United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala

“ Although in 1998 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights concluded that institutionally there no longer existed an established State policy that violated human rights in Guatemala, Guatemalans feel that the enjoyment of their rights remains precarious because the State has failed in its duty to safeguard them. ”

“ The Government recognized that it has an obligation to combat any manifestation of illegal security forces and clandestine structures, whose existence is incompatible with unlimited respect for human rights. There are signs that the influence and involvement of these groups in illegal and criminal activities has increased, but their clandestine nature and the complicity they enjoy makes them difficult to verify. ”

“ Lynchings are a major source of violations of fundamental rights, as well as a factor in undermining governance in several parts of the country. Increasingly, the population is using the threat of lynching as a means of attracting the authorities’ attention. The absence of a policy for preventing and combating lynchings, as well as the widespread impunity they enjoy, is making it increasingly easy to carry them out in a premeditated manner, including against authorities and members of the judiciary. ”

“ Lastly, hasty public statements by high-ranking officials dismissing the incidents of which human rights defenders are victims weaken the determination, motivation and commitment of lower-ranking officials and authorities to conduct the corresponding investigations. Impunity in such cases exposes victims to the threat of further and more serious intimidation. The failure to take appropriate action increases the risk of this phenomenon becoming an integral part of the climate of social conflict in the country. ”

“ The adoption of legislation to enhance the protection of human rights is essential for ensuring that the population has a legal framework that guarantees its rights. It is important that the Government take the necessary steps to give full effect to the international instruments signed by Guatemala, especially those related to crimes against humanity, as well as to sign other instruments such as The Hague Convention of 1993 on Protection of Children and Cooperation with Respect to Intercountry Adoption. ”

“ To permit the full exercise of freedom of expression and the building of a democratic society, it is also necessary to expand access to the media, especially for indigenous people, avoid media concentration and monopolies and safeguard the public’s right to receive objective, unbiased information. ”

“ The State has a legal duty to prevent, investigate and punish all crimes and violations. In the Comprehensive Agreement, it assumed the commitment to take special measures to comply with this duty when harassment, intimidation and threats affect persons and institutions working for the promotion and protection of human rights. This commitment is a long way from being fulfilled: the Mission has verified that repeated acts of intimidation have been neither investigated nor punished. ”

“ Their causes go deeper than lack of education or ignorance of the law. They are more prevalent in places where the armed conflict had a greater impact, where models of coexistence and the social fabric were destroyed and where human development and social marginalization indices are worse. These factors, combined with the slow pace in strengthening civilian power and State institutions, the involvement of former members of paramilitary structures and the lack of progress in restoring indigenous customary law, must be taken into account in any action to eradicate the practice of lynchings. ”

“ The Mission, which from its very earliest reports identified impunity as the main obstacle to the effective enjoyment of human rights, notes with profound concern that it is an entrenched phenomenon. No real progress has been made in the prosecution of the majority of the most serious and representative cases of human rights violations. ”

“ The climate of political polarization and the criticisms made against the authorities are no justification for the State’s failure in its duty to guarantee complete freedom of the press and to investigate all such cases exhaustively. ”

“ Considering the requirements of thorough monitoring of the human rights situation, various sectors that are concerned about the Office agree that efforts to strengthen it, in particular its organization and management, need to be pursued and redirected by providing it with the necessary human and logistical resources for the investigation of violations, so as to consolidate its constitutional mission. ”

“ According to Ministry of the Interior figures, they employ over 25,000 people — more than the National Civil Police and nearly as many as the armed forces; other sources estimate their numbers at three times those of the National Civil Police. The members of such companies, most of which are owned by serving or former officers of the armed forces or former members of the National Police, include persons alleged to have committed serious human rights violations and persons dismissed from State institutions for committing illegal acts. ”

“ In October 2000, the Constitutional Court ruled that the laws imposing the death penalty for kidnappings where the victim is not killed, which were enacted after the entry into force of the American Convention, are incompatible with the Convention and with article 46 of the Constitution, which gives human rights treaties precedence over ordinary law. ”

“ The legislative agenda for the peace process includes a number of legislative proposals whose adoption would ensure progress in the enjoyment of human rights. Likewise, to advance the process of national reconciliation, based on appropriate implementation of the recommendations of the Clarification Commission, it is important that a joint effort be made to set in motion the Commission for Peace and Harmony. ”

“ Since December 1996, 78 people have been sentenced to capital punishment. Three have been executed, 28 have appeals pending and 43 have had their sentences repealed. Of the latter, 33 were given prison sentences, eight are awaiting a new trial and two were acquitted. Four convicts lost their lives in the mass escape from Escuintla maximum security prison. The Mission verified violations of minimum judicial guarantees in the trials of Fermín Ramírez and two members of the former National Police, whose trials have reached the stage of enforcement of sentence. ”

“ The Mission has drawn attention repeatedly to some of the factors that contribute to the impunity prevailing in the country, such as the persistent shortcomings in the system of investigation and, in general, in the administration of justice, the continuing failure to fulfil the obligation to investigate and punish and the unwillingness of many officials to tackle human rights violations and crimes. ”

“ The reservation is based on an apparent contradiction between extradition for offences of forced disappearance and article 27 of the Constitution, which bars extradition for political offences except as provided for in treaties and conventions with respect to crimes against humanity or against international law. The preamble to the Convention reaffirms that the systematic practice of forced disappearance is a crime against humanity. ”

“ First of all, the failure to clear up such incidents justifies the concern that a motive other than ordinary crime may exist, prompting speculation about the possible involvement, acquiescence or tolerance of agents of the State. Secondly, the State’s inaction or limited response creates among victims the perception that the authorities are not really interested in halting this growing phenomenon, fuelling their fears and their distrust of the competent State institutions. ”

“ In Nueva Concepción and Tiquiscate, Escuintla, extrajudicial executions have gone unpunished because of the support of lawyers and the inaction and complicity of members of the police and local judicial officials.
63. The actions of irregular armed groups are often of a criminal and insurgent nature. They usually engage in robbery or banditry, but they also put forward political demands and refer to the prevailing social and political situation, sometimes simply to cover up their crimes. ”

“ Furthermore, the inherited pattern of impunity is becoming a systematic, cross-cutting phenomenon, as illustrated by the failure to clear up and punish almost all the serious violations that took place during the armed conflict and most of the significant cases that have occurred more recently. ”

“ In the proceedings for the murder of Monsignor Gerardi, defence counsel tried repeatedly to delay the start of oral proceedings and to have several persons involved in the judicial proceedings removed; the oral proceedings nevertheless began on 22 March. The climate of threats, harassment and intimidation, which affected members of the trial court, staff of the special prosecutor’s office, lawyers for the Catholic Church and witnesses, reached such a level that the home of one of the judges was attacked with a fragmentation grenade. ”

“ While the television monopoly provides wide coverage of government action, the written press takes positions that are predominantly unfavourable to the executive branch. Both in the capital city and in the country’s interior, threats against investigative journalism reached alarming levels, with State officials found to be responsible in some cases. ”

“ This escape is a serious setback for efforts to combat impunity, further exacerbates the public’s feeling that it is defenceless against crime and is especially discouraging for the witnesses, judges and prosecutors who have played an important role in favour of the effective trial and punishment of dangerous criminals. ”

“ To tackle those problems effectively and ensure that the human rights situation improves and does not deteriorate as mentioned earlier, it is necessary and urgent that renewed, broad-based efforts be made, under the leadership of the President of the Republic. ”

“ The Mission is concerned at the existence of criminal groups within private security companies, which repeatedly commit crimes that have a major impact on society, as well as at the State’s failure adequately to monitor such companies and the companies’ failure to monitor their employees. ”

“ On 3 January, Claudia Méndez Villaseñor, a reporter with El Periódico who was investigating reports of corruption in a unit of the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing, complained that she had received telephone threats from two Guatemala City council members. In a separate incident on 20 February, over 50 people, including Ministry staff, held a hostile demonstration outside the El Periódico offices, making use of State resources. A number of journalists were assaulted. ”

“ Members of the armed forces were found responsible for two extrajudicial executions and members of the National Civil Police were found responsible for seven extrajudicial executions and six attempted executions.
9. Lynchings seriously affect the right to life and occur mainly in communities most affected by the armed conflict. ”