Human Rights

SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY:
THE U.S. RECORD 2006

GUATEMALA

Guatemala is a democratic, multiparty republic. In 2003 national elections, generally considered by international observers to be free and fair, Oscar Berger of the Grand National Alliance coalition won a four-year term, which began in January 2004.

Although the government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, serious problems remained. Human rights and societal problems included the government's failure to investigate effectively and punish unlawful killings committed by members of the security forces; widespread societal violence, including numerous killings; corruption and substantial inadequacies in the police and judicial sectors; police involvement in kidnappings; impunity for criminal activity; harsh and dangerous prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; failure of the judicial system to ensure full and timely investigation or fair trials; failure to protect judicial sector officials, witnesses, and civil society organizations from intimidation; discrimination and violence against women; discrimination and violence against gay, transvestite, and transgender persons; trafficking in persons; ethnic discrimination; and ineffective enforcement of labor laws, including child labor provisions.

The U.S. strategy for promoting human rights and democracy in the country focused on helping the government strengthen its democratic institutions while encouraging transparency, accountability, and respect for human rights and the rule of law. U.S. Government efforts supported the training of police to better protect society and respect human rights, and the strengthening of civil society's capacity to partner with the government to consolidate democracy.

One of the challenges to the country's democratic system is low citizen participation in the political process. The United States, together with several other donors, implemented a project through the Organization of American States to help the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal implement new reforms for the Electoral Law. Those reforms included decentralizing poll centers for the 2007 general elections to encourage broader citizen participation. The project also supported civil society initiatives to monitor the electoral process. The United States expanded its Decentralization and Local Government Program, primarily in the Hurricane Stan-affected San Marcos area bordering Mexico, to strengthen decentralization, citizen participation, and transparency in local governance in 29 municipalities and municipal associations. This program assisted local governments in citizen participation, leadership, conflict resolution, and participatory planning, with particular emphasis on including women and indigenous communities. The program also strengthened local government associations and promoted national policy reforms in favor of decentralization.

Although the government generally respected freedom of speech and press, in practice the press has not always enjoyed a productive working relationship with government institutions, particularly the National Civilian Police. The United States continued to provide training to the country's print and broadcast media to improve relations. The United States also sponsored for radio journalists a three-day course on interview techniques and news transmission.

The United States supported training for 969 law enforcement officials at the National Civilian Police Academy, including 86 police personnel specifically trained in crime scene management. This U.S.-funded training included crime scene protection, evidence gathering, preservation of evidence, and the proper chain of custody. The United States worked with the government to develop human rights courses that became mandatory components of all basic police training, supervisory training, and specialized courses for police officials. U.S. programs also funded a consultant at the National Civilian Police Academy to continue developing a training curriculum that included a human rights component. In addition, 423 counternarcotics police officers each received approximately 24 hours of U.S.-funded human rights training at the Central American School for Canine Training in Los Pinos.

The country has a strong and diverse civil society that played an important role as watchdog and advocate for supporting respect for human rights and democratic principles. During the year U.S. Ambassador Derham and other representatives of the U.S. Government met frequently with journalists, human rights defenders, NGOs concerned with violence against women, representatives of indigenous communities, labor leaders, and other members of civil society to express publicly support for their work. U.S. officials continued to urge the government to investigate adequately threats and attacks against human rights defenders and other civil society leaders and to provide security protection for persons whose lives were threatened.

As in previous years, several NGOs reported burglaries of their offices and expressed concerns that those committing these acts were seeking sensitive information about human rights and democracy promotion activities. U.S. officials met regularly with civil society representatives and encouraged the government to devote adequate resources and personnel to carry out thorough investigations of these reported incidents.

The United States endorsed government efforts for the UN to deploy a team of investigators and prosecutors to help dismantle criminal organizations. The government and the UN signed an agreement in December to establish the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala. If the congress ratifies the agreement, the UN-led commission would operate under the Public Ministry's prosecution authority and focus on criminal organizations that have penetrated state institutions.

A serious threat to democracy in the country is its weak judicial system. The United States provided substantial material and technical assistance to continue building the capacity of justice sector institutions and to consolidate reforms initiated under the Peace Accords of 1996. In an effort to improve prosecution of serious crimes, the United States provided technical assistance in implementing improved pretrial procedures and case management. The most notable example was the design and implementation of a 24-hour criminal court in Guatemala City. The program dramatically improved adherence to due process by reducing instances of arbitrary detention and enabling prosecutors and defense lawyers to take immediate action in cases. It provided technical assistance, refurbished offices, and facilitated dialogue among the Supreme Court, the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Director of Public Defense, and the Ministry of Interior to improve the criminal courts' quality of service. The program also helped redesign the organization of the Office of the Prosecutor against Homicide to implement methodologies for case organization, monitoring, and supervision.

In October the government ratified the UN Convention on Anti-Corruption. Since January 2005, U.S. programs had provided technical assistance to the government and civil society to develop a national anticorruption agenda as a means to support the government's implementation of the convention. In November the United States provided technical and financial support to the government and a local NGO to host Transparency International's 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference and to implement an executive decree on freedom of information. To increase the capacity of the National Civil Police to investigate police officers implicated in crime or corruption, the U.S. Government assisted the new Inspectorate General in defining its mandate, structure, and operational guidelines to oversee the Office of Professional Responsibility. The United States supported government efforts to pass anticrime legislation, including a law against organized crime that became effective in August. It designates as new crimes conspiracy and obstruction of justice and provides for the first time in the country the use of plea bargaining.

U.S. programs provided material support and training to the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights and the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Women, Children, and Victims of Trafficking in Persons. As in previous years the United States also continued to assist the government's Public Defense Institute to monitor adherence to due process standards by security, investigative, and prosecutorial authorities.

In May the government's Office for the Coordination of Modernization of the Justice Sector absorbed a network of 15 Justice Centers. For several years the United States had been funding these centers as a means for modernizing and streamlining judicial processes and bringing them within reach of more citizens. The notable success of the network produced a multiplier effect through promoting local initiatives, such as a shelter for domestic violence victims, a legal aid office at the University of San Carlos for noncriminal cases, and improvements in administrative services provided by other justice sector institutions. By year's end all of the Justice Centers were integrated into a national system to promote access to justice and coordination of justice sector institutions.

Unresolved issues arising out of the country's 1960-96 internal armed conflict continued to undermine respect for human rights and the rule of law. Many victims of political crimes and human rights abuses remained missing while alleged perpetrators continued to enjoy impunity. To support respect for human rights, the United States funded a project that collected testimony and other evidence related to past human rights abuses and that established a working group among civil society groups and government institutions to develop and prosecute cases related to killings and other human rights abuses committed during the conflict. The project aimed to overcome institutional obstacles to prosecution that permitted impunity and established the groundwork for future prosecutions in other human rights cases.

By year's end the Forensic Anthropological Foundation of Guatemala had undertaken ground-breaking forensic work regarding persons killed during the armed conflict at 147 sites, primarily in the Western Highlands. The U.S. Government-funded foundation conducted approximately 90 percent of all exhumations during the year. U.S. officials witnessed a number of these exhumations. Ambassador Derham visited the laboratories of the foundation to demonstrate support for its forensic workers and the families of victims killed during the armed conflict. The National Reparations Program, created as a result of a three-year human rights project sponsored by the United States, continued making reparation payments to civilian victims of the internal conflict.

As a result of U.S. technical assistance and dialogue with the Ministry of Defense to incorporate human rights training into its curriculum, during the year 12,066 military personnel received formal training in human rights. All military personnel are required to receive human rights training as a standard part of the curriculum in all of the country's military schools.

Historically, women and indigenous persons have been largely excluded from positions of influence in politics and business. To encourage greater representation, the United States actively recruited women and indigenous persons to participate in its International Visitors Leadership and Fulbright Programs. Beneficiaries of these efforts included an indigenous woman in the Huehuetenango Office of Municipal Planning who participated in the Voluntary Visitors Program for Provincial Mayors, and another indigenous woman in the president's office who attended the Vital Voices Women's Leadership Summit for Latin America.

Land conflicts, one of the sources of broader political conflict in the past, remained a serious problem in Alta Verapaz. As in the previous year U.S. programs funded a local NGO to mediate land conflicts and introduce its methodology for mediation to local authorities. U.S. funding also continued to provide training to Public Ministry staff in women's rights, to launch a public awareness campaign in several indigenous languages, and to develop a graduate certificate program for justice sector professionals, indigenous women, and civil society advocates.

The United States focused on building the capacity of government institutions to combat child labor and trafficking in persons. Through December the United States funded projects to improve labor law compliance and reduce the incidence of child labor. Through these projects, the United States supported the efforts of the Ministry of Labor and NGOs to train labor inspectors, educate employers and workers about their rights and responsibilities, and provide educational opportunities to children who would otherwise be forced to work.

The United States also continued to fund antitrafficking efforts. In June U.S. programs awarded an 18-month grant to a local NGO to undertake a project focusing on trafficking victims. The project sought to rescue sexually exploited minors and prevent minors from engaging in prostitution by expanding shelter, mental and physical healthcare, and legal assistance for trafficking victims. The project focused on enhancing the institutional capacity of law enforcement officials to identify trafficking cases, build stronger cases for prosecution, and create stronger linkages with civil society. It complemented a similar program on the Mexican side of the border under a U.S. antitrafficking initiative.

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