Anders Kompass, OACNUDH representative, presents first report PHOTO: OACNUDH

 

Two new reports, published this February, on the current human rights situation in Guatemala seem to concur that the situation has markedly deteriotated in 2005.

The first is a report written by the Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders of the National Movement of Human Rights (MINDH). The Unit is staffed by Ruth del Valle, Maria Martin, Ana Gladis Ollas, Claudia Samayoa and Erenia Vanegas. MINDH has highlighted the situation of human rights defenders in 2005. The report reads like a wake up call to all about the new reality in Guatemala today: in the year 2000, there were 61 cases of attacks on human rights defenders, last year, 2005, that figure had climbed to 224.

In their call to action to the international community, they highlight the need and role of international accompaniment. Accompaniment, particularly of those defenders outside Guatemala City, needs to be ever more "dynamic and active".

The second report is the first contribution from the newly formed (September 2005) Office of the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights in Guatemala (OACNUDH). Set up as an advisory body to the Guatemalan state, the tone of OACNUDH's first report is essentially extremely guarded in its criticisms and cautious in its recommendations. The ground covered by the report will be familiar to many observers of Guatemalan politics: violence, impunity, poverty, inequality and discrimination are highlighted as key areas for the Guatemalan government to address.

In terms of the violence, 2005 was one of the worse years in recent memory, with 5,338 murders, 518 of which were of women. To paraphrase, the report underlines the police's need to earn the respect of the public, the public ministry's (public prosecution service) need to gets its priorities in order and the judiciary's need to assert its independence for impunity to addressed.

In what it terms as transitional justice, the report is noticeably more upbeat about the possible creation of a National Institute of Forensic Science and an official framework to begin investigations into the recently discovered National Police files, which date back to the time of the civil war. Likewise, there is not even a shred of sceptism about the government's management of the National Programme of Reparations for the victims of the civil war, or COPREDEH's moves to establish a National Plan for Finding Missing Persons.

Interestlingly, although there is a whole section of the report dedicated to overcoming poverty, no reference is made to CAFTA and its implications, by OACNUDH. No appetite for this particular hot potato or simply beyond its remit?