United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala

“ Most of the country, in particular the indigenous communities, had no access to the formal justice sector. Each of these institutions would have to overcome a legacy of subservience to the military and powerful economic and political actors, while combating the efforts of many of these same actors to undermine reform programmes that would threaten their historic ability to control State institutions and policy with impunity. ”

“ The Human Rights Ombudsman appointed in 2002 has been a highly visible defender of the human rights of Guatemala’s citizens, intervening on a wide range of problems on behalf of victims, firmly establishing the office in the public eye as the key national institution for the defence and promotion of human rights. The Ombudsman is making important strides to fulfil his constitutional role in spite of serious budget limitations and threats and attacks against his staff and offices. ”

“ It must be recognized that the profound political, social and cultural changes called for in the peace agreements cannot be fully achieved in seven years; as other post-conflict States have demonstrated, the transformation from authoritarian regimes to a democratic culture is a long-term project marked by faster and slower reform periods. Yet, in Guatemala, it is cause for concern that, not only are reforms progressing slowly, but the Government and a number of other political and social sectors no longer appear committed to the changes that are at the heart of the peace process. ”

“ Impunity cannot be reduced without significant progress on police, prosecution and court reforms. Experience in other post-conflict societies also suggests that, unless reform programmes move forward at the same pace in all justice sector institutions, they will not produce visible improvements in reducing crime, corruption and impunity. ”

“ Important advances have been made in a number of human rights areas since 1997, in particular the Government’s commitment to ratifying international human rights treaties, improving relations with the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights, adopting an anti-discrimination law, establishing a National Reparations Commission and beginning to improve access to justice for indigenous communities. The political process is open and competitive and the press is free and vocal, even in the face of threats and harassment. ”

“ Access to justice programmes, particularly the judicial administrative centres and the proposed expansion of the justice of the peace jurisdiction, should be modified to fully incorporate the equity-based, informal and local dispute resolution practices of indigenous communities. The Coordinating Body for Modernization of the Justice Sector, directed by the heads of the Supreme Court, the Office of the Public Prosecutor, the Interior Ministry and the Public Defender Institute, should assume its original purpose of coordinating modernization policies of all the sector’s actors. ”

“ The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people noted after a 2002 visit that Guatemala’s structural discrimination was rooted in indigenous communities’ lack of access to land and justice institutions and de facto exclusion from politics. ”

“ Impunity in Guatemala is directly tied to the administrative and management weaknesses of rule of law institutions described above, as well as a lack of interest or will by State officials to investigate or prosecute and the use of threats, intimidation, corruption and killings, particularly in cases involving military defendants, to undermine cases. ”

“ The present report assesses the overall progress on human rights from the signing of the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace (A/51/796-S/1997/114, annex II) in December 1996 until mid-2003. An overall assessment now is timely for three reasons. First, the seven years since 1996 provide sufficient distance to evaluate positive and negative trends affecting the human rights situation. Second, the Mission is winding down in preparation for the end of its mandate at end of 2004 and preparing overall assessments in each of its substantive areas of work, beginning with the present report. ”

“ The emergence of civil society organizations with a growing capacity to monitor human rights, pursue legal remedies, critique Government programmes and develop policy proposals has been a promising development. ”

“ As with the other justice sector institutions, inadequate national budgets have contributed to the slow pace of reform since 2000. The budget for the Office of the Public Prosecutor has grown significantly since 1996, rising from 189.6 million quetzales (149.5 million from the national budget) in 1997 to 433 million (399 million from the national budget) in 2003, a 53 per cent increase over six years. ”

“ The peace agreements committed the Government and the guerrillas to a comprehensive set of measures to address the underlying causes of the war: decades of authoritarian government, repression of potential political opposition, and the political and economic exclusion, discrimination and extreme poverty suffered by the indigenous populations. ”

“ The prison system requires a full overhaul, beginning with the adoption of the prison reform legislation rejected by the leadership of the Congress this year and implementation of the recommendations of the Commission for the Transformation of the Penal System. ”

“ Justices of the peace, mostly non-lawyers selected from the community in which they work, have utilized informal, equity-based approaches to resolving non-criminal disputes compatible with indigenous law and cultural practices. ”

“ The most immediate challenge is public security, particularly reversing the deterioration of PNC. The new Government must adopt as an early priority a comprehensive democratic public security strategy for the 2004-2008 period. ”

“ However, without the strengthening of fundamental State institutions, these advances may prove to be of limited value. Without adequately functioning rule of law institutions, for example, the effective implementation of the human rights treaties ratified by the Government since 1997 will be difficult. ”

“ Two public prosecutors (including the Special Prosecutors for Human Rights Defenders) were also attacked. The Government has failed to provide resources for adequate protection, forcing the Supreme Court to set up its own security unit, but this force does not have the personnel, equipment or funds to assist the large number of judges who receive threats.
39. As with the other priority peace institutions, reform progress has been hindered by serious budget shortfalls since 2000. ”

“ In addition, after years of frustrating delays in discussions with civil society organizations and victims groups, the Government took a major step forward in 2003 on long-pending commitments by creating the National Reparations Commission, a body responsible for developing programmes for compensating the victims of the armed conflict and their communities. ”

“ The Mission has also issued thematic reports in Guatemala on the functioning of the judiciary (2000) , the prison system (2000) , the national police (1999, 2001) , lynchings (2000, 2002) , discrimination against indigenous peoples (2001) and public security (2003) .
2. The human rights work of MINUGUA has focused on the Government’s commitments to protect (a) the right to life (ending extrajudicial killings by the army, police, security services and other state actors) ”

“ The civil defence patrols were officially disbanded and their weapons turned in to the armed forces. Resettlement of refugees and internally displaced populations advanced, although many of those communities lack important assistance even today. ”

“ Other, more recent cases, such as the 2001 disappearance of university professor and former member of URNG, Mayra Gutiérrez and the killing of Barbara Ann Ford, a member of a religious order working on mental health projects in indigenous communities, remain unsolved. ”

“ The military also used its intelligence apparatus to create clandestine organizations responsible for monitoring, harassing and executing suspected supporters of the guerrillas in urban as well as rural areas. ”

“ While these expansion programmes have been important, Guatemala only averaged 4.8 tribunals per 100,000 inhabitants at the end of 2002, an average of one tribunal for every 20,832 persons. In the interior of the country, the numbers are much lower ”