ALMOST 3,000 children have been arrested and 1,000 convicted over mostly gang membership-related charges in El Salvador as part of President Nayib Bukele’s so-called “war on gangs”, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. The report includes testimonies of 90 people, among them 66 victims of abuse. Documented are several instances of human rights violations against minors, including coercion into false confessions and, at times, mistreatment and torture. The arrests began in March 2022, when Bukele announced a state of exception and a set of “mano dura” (“iron fist”) policies aimed at tackling gang violence in what was then…