15 December 2021
To mark 25 years of the signing of the peace accords in Guatemala, Impunity Watch and the Platform for Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict carried out regional consultations to gather the perceptions of victims and survivors on compliance with the accords.
The analysis was based on three agreements: Agreement on the Establishment of the Commission for Historical Clarification; Agreement on Strengthening Civil Power and the Role of the Army in a Democratic Society; and the Global Agreement on Human Rights. These refer to the rights of victims and survivors.
Reversal of progress
According to the report, Twenty-five years of the peace accords: Perceptions of victims and survivors of the internal armed conflict (in Spanish), victim participation remains crucial for achieving structural change.
However, the victims are disappointed by the abandonment of the peace agenda and have lost confidence in the state. They say that, since the government of former President Otto Pérez in 2012, institutions that ensure the implementation of the peace accords have deteriorated. The hardest blow was struck by President Alejandro Giammattei in 2020 who closed Secretaría de la Paz (Peace Secretariat) and the COPREDHE (Presidential Human Rights Commission).
Feliciana Macario of CONAVIGUA (the National Coordination of Widows of Guatemala) said:
“The peace accords are still in force because the conditions of exclusion, racism and labour exploitation that gave rise to the armed conflict have not changed.”
Victims and survivors noted the root causes of the armed conflict remain,. They are concerned with the recent increase in militarisation and the attacks on human rights defenders.
Advances in justice
At the same time, they recognised important advances in justice. These include the genocide trials with former dictator Rios Montt, the Molina Theissen, Sepur Zarco, Dos Erres cases. They also include ongoing cases such as the genocide case during the Lucas García dictatorship, the Creompaz case, and the Maya Achi case.
Despite this, the main obstacle continues to be the lack of political will to advance pending cases and prosecute those who held decision-making positions during the war.
To mark the 25 years, the Platform for Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict and Impunity Watch held a ceremony on 15 December. Attendees included:
- Human Rights Ombudsman Jordán Rodas
- Representative of the OHCHR in Guatemala Mika Kanervavuori
- Ambassador of Sweden to Guatemala Hans Magnusson
- Representative of the National Platform of Victims of the Armed Conflict Miguel Itzep
- Feliciana Macario of CONAVIGUA
Delegates from organisations from different regions of the country also took part.
The report is available in Spanish.