Documento - Guatemala: Open letter to newly elected President of the Republic of Guatemala

Álvaro Colom Caballeros AI Index : AMR 34/003/2008

President of the Republic of Guatemala Ref: TG AMR 34/2008.002

Casa Presidencial

6a. Avenida, 4-18, Zona 1

Ciudad de Guatemala

Guatemala

13 February 2008

Dear Mr President

Amnesty International presents its compliments to you on taking up your presidential mandate. This is an important opportunity for us to highlight some of the concerns regarding human rights that we voiced when we approached you and the other candidates during the recent electoral campaign.¹

Amnesty International has spent over 40 years documenting human rights violations in Guatemala and has closely monitored dramatic and extremely grave unacceptable situations such as the government policy qualified by the Commission for Historical Clarification (Comisión de Esclarecimiento Histórico) as genocide implemented during the internal armed conflict, but also others that gave cause for encouragement and hope, such as the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996. Sadly, successive governments, despite having made progress in some areas, have failed to improve the administration of justice and combat the prevalent culture of impunity. They have thus hindered the full consolidation of the rule of law and the full enjoyment of human rights in the country that the Peace Accords had promised.

On 16 December 2007, for example, the culture of impunity in Guatemala was reinforced by a ruling of the Constitutional Court which, in essence, obstructed the extradition for the purposes of prosecution of persons suspected of crimes of genocide perpetrated during the internal armed conflict. The Court’s ruling refused to recognise the principle of universal jurisdiction, despite its unquestionable status in present-day international law – a fact that it is not alien to the State of Guatemala according to its own Constitution – and regardless of the blatant and unjustified lack of progress in the court cases in Guatemala since 2000. At the same time, the ruling suggested that these crimes were political offences, which is contrary to national and international law.

In spite of that decision and under the terms of international law, the State of Guatemala has a continuing obligation to bring to justice anyone suspected of serious crimes against human rights and in particular those which, by their nature as crimes against humanity, are imprescriptible. We hope that your administration will ensure that the national authorities meet their obligations to investigate and bring before the courts duly substantiated cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the internal armed conflict.

Furthermore, we hope that your government will change the policy of continuing to deny access to files which could contain key information for the clarification of these crimes. In effect, the Ministry of Defence has refused to release the documents “Plan Sofía” and “Plan Victoria 82”, basing its argument on Ministerial Agreement 06-2005, which does not comply with the corresponding international standards and should, therefore, be revoked. Your government also has responsibility for initiating new action to locate persons who disappeared during the internal armed conflict, in compliance with the recommendations of the Commission for Historical Clarification which concluded that more than 200,000 people had been victims of homicide or enforced disappearance. A first step could be your leadership in obtaining a vote in the Congress of the Republic in favour of the initiative of law no. 3590 which proposes the creation of the Commission to Search for Victims of Enforced and Other Forms of Disappearance (Comisión de Búsqueda de Personas Víctimas de Desaparición Forzada y Otras Formas de Desaparición).

It is essential to implement the Peace Accords. Together, they constitute a plan to reinforce the rule of law and promote human rights. Amnesty International urges your administration to re-engage with the detail and spirit of the Accords which, if implemented, would bring tangible improvements for Guatemalan society. Similarly, the National Action Plan for Human Rights (Plan Nacional en Derechos Humanos), presented by the previous government in December 2007, is a goal to strive for. A first step could be to develop and present an operational plan designed to give substance to the goals set out in the National Action Plan.

In recent years, there has been a deterioration in public security and, according to the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC), the number of killings is on the increase. It is the legitimate and proper role of the State to combat crime and protect the safety of all its citizens. However, Amnesty International’s experience throughout the world and its decades of work in Guatemala demonstrate that human rights must be respected if sustainable and effective public security is to be achieved. In this context, agents of the security forces have been accused of carrying out acts of torture and other forms of abuse and degrading treatment, as well as extrajudicial executions, especially of young people and minors, whom they consider to be delinquents or members of youth gangs. These accusations require your government’s immediate attention to ensure that they are investigated effectively and impartially and those responsible are brought to justice.

One aspect of the public security crisis to which Amnesty International has referred on repeated occasions is the high proportion of women who have been killed and the particularly cruel manner of their killing. Many of them continue to show signs of sexual violence, torture and acts of extreme brutality. According to the Ministerio de Gobernación, 581 women were killed in 2006 and 599 in 2007. Amnesty International urges your administration to deal with this crisis as a priority to ensure that investigations are carried out and criminal proceedings instigated in a non-discriminatory and efficient manner, securing the effective cooperation of the National Institute of Forensic Science (Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Forenses) and improving coordination between the different State agencies concerned with this problem.

Amnesty International considers that appropriate development of the objectives of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (CICIG)) could constitute a real contribution to combating the impunity of clandestine armed groups. It is very important that the Government you lead should give the Commission effective support, with resources and political support if necessary to approve additional legislation, respecting and endorsing the Commission’s independence with regard to criminal proceedings and other areas within its competence.

Year after year, Amnesty International has mobilised itself to demand protection for human rights defenders, both men and women, against threats, attacks and even killings and to call for justice. According to information received, there were at least 195 attacks against human rights defenders in 2007. We hope that your government will strive to guarantee the freedoms and rights of the individuals and institutions that defend and promote human rights to carry on their activities without restrictions or fear of reprisals.

The International Criminal Court is a permanent institution, whose competence in relation to crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes is complementary to the competence of States and would be restricted, in the case of Guatemala, to offences committed after the entry into force of the Treaty. Amnesty International therefore requests that the remaining steps be taken for Guatemala’s prompt accession to the Rome Statute.

Amnesty International expresses its deep disappointment at the approval by Congress of decree 06-2008. This decree, by formally establishing the possibility of the presidential pardon, leaves the way open in practice for the resumption of executions of prisoners under sentence of death. Amnesty International had observed hopefully Guatemala’s position in December 2007 before the United Nations General Assembly, during the debates on the global moratorium on the death penalty, where Guatemala voted in favour. However, by approving the Decree in question, the Congress of Guatemala has reversed this positive step forward. A further cause for concern are statements emanating from the media that you had reportedly said you would not pardon any convicted person seeking a pardon. Amnesty International respectfully refers you to article 4 of the decree in question, which states that each case should be considered on its merits. The organisation would also like to remind you of the solemn commitment Guatemala gave before the United Nations General Assembly in December 2007, and urges you to commute all death sentences to custodial sentences.

Human rights violations in the context of land disputes have continued in recent years. Amnesty International recognises the complexities of agrarian policy in Guatemala. However, the organisation calls for an immediate moratorium on forced evictions in rural areas. In the majority of cases, forced evictions have involved the violation of different human rights which, although not exclusively, affect indigenous communities. It is important that your administration guarantee access to justice for all Guatemalan citizens on an equal footing, regardless of their ethnic origin or economic situation, and so contributes to combating discrimination in Guatemalan society.

Amnesty International hopes that, after four years, your period in office will produce tangible results designed to consolidate the applicability of human rights and the rule of law. We are entirely at your disposal to elaborate on the issues raised in this letter and sincerely hope that we can enter into a frank and fruitful dialogue with your government.

We look forward to receiving your response or comments on the matters raised above. Moreover, we should inform you that, in accordance with our policy of transparency, we will make this letter public.

Yours faithfully

Irene Khan

Secretary General