A middle-income country located in Central America with 6.1 million inhabitants. WHO estimates 1,139 road traffic fatalities each year, with a rate of 21.1 deaths per 100,000 population. According to the WHO, El Salvador has weak laws addressing all five risk factors.. El Salvador is not a contracting party to the UN Road Safety Conventions.
Meeting with Mr. Gerson Martinez, Minister of Public Works; Mr. Nelson Garcia, Vice-Minister of Transport and President of FONAT; and Mr. David Izzo, French Ambassador in El Salvador and Belize
The Special Envoy presented his recent activities and the terms of his mandate and gave an overview of the road safety situation in El Salvador. The Special Envoy shared about the inclusion of road safety in the SDGs 3.6 and 11.2. The Special Envoy highlighted potential solutions, such as improved education, law enforcement, better road infrastructure, post-crash care and safer vehicles which are the key Pillars of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The Special Envoy reminded the UNCT that El Salvador is not a contracting party to any UN Road Safety Conventions and encouraged accession. Ministers presented road safety situation in El Salvador and concluded that lack of education and law enforcement were the key issues. The Special Envoy offered his support in El Salvador’s efforts to improve road safety.
Mr. Hugo Martinez, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador
The Special Envoy presented his recent activities, the terms of his mandate and discussed the road safety situation in El Salvador. The Special Envoy gave an overview of UN Road Safety Conventions, while highlighting that El Salvador was not a contracting party to any Conventions and encouraging accession. The Minister of Foreign Affairs agreed that road safety should become a priority and assured the Special Envoy of his commitment to raising its importance on the government’s agenda.
Dr. Julio Oscar Robes Ticas, Deputy Minister of Public Health and Social Assistance
The Special Envoy presented his recent activities and the terms of his mandate and presented five pillars of the Global Plan. Together they discussed potential solutions to reducing road crashes in which the Deputy Minister highlighted the need to address lack of coordination with other Ministers in the country. The Deputy Minister shared about the Ministry’s on-going efforts on improved data collection system.
Mr. Christian Salazar Volkmann, UN Resident Coordinator in El Salvador & Belize
The Special Envoy gave an overview of his recent activities, presented the terms of his mandate, and reminded the UNCT that El Salvador is not a contracting party to the UN Road Safety Conventions. The Special Envoy shared about the five pillars of the Global Plan and placed an emphasis on education and law enforcement. The UNCT presented their activities and mentioned their road safety challenges, such as lack of law enforcement on drink driving and drug use. The UNCT raised the issue of coordinating data collection with various governmental institutions.