 there was a 13 per cent increase in sexual violence compared to the previous period.
Psychological and patrimonial violence also increased by 10 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

Despite efforts to provide essential services to respond to GBV, there are still limitations in the response capacity, availability of resources, and safe spaces for survivors.

People affected by these crises require comprehensive humanitarian assistance that includes access to food, specialized nutrition, emergency health services and treatments, provision of quality water and sanitation, shelter, education, access to protection systems, as well as appropriate assistance in specific cases of GBV and other types of violence.

This analysis can be used in a potential comprehensive humanitarian response. It focuses on rights and age, gender and diversity, and populations and territories identified as most vulnerable.