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Guatemala

Resolution number
8
Whereas
  1. Human rights violations in Guatemala have increased significantly since the April 1998 assassination of Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera two days after he presented the report of the Interdiocesan Project to Recover the Historical Memory (REMHI) which named some of the perpetrators involved in torture, killings, massacres and disappearances;
  2. The REMHI report not only documents 55,021 cases of victims, holding the Guatemalan Army and paramilitary squads responsible for 85.4% of the crimes and the insurgency responsible for 9.3% of those crimes, but also exposes the way the repressive apparatus operates allowing powerful perpetrators of human rights violations to continue to act with impunity;
  3. Luis Yat, indigenous mayor of El Quiche was assassinated in front of his wife and children last May 6 and numerous members of indigenous, women's and human rights organizations continue to be threatened and intimidated;
  4. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) requested the Guatemalan State to provide protective measures for 110 members of REMHI and workers at the Human Rights Office of the Catholic Archdiocese who are at risk;
Therefore be it resolved

That the CCR:

  1. Write to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and ask that the number of government-assisted refugees from Guatemala be increased and that she direct her department to take note of the worsening human rights situation in Guatemala when considering risk assessments, humanitarian and compassionate applications and deferring removals.
  2. Write to the government of Guatemala to demand that they protect the 110 members of REMHI and workers at the Human Rights Office of the Catholic Archdiocese.
  3. Write to the Minister of Foreign Affairs asking him to protest to the Guatemalan government at the murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera and to pressure the Guatemalan government to protect the REMHI members and Human Rights Office workers.
Working Group
Overseas Protection and Resettlement