FEMICIDE – so much pain in just one little word,” says Jorge Velásquez, father of Claudina Velázquez Paíz, a 19-year-old lawstudent murdered in Guatemala in August 2005. Jorge visited Britain in May to share his experiences of the impunity still enjoyed in Guatemala by perpetrators of violence against women. It was incredibly moving to hear the courageous story of his family’s struggle to come to terms with Claudina’s brutal murder and to ensure her killers are brought to justice.

Claudina’s case was brought to prominence around the world by Amnesty International and the BBC documentary ‘Killer's Paradise’. In November 2005, the head of the Special Prosecutor's Office on Crimes against Life recognised the inadequacies of the murder investigation and reopened the case. Blood samples of five suspects were sent to Spain for DNA analysis. While this was a positive step, it is likely that critical forensic evidence has been lost because of alleged errors during the autopsy, negligent conduct at the crime scene and failure to interrogate potential witnesses. So far no significant progress has been made.

In London, Jorge spoke of how his daughter had been drawn to study law because she saw it as an important means of redressing injustice. It is a bitter irony that Claudina’s death has so effectively demonstrated how the current criminal justice system falls far short of the ideal she sought to pursue. Her father’s words brought home the humanity that so often gets lost when the fight against such human rights abuses is discussed in public. In many cases, the cloak of darkness surrounding the perpetrators and the state’s opportune inaction combine to obscure the true impact on those involved.

Jorge evoked the horror of Claudina’s death with a resolute dignity, recounting the shot to her head that ended her life and initiated the pain that has never left him. He described the contempt endured by his family at the hands of a plodding and insensitive police investigation. Officers even insisted on taking Claudina’s fingerprints during her funeral service.

Between 2001 and 2005, 2,200 women and girls were murdered in Guatemala, an average of 10 per week. Yet hardly any of the perpetrators have been brought to justice. According to police reports from 2005, the year of Claudina’s death, formal charges were presented in only 3.8 percent of these cases and only 1 percent came to trial. This poor record has convinced Jorge that the Guatemalan government cares little about the thousands of women who have been killed. With so many murders languishing in obscurity, Jorge hopes that Claudina’s death, which has attracted national and international attention, will not be seen as one terrible injustice but as representative of thousands of similarly tragic cases. He appealed for people in Britain to join him in denouncing the authorities’ failure to pursue the perpetrators.

Jorge doesn’t expect much from the crop of candidates for September’s upcoming presidential election, but believes the Guatemalan authorities cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the femicide that is causing so much pain. “I hope one day there will be politicians who truly love their country and tackle the issue of violence against women as a matter of substance.”

Send an appeal, by post or fax, to the Guatemalan authorities calling on them to ensure that the investigation into the murder of Claudina Velásquez is conducted in a coordinated, full and effective manner. Further information: www.amnesty.org.uk