The United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) is the result of dialogue and negotiation between the Salvadorian Government and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). It constitutes the first UN attempt to mediate the settlement of an non-international armed conflict. This work studies the benefits and disadvantages intrinsic to a political body in monitoring the respect for international humanitarian law, and analyzes new requirements demanded by the enlargement of the functions of the UN. The analysis is based on the reports of the ONUSAL, prepared during its peace-making phase, and focuses on the question of the extent to which the mission succeeded in assuring a better protection of the norms of humanitarian law. The work is based on a Ph.D. thesis originally written in French. Tathiana Flores Acuña received her doctorate from the European University Institute in Florence in 1994. She now works for the Organization of American States in Costa Rica.

This book in Oxfam's Country Profile series gives an account of the history of El Salvador, and the inequalities and political corruption in Salvadoran society which were contributory causes of the long-running civil war. The ecological crisis facing the country, and the unresolved issues of land tenure are also examined. El Salvador: Keeping the Peace reviews the efforts which are being made to rebuild communities, and the obstacles which remain on the road to a stable and peaceful future.

Presents the saga of three generations of Salvadoran women whose lives are changed in unexpected ways by a letter that has lain unopened for twenty-six years.

El Salvador's civil war between the Salvadoran government and Marxist guerrillas erupted into full force in early 1981 and endured for eleven bloody years. Unwilling to tolerate an advance of Soviet and Cuban-backed communism in its geopolitical backyard, the US provided over six billion dollars in military and economic aid to the Salvadoran government. El Salvador was a deeply controversial issue in American society and divided Congress and the public into left and right. Relying on thousands of archival documents as well as interviews with participants on both sides of the war, The Salvador Option offers a thorough and fair-minded interpretation of the available evidence. If success is defined narrowly, there is little question that the Salvador Option achieved its Cold War strategic objectives of checking communism. Much more difficult, however, is to determine what human price this 'success' entailed - a toll suffered almost entirely by Salvadorans in this brutal civil war.