The human rights situation in Guatemala
The Social Justice Committee is very concerned with the state of the human rights situation in Guatemala and the lack of compliance with the Peace Agreements. Most of the Agreements re–scheduled for 2001 have not been fulfilled. The Peace Agreements have not meant a difference in the standard of living for those suffering social exclusion such as indigenous people, peasants, and poor women. For them the only peace benefit is the end of the armed conflict.
MINUGUA has stated that since mid–1998 there is "stagnation and signs of deterioration" of the human rights situation in Guatemala.
The deteriorating of the human rights situation is seen in threats and attacks to members of the judicial system and trial witnesses, to other human rights defenders and to members of the media. At the end of 2001, this situation prompted the president of the Inter–American Human Rights Commission, Claudio Grossman, to open a file on intimidation to human rights defenders in Guatemala.
The ever–present impunity is assessed by MINUGUA as "the main obstacle to the effective enjoyment of human rights". MINUGUA believes that among the contributing factors are consistent shortcomings in the administration of justice, continuing failure to fulfill the obligation to investigate and punish, unwillingness of many officials to tackle human rights violations and crimes. Emblematic cases have shown a pattern of obstruction of justice and abuse of legal resources with dilatory purposes.
There have been some improvements in the functioning of the administration of justice, probably the most important being the verdict in the case of the assassination of Monsignor Gerardi. For the first time in Guatemala, military officers have been convicted in a human rights case. It must be said that this step forward was mainly thanks to the courage of the judges, the prosecutor and the witnesses involved in the case, since they achieved this landmark result despite threats against them and other human rights defenders.
Another positive development was the public admission of guilt and payment of indemnity to survivors of the "Dos Erres" massacre. President Portillo asked for forgiveness in the name of the State of Guatemala. A representative of the Inter–American Commission of Human Rights was at the ceremony to acknowledge "the work done by both sides to reach a friendly solution" and the importance of the financial compensation. An interesting detail, the Minister of Defense and his Chiefs of staff wore civilian clothes at the ceremony.
But, in general the judicial system still needs much improvement. Nevertheless, the Guatemalan government has decided to diminish the budget for the justice system; the President of the Supreme Court said that the building of 30 courts of justice in rural areas will have to stop for lack of money.
The Government has done the same for health, education and housing. It is quite worrisome that the services the population need the most are being drastically reduced. Already in 2001, the health program for families managed to cover only 50% of their target population, with shortage of medicines, inadequate installations, lack of human resources. This is a very clear case of systematic violations of socio–economic rights.
Another gross violation of socio–economic rights is the labour situation. According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions – ICFTU (Report for the WTO General Council Review of Trade Policies of Guatemala):
"Anti union discrimination is rife and often very violent, notably on plantations and in export industries. There are currently no collective agreements with employers, for any of the more than 80,000 workers in the maquila sector. It is common practice for factories to close down shortly after the formation of a union, and move production elsewhere".
"The government has ratified all eight of the ILO's core conventions, and has recently made notably legislative reform to bring law into compliance with these conventions. However, enforcement and implementation of existing laws are sorely lacking, and the government must take urgent steps to enforce its own laws and protect the rights it has promised to its citizens, including the right to undertake trade union activities without facing the risk of violence, including murder."
The Social Justice Committee has received information on one of those cases directly from the lawyer and union activists who received death threats, in the case of maquila workers trying to start a union (more details can be found in the SJC web-site: www.s-j-c.net )
While the government is cutting the budget for essential services, the budget for the Armed Forces was already increased in 2001 and is even higher in 2002. The increase in budget for the military goes against the directives from the Peace Accords. The limit for the military spending was set at 0.66% of the Gross Domestic Product. In 1999, the military spending represented 0.68% of GDP. This figure was 0.83% in 2000 and it reached 0.94% of GDP in 2001, as a result of continuing supplementary transfers to the Defense Ministry.
The Armed Forces are not complying with the Peace Agreements also in other areas.
Some of the commitments that have not been honoured yet are redeployment, reform of military instruction, and the formulation of a new military doctrine, which prevents the progress in other commitments like redrafting of the Act Establishing the Army. In addition to that is the militarization of civilian institutions, a setback for the peace process. A former Defense Minister, a very recently retired military officer, was appointed Minister of the Interior, and he appointed other former military officers to important positions in his Ministry.
The deployment of the National Civil Police (PNC) had reached all the departments in the country by August 1999, and the target given in the Peace Agreements, 20,000 police officers, was reached in December 2001. Nevertheless the Armed Forces continue to have a role in public security tasks, using the excuse of limitations of the PNC and the situation of insecurity.
There are two more very glaring problems in the Guatemalan landscape, extreme poverty on one side of the social scale and corruption on the other side. The people living in poverty or extreme poverty are mainly peasants and mainly indigenous. They are the living proof of the lack of compliance with two key Peace Accords, the Accord on Socio–Economic Rights and the Agrarian Situation, and the Accord on Identity and Rights of the Indigenous Peoples. A peasants federation, the National Coordinating Office of Peasant Organizations (CNOC) presented a proposal to the government for a combined approach to solve this problem. They highlighted the fact that the national Budget has no item for Development of the Indigenous Peoples. They demanded a massive campaign of public education on the two Peace Accords just mentioned and on the ILO Convention 169 (Convention on Indigenous Peoples). They demand judicial and constitutional acknowledgement of the institutions and authorities of the Indigenous Peoples. They want to elaborate, in cooperation with the government, a National Plan for Comprehensive Development. This federation has mobilized thousands of peasants and block roads to get their demands heard; it is a powerful organization and we are hoping President Portillo will listen to them.
The other serious problem in Guatemala today is corruption. President Portillo has publicly acknowledged it and there have been some attempts from his administration to attack this problem, although he himself does not seem very hopeful to be able to solve it in the time he has left in power.
Recommendations to the Government of Canada
- At the UN Commission on Human Rights, please continue supporting the presence of MINUGUA for as long as possible. The government of Guatemala does not seem to be able yet to ensure respect for human rights without international presence at this moment.
- At the UN Commission on Human Rights, please propose the visit of an Independent Expert or a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders to Guatemala.
- At the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala, please support the Guatemalan human rights community in this difficult time.
- Monitoring the cases of harassment of human rights defenders through the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala
- Publicly stating the Canadian position on cases of human rights abuses
Central America Programme
Social Justice Committee