Human rights defenders at risk, unprotected and criminalised by the State: Conclusions from an international mission

Defendinghuman rights in Guatemala is a high-risk activity due to the increasing numberof attacks against defenders. Despite a comprehensive legal and institutionalframework, human rights defenders in Guatemala work in extremely vulnerableconditions, which demonstrates the State’s lack of willingness and capacity toenable a safe and free working environment for defenders.

TheObservatory and UDEFEGUA point out that there are insufficient mechanisms toaddress social conflicts through dialogue and consultation and tackle thestructural problems that cause them. On the contrary, the trend is toexcessively adopt criminalising measures that only exacerbate theaforementioned social tensions.

Ourorganisations also denounce the fact that in Guatemala human rights defendersare persistently denied justice. What is most striking is how the legal casesagainst them are processed with speed and efficiency whilst the legal claimslodged by human rights defenders in defence of their own rights remainunanswered.

Furthermore, in Guatemala there is a tendency to pass strict laws thatcriminalise the activities of human rights defenders, i.e.‘Ley de Túmulos’ (TrafficCirculation and Obstruction of Roads Law) and the ‘Ley de Terrorismo Comercial’ (CommercialTerrorism Law), that is currently under debate in the Congress of the Republicof Guatemala. Therefore, the competent public authorities, such as the HumanRights Ombudsman and the Congressional Human Rights Commission, should systematicallyrelease legal opinions on any draft legislation that could affect human rights.

Lastly,the Observatory and UDEFEGUA are pleased to announce that, during the dialoguewith the mission, several country authorities, and primarily the Human RightsOmbudsman, have committed to creating a roundtable for high-level dialogueincluding Guatemalan civil society in order to implement public policies aimingto protect human rights defenders, as ruled by the Inter-American Court ofHuman Rights in the case Human RightsDefenders et al. v Guatemala.

Context:

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights and the UDEFEGUA undertooka fact-finding mission in Guatemala from February 23 – 27, 2015 to establish adialogue on the conclusions and recommendations contained in the reportpublished on Monday, February 23, 2015 entitled ‘Más Pequeños que David: thestruggle of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala’.

The missionwas comprised of the following members: Jael Quiroga, President of REINICIARand member of the OMCT Executive Council (Colombia); Miguel MartínZumalacárregui, OMCT Coordinator of the Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders (Spain); Claudia Samayoa, President of UDEFEGUA and member ofthe OMCT General Assembly (Guatemala); and Jorge Santos, Vice President ofUDEFEGUA.

TheObservatory and UDEFEGUA mission would like to extend their thanks to thepublic authorities that participated in the interviews and meetings: theAttorney General of the Republic, the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights, theHuman Rights Ombudsman, the President of Presidential Human Rights Commission(COPREDEH), the Congressional Human Rights Commission, the Ministry ofInterior, and the National Institute of Forensic Sciences. The mission also metwith the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for HumanRights.

The missionalso heard testimonies from representatives of the civil society organisationsinvolved in protecting human rights, and specifically land rights, duringmeetings held both in Guatemala City and the town of Huehuetenango. It alsovisited in prison Antonio Rogelio and Saúl Aurelio, two human rights defenders from thecommunity of Santa Cruz Barillas who have been criminalised.

The Report is available for download:

in Spanish: OBS_InformeCompleto_Guatemala_ES_20150223 in English: OBS_Guatemala_FullReport_English_20150223

The Documentary “Más pequeños que david” is available here:

Original Version in Spanish:



Subtitled in English:




Subtitled in French:

You can participatevia social networking sites using the hashtag #MasPequeñosQueDavid.

For more information on the Report or Documentary,please contact:

· OMCT: Miguel MartínZumalacárregui: + 41 22 809 49 24

· FIDH: Arthur Manet: +33 1 43 55 25 18 / José Carlos Thissen: + 51 95 41 31 650

· UDEFEGUA: ClaudiaSamayoa: +502 5018-4603

If you wish to arrange interviews with the missiondelegates during the mission, please contact:

· UDEFEGUA: ClaudiaSamayoa: +502 5018-4603