UN weighs request to back El Salvador anti-graft commission

The United Nations says it’s reviewing a request to back a new commission that will be investigating corruption in El Salvador.

U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Tuesday that the Salvadoran government had made the request.

The Organization of American States said Friday that it had agreed with Salvadoran officials to create the International Commission against Impunity in El Salvador. The group is to be known as CICIES, for its initials in Spanish.

President Nayib Bukele has promoted establishing an anti-graft commission and has said he hoped it would be backed by international organizations.

Neighbouring Guatemala and Honduras have already had such commissions. However, the U.N.-sponsored commission in Guatemala shut down Tuesday after President Jimmy Morales refused to renew its mandate.