03 June 2005
New U.N. Human Rights Office to Open in Guatemala
Office will monitor, report, advise government and others on human rights
Washington -- Guatemala's Congress has endorsed an agreement to open a new U.N. human rights field office in the Central American nation.
In a June 2 statement, the United Nations said it welcomed the Guatemalan Congress' endorsement of the agreement, which was signed in January by the government of Guatemala's President Oscar Berger and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The office, expected to start operations in July, is designed to monitor and report on Guatemala's national human rights situation.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the office will advise the Guatemalan government, state institutions, and civil society on all matters related to the promotion and protection of human rights.
The new office would continue the work begun by the U.S.-backed U.N. Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), which completed its mandate at the end of 2004. The United Nations said that for about a decade, MINUGUA verified and expanded human-rights observance, and helped the country implement far-reaching 1996 peace accords. Those peace pacts ended 36 years of civil conflict that killed an estimated 200,000 people.
The U.S. State Department said the United States, as a member of the "Friends of Guatemala" group of nations, played an important role in the U.N.-moderated peace accords in that country. The State Department added that the United States strongly supports the six substantive and three procedural accords, which -- along with the signing of the 1996 final peace accord -- form the blueprint for political, economic and social change in Guatemala.
In a report about the human rights situation in Guatemala for 2004, released March 28, the State Department said the Guatemalan government generally respected the rights of its citizens. However, very serious problems remain regarding Guatemala's human rights situation.
The report, titled Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2004-2005, said Guatemala's state institutions charged with enforcing the rule of law were weak. Police brutality and prison conditions were also concerns, as were arbitrary arrests and lengthy pre-trial detentions. Intimidation and corruption of judges and other law enforcement officials also were widespread.
On the positive side, the report said Guatemala made progress in investigating official corruption, and efforts to reform the Guatemalan judiciary continued.
The U.S. human rights and democracy strategy for Guatemala, said the report, is targeted at encouraging and supporting the Guatemalan government's efforts to strengthen democratic institutions, improve transparency and the rule of law, and support key human rights initiatives.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides funding to strengthen Guatemala's democratic institutions and to promote human rights, says the 1996 Guatemalan peace agreements called for major social-sector investments to reach segments of the population never before adequately served and required full participation of indigenous people in local and national decision-making.
In addition to supporting democracy and human rights, USAID funding to Guatemala is also used to support national reconciliation within the country, as well as literacy and vocational training, credit and micro-enterprise programs, and modernization of state institutions.
The full text of the human rights report for Guatemala is available on the State Department’s Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
