VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #1916/01 2632228
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 202228Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3936

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001916 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G, DRL/SEA, NSC/DEMOC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL ELAB KCRM KJUS KDEM EAID SOCI PGOV
GT 
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA'S INPUT FOR PRESIDENT'S 2007 UNGA HUMAN 
RIGHTS ROUNDTABLE 
 
REF: STATE 125456 
 
¶1. Per reftel, post submits the following information to help 
inform the discussion at the President's 2007 UNGA Democracy 
and Human Rights Roundtable. 
 
¶2. Post strategy for promoting human rights and democracy in 
Guatemala focuses on helping the government strengthen its 
democratic institutions while promoting transparency, 
accountability, and respect for human rights and the rule of 
law.  USG efforts in Guatemala aim to strengthen the capacity 
of civil society to partner in efforts to consolidate 
democratic principles and values. 
 
¶3. In support of civil society, Embassy successfully pushed 
the Guatemalan government and Congress to establish the 
International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala 
(CICIG).  The UN-led commission will operate under the Public 
Ministry's prosecutorial authority to help dismantle criminal 
organizations that have penetrated state institutions. 
¶4. Embassy provided training to law enforcement in crime 
scene protection and other law enforcement procedures to help 
professionalize the police force.  It funded a consultant at 
the National Police Academy to continue developing its 
curriculum, which includes a human rights component.  To 
increase the capacity of the National Civil Police to 
investigate police officers implicated in corruption or other 
crimes, Embassy continued to assist the new Inspectorate 
General in structural and operational guidelines to oversee 
the Office of Professional Responsibility. 
 
¶5. Guatemala has a strong civil society that played an 
important role as watchdog and advocate for democratic 
principles.  The Ambassador and other Embassy representatives 
met frequently with journalists, human rights defenders, 
labor leaders, and other activists and publicly expressed 
support for their work.  In numerous specific cases, Embassy 
continued to urge the government to investigate attacks, 
threats, and other acts of intimidation and to provide 
additional protection when appropriate. 
 
¶6. Embassy provided substantial material and technical 
assistance to continue to build the capacity of justice 
sector institutions and to consolidate reforms initiated 
under the Peace Accords.  In an effort to improve 
prosecutions of serious crimes, Embassy provided technical 
assistance in implementing improved pre-trial procedures and 
case management.  The most notable example was the design and 
implementation of three 24-hour criminal courts, which 
significantly improved the quality of arrests and indictments 
by preventing arbitrary detention, and enabled prosecutors 
and defense lawyers to take immediate action on cases. 
Embassy provided not only technical assistance but also 
refurbished offices and facilitated dialogue among the 
Supreme Court, the Attorney General, the Public Defense 
Director, and the Ministry of Interior with the aim of 
providing more effective and comprehensive service within the 
court system.  The program also helped redesign the structure 
of the Office of the Prosecutor Against Homicide, 
implementing methodologies for case organization, monitoring, 
and supervision, with the objective of improving the quality 
and quantity of prosecution of homicide cases, particularly 
killings of women.  This program has resulted in a 25 percent 
increase in the rate of prosecution for homicides, of which 
10-12 percent annually are killings of women. 
 
¶7. Embassy continued to provide 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.  It also continued to provide 
assistance in monitoring adherence to due process through the 
Public Defense Institute. 
 
¶8. Embassy funded expansion of a network of Justice Centers 
intended to modernize and streamline judicial processes and 
to make them more accessible.  The success of the Justice 
Centers has had a multiplier effect, promoting local 
initiatives such as a shelter for domestic violence victims, 
a legal aid office at the University of San Carlos for 
non-criminal cases, and improvements in administrative 
services provided by other justice sector institutions.  The 
15 Justice Centers are now part of a national program to 
promote access to justice and coordination of justice sector 
institutions. 
 
¶9. Unresolved issues from Guatemala's 1960-1996 internal 
conflict continued to undermine respect for human rights and 
the rule of law.  Many victims of political crimes and human 
rights violations remained missing while the alleged 
perpetrators enjoyed impunity.  Embassy funded a project that 
 
develops legal cases related to human rights violations 
committed during the conflict.  The project aims to overcome 
institutional obstacles to prosecution that allow for 
continued impunity.  The project helped lay the groundwork 
for future prosecutions in other human rights cases. 
Exhumations were conducted at 147 sites last year, primarily 
in the western highlands where the conflict was most intense. 
 Embassy personnel, including the Ambassador, visited the 
Forensic Anthropological Foundation to demonstrate support 
for forensics workers and victims' families.  The National 
Reparations Program, created as a result of a three-year 
human rights project sponsored by the U.S., continued to make 
reparation payments to civilian victims of the internal 
conflict. 
 
¶10. Embassy provided technical assistance to the Ministry of 
Defense in support of its human rights curriculum. All 
military personnel are required to receive human rights 
training, which is part of the curriculum of every Guatemalan 
military school. 
 
¶11. Embassy is working with the Guatemalan government to 
build the capacity of state institutions to more effectively 
combat child labor and trafficking in persons (TIP).  Embassy 
is monitoring a USG grant to a local NGO that is working on a 
project that focuses attention on trafficked victims.  The 
project is aimed at rescuing minors who are being sexually 
exploited, especially in the border region, and discouraging 
minors from engaging in prostitution by expanding immediate 
and long-term care for trafficking victims, including 
providing shelter and food, health care, immediate legal 
assistance, and post-traumatic stress disorder therapy.  The 
project also aims to build the institutional capacity of law 
enforcement to identify trafficking cases, build stronger 
cases for prosecution, and create stronger linkages with 
civil society.  Embassy is also monitoring a grant to an NGO 
that is working on a regional anti-TIP project focusing on 
the institutional capacity of civil society, religious, and 
governmental organizations to promote and defend the human 
rights of women and minors who are victims of or vulnerable 
to trafficking for sexual exploitation in Central America. 
 
 
¶12. Embassy funded projects to improve labor law compliance 
and to reduce the incidence of child labor.  Through these 
projects, Embassy 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.  Embassy is monitoring a USG 
grant to Catholic Relief Services to implement a USD 4.5 
million project to promote workers' rights in support of 
CAFTA-DR.  The project aims to establish six model Worker 
Rights Centers, reaching approximately 200,000 workers, to 
provide legal services to workers to assist in documenting 
and filing labor complaints and to conduct outreach 
activities to educate workers on labor issues. 
 
¶13. The Public Affairs Section has coordinated a wide range 
of outreach initiatives at universities, high schools, and 
the Binational Center to publicize U.S. human rights advocacy 
and concerns.  These initiatives have included presentations 
by the Embassy's Public Affairs Officer and the Human Rights 
Officer at several universities. 
 
¶14. The Ambassador has delivered speeches focused on human 
rights and support for human rights defenders, as well as 
support for the elections.  The Ambassador and senior Embassy 
officers have met with human rights advocates, including the 
government's Human Rights Ombudsman, Presidential Human 
Rights Commissioner, prominent Guatemalan human rights NGOs, 
and local human rights defenders in Guatemala City as well as 
in Solola, Quiche, San Marcos, and other outlying departments. 
 
¶15. The Public Affairs Section has provided grants to the 
Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman to support its project 
to protect and catalog the police archives and to the NGO 
Center of Investigations in the Meso-America Region (CIRMA) 
to raise awareness of historic human rights abuses and 
indigenous rights.  It has also worked closely on indigenous 
rights education efforts with the government's Commission on 
Discrimination and Racism. 
 
¶16. Public Affairs has focused on increasing outreach and 
grant support to indigenous Mayan and Garifuna 
(Afro-Caribbean) Guatemalans, including support for Del Valle 
University's community outreach in the Lake Atitlan region, 
NGO Enlace Quiche in Santa Cruz del Quiche, and the 
Guatemalan-American Institute (IGA) in Quetzaltenango and 
Guatemala City. 
 
 
¶17. The Guatemalan government's democracy and human rights 
priorities include ensuring free and fair elections, and 
giving voters easier access to polling stations by 
substantially increasing the number of polling stations in 
rural areas.  Combating the ongoing problem of insecurity and 
violence is a top priority for the GOG, as is reforming the 
police and judiciary.  The GOG is a strong advocate for the 
human rights of illegal Guatemalan aliens in the U.S. and 
returned deportees.  The non-partisan Human Rights Ombudsman 
serves as an official human rights watchdog, and the 
independent press and large NGO sector are also effective 
human rights monitors.  The GOG is a consistent advocate for 
human rights in international fora such as the OAS and UN. 
Derham