San Salvador, January 23 (RHC-teleSUR), -- El Salvador named a new minister of justice and security on Friday to address an unprecedented level of violence, which saw the small Central American country become the world’s new murder capital in 2015, according to a new study. 

Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a former guerilla, chose a long-serving director of civil police, Mauricio Ramirez. 

While homicides, extortion and robbery have decreased in the past five years, according to a study released this week by Servicio Social Pasionista, a research group that focuses on Salvadoran violence, threats by gangs increased significantly last year and caused the forced displacement of 289,000 people in 2014. Applications to change housing and to seek asylum in the United States also saw a steep rise in 2015, the majority citing the murder of a family member as the main motivation for moving.

August set a record in the rise of homicides since El Salvador’s 12-year civil war: 900 murders in a country of 6.4 million. 

The attorney general's office of El Salvador recognizes that the victims of forced displacement are victims of human rights violations.