WUNRN
Amnesty International
Campaigners hold a poster of Maria Isabel Franco, who was murdered in 2001
© Amnesty
International
7 March 2011
Amnesty International today urged the Guatemalan
authorities to act to stop the high numbers of women being killed across the
country and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, ahead of International
Women’s Day on 8 March.
According to official figures, 685 women were killed in 2010 alone in Guatemala
amid a culture of impunity, a legacy of the 1960-96 internal armed conflict
which led to hundreds of thousands human rights violations which remain
unaccounted for.
“Women in
"High levels of violence and a lack of political will along with a track
record of impunity, mean authorities are both unable to pursue perpetrators, or
just don't care. Perpetrators know they will not be punished."
"This culture of violence and impunity must end and women's human rights
be respected and protected.
“Passing laws is not enough. The government must initiate effective
investigations into killings, improve police training and ensure prosecutions
are effective.”
Less than 4% of all homicide cases result in perpetrators being convicted,
despite the Guatemalan congress passing a law in 2008 that typified various
crimes of violence against women and established special tribunals and
sentencing guidelines.
The gender of the woman is often a determining factor in the motive of the
crime, the way in which the authorities respond to the case and the way women
are killed (female victims often suffering exceptional brutality before being
killed, including rape, mutilation and dismemberment).
Described by the UN as witnessing genocide,
Systematic human rights violations, including targeted sexual violence against
women, committed by State forces were not properly investigated and
perpetrators never held to account, encouraging a climate of impunity and
indifference to violent crime that continues to blight Guatemalan society.
In December 2009, 22-year-old domestic worker Mindi Rodas, was violently
attacked by her husband, who seriously injured her face. The man was charged
and sentenced but not sent to jail.
With the help of local organizations, Rodas was given assistance in
In July 2010, Rodas left the shelter because she wanted to live closer to her
community. A few months later, on 17 January 2011, her relatives were informed
her dead body had been found by the authorities in the capital on 18 December.
The authorities have not as yet initiated an effective investigation into her
killing.
In another case, 15-year old Maria Isabel Franco was raped and brutally killed
in December 2001.
Her mother, Rosa Franco has been fighting for justice ever since, but the
Guatemalan authorities have not brought the perpetrators to justice.
Rosa has faced death threats and harassment by unknown individuals in the
struggle to find those responsible for her daughter’s killing,
In October 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights admitted the
case on the grounds of unjustified delay in the investigation by the
The case is now pending before the Commission: the Guatemalan authorities have
been slow in responding to the Commission’s request for information.
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