1. Introduction 153. El Salvador became a party to the Convention on 17 June 1996, without reservations. It has not made the declarations provided for in articles 21 and 22. 154. The report complies with the general guidelines regarding the form and contents of initial reports approved by the Committee. 155. The consideration of the report gave rise to a frank and constructive dialogue with the representatives of El Salvador, which the Committee appreciates and acknowledges. 2. Positive aspects 156. The Constitution of the Republic gives legal force to all international treaties which have been ratified, while stipulating that the law may not change or derogate from a treaty's provisions while it is in force and that in the event of a conflict between the treaty and the law, the treaty shall take precedence. 157. The promulgation and effective observance of the new Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, whose provisions include important guarantees for the protection of fundamental human rights, should contribute to better fulfilment of the State's obligations under the Convention. 158. Among those provisions, the Committee attaches particular importance to the following: (a) The imprescriptibility of both penalties and criminal proceedings in the prosecution of crimes against humanity, including torture; (b) The attribution of jurisdiction to national courts for the judgement of offences affecting internationally protected property or universally recognized human rights, regardless of by whom and where such offences are committed; (c) The requirement of written orders authorizing detentions, and the establishment of strict time limits within which a detainee must be brought before a court and the court must give a ruling regarding the detainee's release or remand; (d) The obligation for national courts to judge individuals charged with offences affecting internationally protected property, in the event that their extradition is rejected; (e) The creation of the Office of the Procurator for the Protection of Human Rights and the significant activity undertaken by this institution, both in its duties of supervising respect and guarantees for human rights and in the development of human rights promotion and education programmes, particularly those intended for law enforcement personnel; (f) The creation of prison supervision courts responsible for ensuring the proper enforcement of sentences and respect for the rights of all persons deprived of liberty; (g) The human rights education activities conducted by the Salvadoran Institute of Human Rights, the Judicial Service Training Colleges and the National Public Security Academy; (h) The fact that there is no provision in penal legislation which allows torture to be justified by invoking the order of a superior or public authority. On the contrary, the National Civil Police Organization Act expressly excludes that possibility and, under the general provisions of the Penal Code, both the physical perpetrator of the offence and the person or persons ordering it incur criminal liability. 29