WUNRN
Link to Nobel Women's Initiative
Declaration in Support of Guatemalan Women:
_________________________________________________________________________
July 2, 2009
This JASS Alert –
the first of our new urgent action communications – is dedicated to the
Guatemalan women courageously battling for justice and democracy in a context
of unchecked violence. Concerned that this human rights catastrophe may be
invisible to the world, we join with our human rights allies to mobilize
attention and solidarity to protect these brave rights defenders, including
kidnapped activist Gladys Monterrosa. The information in this Alert draws from
our May 2009 fact-finding mission with partners Sinergia No’j, the Petateras and Radio Feminista
(FIRE), and with high-level legal experts. We urge you to get involved.
(Website Link includes Ideas for Action.)
Femicide – the systematic murder of
women for political reasons because they are women – is an accurate description
of the current violence in Guatemala. Impunity and ungovernability
are what result when organized crime takes advantage of a privatized and
corrupt government to undermine the rule of law.
Thirty-six years of
internal armed conflict in Guatemala left more than 100,000 dead and 50,000
disappeared at the hands of government, police and military forces. Indigenous
people, women and opposition parties were especially targeted. Over 350
indigenous communities were literally erased from the map, and clandestine
cemeteries are still being uncovered, with countless human rights violations
left unpunished.
Since the signing of
Peace Accords in 1996, police data show a continuous increase in rates of
violence against women: from 313 murders in 2002 to almost 600 murders in 2006.
In 2008, 722 women were murdered in Guatemala but, despite a law passed in
April of 2008 against femicide and other forms of violence against women, only
three of the 722 cases have been fully investigated and prosecuted.
Impunity and
corruption have been rampant in the Guatemalan government and military since
the armed conflict, with many officials today having strong links to organized
crime and narco-trafficking operations. The majority of those who committed
crimes against women have not been brought to trial, and many of the women who
were victims of abuse and torture during the conflict must still face their
aggressors on a daily basis.
The violence that
was exerted against indigenous communities and opposition groups during the
armed conflict has now spread to all sectors of society. Human rights defenders
have been particularly targeted, as in the case of the recent kidnapping and
torture of Gladys Monterrosa, a well-known lawyer and women’s rights
defender. She was abducted on the morning of March 25, the day after her
spouse, Guatemalan Special Prosecutor for Human Rights, Sergio Morales,
released a report on human rights abuses during the armed conflict, based on
documentation found in the Historical Archives of the National Police.
View
the short video "Guatemala: A History of Violence and Struggle."
Against all odds,
Guatemalan citizens are amongst the best organized and most politically
skillful in Central America. Powerful social movements, including those of
indigenous peoples, organize Guatemalans together across class and ethnic
diversity. Many human rights NGOs are documenting, mobilizing and advocating,
despite growing fear and uncertainty.
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