NEWS

Guatemalan women hold Tribunal of Conscience

Bearing witness there were just a few of the untold number of Guatemalan women who suffered sexual violence during the country’s long internal armed conflict. The scale of these crimes is unknown, but Memory of Silence, the report of Guatemala’s Historical Clarification Commission, calculated that members of the military committed about 89% of the –probably greatly under-reported – sexual violence. So far, however, not a single person has been prosecuted for these crimes, and a veil of silence shrouds the issue.
 
The organisations that staged the historic Tribunal on 4-5 March in Guatemala City sought to break this silence and draw public attention to what many women endured during the conflict. Insodoing, their aim was for the event to give hope to the countless other victims that these crimes might soon really be prosecuted.
 
Witness testimonies were given on the first day of the Tribunal, with some women describing their rape in detail, and others mentioning this almost as a ‘passing event’, just another disaster in a life marked by extreme poverty and vulnerability, where impunity for any crime suffered is a fact of life.
 
It was important that these cases were not seen as the isolated excesses of soldiers gone out of control, but as evidence that sexual violence was part of a state-directed military strategy. Various specialists pointed out on the second day of the Tribunal that the aim of this strategy was not only to hurt and debase women, but also to humiliate their menfolk, wrenching communities apart. The Tribunal Magistrates concluded that the state should be held accountable for the devastating effects of this violence on the lives of women, their families and communities.
 
The fact, however, that a single trial has yet to be held for crimes of sexual violence committed during the conflict reinforces the perception that state does take such claims seriously. As the case of Juana Mendez shows, this has a clear effect on the prevalence of rape today:
 
Mendez was the first woman ever in Guatemala to win a trial for rape while in police custody. This did not happen during the conflict however, but just a few years ago. The perpetuators were two policemen who thought she, being a poor indigenous woman with a poor grasp of Spanish, would never take legal action. They were wrong. Even when seriously threatened, she stood strong, and for this courage she and the organisations that accompanied her during the trial deserve our admiration. It was appropriate, therefore, that Juana was one of the honorary judges of the Tribunal, receiving a standing ovation upon her arrival. Her case, and the testimonies of sexual violence  committed by private security companies and the police during recent forced evictions, clearly indicate that state abuse of its citizens, especially women, continues with complete impunity.
 
The difficulties faced in the pursuit of justice are overwhelming, but some of the women who testified at the Tribunal are planning to take legal action, with the support of specialists and civil society organisations. These cases will be crucial in ending impunity for (sexual) violence against women, past and recent, for it is only through serious and visible efforts to prosecute and punish perpetrators that the problem can be tackled.
 
Impunity Watch is convinced that combating impunity for past crimes and dismantling the structures responsible for it are preconditions to reducing impunity for current abuses. It otherwise becomes an accepted fact of life, allowing perpetrators of crimes and those who protect them the freedom to act as they wish, often at the expense of the most vulnerable groups in society. Women are a vital part of society, socially, culturally and economically, and their participation is a crucial element in its transition towards peace. Guaranteeing their life and security is not only a question of justice and respect for human rights, therefore, but also a way of building a more just and inclusive society.
 
The Tribunal of Conscience was organised by Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial (ECAP), la Unión Mujeres Transformando el Mundo (MTM), Union Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNAMG), and La Cuerda.
 
Impunity Watch provided political support to the initiative, as part of its Guatemala Programme and a new project focusing on impunity for crimes committed against women during conflict. More on that project can be found on this website soon.
 
For more information on the Tribunal and its final statement, visit the websites of the organisers:
Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial

Unión Mujeres Transformando el Mundo

Union Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas
La Cuerda