NEWS ARCHIVE

Impunity Watch applauds historic step in fight against impunity in Guatemala

03/08/2007 - Impunity Watch applauds the unprecedented decision of the Guatemalan Congress on August 2nd to approve the creation of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala – CICIG according to its Spanish acronym. This hybrid United Nations - Guatemalan investigative body is the first of its kind. Marlies Stappers now of Impunity Watch, who has been a key lobbyist for the initiative said yesterday “ I believe this unique initiative will help Guatemala finally break with the prevailing culture of impunity that for years has undermined all efforts to construct the democratic rule of law in the country.”

Guatemala has a long experience of impunity. In 1996, peace agreements brought an end to a 36 year internal armed conflict. As highlighted by the UN backed Historical Clarification Commission - CEH in Spanish - during the conflict some 200,000 civilians were killed or disappeared and over a million were forcibly displaced in atrocious humanitarian conditions.  The majority of victims were indigenous Mayans, against whom the armed forces unleashed a scorched earth policy in the early 1980s, which the CEH confirmed amounted to genocide. Despite over 90 % of wartime atrocities being attributed to state forces there has been little accountability. The CEH stated that “impunity permeated the country to such extent that it took control of the very structure of the state, and became both a means and an end.’ Since the end of the conflict, successive governments have failed to adequately reassert civilian democratic control of the country’s military and security forces and this has had a direct role in preventing those implicated in wartime atrocities being held accountable.

 

A tragic consequence of this lack of accountability has been the ease with which so many alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity have since found and exploited shared interests with clandestine groups and powerful political and economic elites. The past haunts the present as these groups combine, their members widely believed to have infiltrated government and state institutions today, including the official security services, and to be linked to organised crime. Exploiting this array of connections, these groups can protect their current interests including alleged illegal activity while ensuring that they avoid any official investigation for their part in past war crimes. They are alleged to be behind unprecedented levels of peacetime violent crime and rampant organised crime as well as continuing attacks on human rights defenders, witnesses, judges, prosecutors and political leaders who call for an end to their impunity. Guatemalans, instead of rebuilding their country in a climate of opportunity and hope, have been held hostage by uncontrolled violence that some have even compared to the days of conflict.

 

Facing this crisis, in December 2006, the United Nations and the Guatemalan government joined forces to sign an agreement to create the CICIG, with a mandate to investigate the activities and structures of these groups and to work together with the Guatemalan authorities in securing criminal prosecution and punishment of individuals and the dismantling of the groups themselves. Now that the Congress has voted in favour of CIGIG, the Commission can be created and start its work. 

 

CICIG has an initial lifespan of 2 years. Impunity Watch will follow with great interest the establishment and work of the CICIG. If successful, this initiative could set an important precedent for post – conflict countries struggling with complicated legacies of impunity.

CICIG cannot be expected to fully investigate and dismantle all the existing illegal groups and clandestine security networks within this time but it is a powerful tool, and echoes the signal from Guatemalans that enough is enough; impunity should no longer be the rule in Guatemala.