WHERE WE WORK
GUATEMALA
Guatemala has a long experience of impunity. Its 36-year internal armed conflict between the state and rebel movements came to an end in 1996 with the signing of peace agreements and since, a range of mechanisms has been applied to deal with past crimes: truth seeking, prosecutions in Guatemala and abroad, awards of damages by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the creation of a reparations body. Notwithstanding these efforts, impunity for past and current crimes remains deeply entrenched, preventing the establishment of the rule of law and the construction of an inclusive pluriform society as a precondition for sustained peace. Far from reducing in the last ten years, impunity has become consolidated, with tragic effects for the country’s stability and democracy.
The idea to create IW came from the Dutch Guatemala Platform, which brings together various Dutch donors and CSOs in support of Guatemalan human rights groups seeking redress for wartime atrocities. In 2004, these groups pointed out that the gap between civil society and policy makers was leading to their proposals being increasingly marginalised as controversial or ideological. They cited as contributory factors the lack of systematised, periodic and sustained information about the “behaviour” of impunity and the need to identify exactly which factors were obstructing or facilitating efforts to reduce it. The discourse was rather based on subjective analysis and received wisdom, vulnerable to being sidelined and criticised as unsustainable and biased. In response, a rigorous and comprehensive approach to studying impunity as a way of formulating more tailored policy proposals, as well as increasing the impact of their advocacy and lobbying work, was designed – Impunity Watch.
As the country in which IW was conceptualised, Guatemala was selected in 2006 to pilot its full intervention cycle: partnership with key local CSOs to analyse the causes, features and consequences of impunity for conflict-era crimes, based on a specially-designed research methodology; followed by policy consultations with a wider group of key stakeholders, state and non-state; the production and advocacy of policy recommendations for combating impunity; and the monitoring of state and other relevant groups in relation to this issue.
Impunity Watch–Guatemala is a consortium between IW and three Guatemalan CSOs with extensive record in combating impunity:
- Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales de Guatemala (ICCPG)
- Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH)
- Centro de Documentación e Investigación Maya (CEDIM)
http://www.fundacioncedim.org/
IW Guatemala office is headed by Christine Beauchot, with research coordinated by Megan Thomas.
Programme to date
IW is currently completing the first part of its project cycle in Guatemala, with the publication and launch of an in-depth research report carried out with its partners into the root causes of impunity - 'Recognising the Past: Challenges in the Combat of Impunity in Guatemala'. This report is based on the unique IW research methodology, adapted with partners in early 2007 for implementation in Guatemala. It is multi-disciplinary, covering normative framework, resources and capacity of relevant institutions, independence and willingness of key players to combat impunity, political will to do the same, the existence and nature of entrenched interests as an obstacle to achieving accountability for conflict-era crimes, and societal factors. An online document repository, accessible via IW’s website, will serve as a searchable data-bank for all information collected.
In its draft version, the research report was distributed in autumn 2008 to a wide range of stakeholders in the governmental and non-governmental sector as a basis for consultative policy-making meetings. These produced policy recommendations, to be published along with the final report, for combating the root causes of impunity throughout the state apparatus and society, which have the endorsement of the widest possible range of stakeholders and so go much further than current arrangements towards tackling the problem and bringing TJRNR.
The aim of these policy consultations was equally to promote the key role civil society has to play in tackling impunity, by alerting otherwise inaccessible and unresponsive decisionmakers to the scale and quality of their research and its findings, and encouraging channels of communication to open on a regular basis.
Throughout, partners have received full support from, and been coordinated by, IW staff, with in-depth training provided where specific needs were identified. Foundations have also been laid for the long-term cooperation of partners when it comes to working towards the eradication of impunity, highlighting the way platform-building can increase efficiency and results.
Currently available in Spanish, the Executive Summary to ‘Recognising the Past: Challenges in the Combat of Impunity in Guatemala’ in Spanish, can be downloaded here.
The full report and Executive Summary shall shortly be available in both Spanish and English. Check the IW website regularly, or send your email to sanne.weber@impunitywatch.org to ensure you receive a copy.
Programme 2009-10
At the beginning of 2009, with its comprehensive research findings and policy proposals published, the IW Guatemala programme shall enter its second two-year stage, whereby IW shall work with its partners to lobby for the policy recommendations to be adopted; design and implement long-term monitoring of the state’s international obligations in relation to impunity; and stimulate additional, smaller research-for-policy projects, focusing on issues drawn from the findings of the 2008 report. Moreover, it shall seek to engage more civil society and expert partners and design in consultation with them an increasingly autonomous IW platform that can continue to combat impunity in a sustainable way. Throughout, it shall include outreach towards grassroots organisations, particularly victims groups, and seek constructive dialogue with state actors.