The ICJ expressed concern today at the use of abductions in national security cases in Turkey and the enduring impunity for enforced disappearances in certain Latin American countries, during the interactive dialogue with the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disapparances at the UN Human Rights Council.
For decades, victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Latin America have been demanding justice, truth, and reparations. Despite these efforts, impunity remains rampant. In some cases, victims have been waiting for justice for over four decades.
As a part of its strategy to promote accountability for serious human rights violations around the world, the ICJ, together with partners, is implementing a regional project to address justice for extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru, supported by the European Union.
One of the results of the project has been to support the production of three case dossiers by the ICJ’s local partners.
In Colombia, to illustrate one of the patterns of extrajudicial killings, the Asociación de Red Defensores y Defensoras de Derechos Humanos (dhColombia) produced a document concerning three cases of extrajudicial killings committed during 2006 and 2008.
The report Una práctica sistemática ejecuciones extrajudiciales en el eje cafetero (2006-2008) presents the challenges the victims and their lawyers have faced when seeking responsibility for those crimes.
In Peru, the Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) documented the enforced disappearances of university students and professors between 1989 to 1993, at the height of the internal conflict. In the report Los desaparecidos de la Universidad Nacional del Centro IDL describes the difficult legal path victims have faced in order to bring state agents suspected of committing crimes to justice.
In Guatemala, to highlight the manner in which enforced disappearances were committed against rural communities during the internal armed conflict, the Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos de Guatemala (Famdegua) wrote about the enforced disappearance of more than 500 people in the region of the Veparaces. In the report Las desapariciones forzadas en la región de las Verapaces the story of five cases is presented.
These three reports contribute towards understanding the prevalence of these violations in Latin America, and the available options to tackle impunity.
On 30 September 2020, the ICJ will host a regional webinar to discuss the protection and guarantee of the rights of victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala and Peru.
The webinar will be broadcast live on the ICJ’s Facebook page, at 14 hours (Guatemala time)/15 hours (Colombia and Peru time)/ 17 hours (Chile and Argentina time).
Contact
Kingsley Abbott, Coordinator of the Global Accountability Initiative, e: kingsley.abbott@icj.org
Carolina Villadiego Burbano, Legal and Policy Adviser, Latin America and Regional Coordinator of the Project, e: carolina.villadiego@icj.org
Rocío Quintero M, Legal Adviser, Latin America, e: rocio.quintero@icj.org
Despite remarkable efforts to recover and identify human remains in Latin America, there are still thousands of cases where remains have not been identified and returned to their family. Crucially, families still struggle to understand and participate in the forensic process.
To address this issue, el Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF) launched today a Forensic Guide which aims at providing practical and accessible information on the investigation, recovery, and analysis of human remains.
Currently, this publication is only available in Spanish but an English version will be provided in the forthcoming months.
The guide will be particularly useful for people who have no previous forensic knowledge and will contribute towards improving the understanding and participation of victims and civil society organizations in the search for disappeared persons.
The Guide was written by Luis Fondebrider, the executive director of the EAAF and takes into account international standards including the revised Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016).
The ICJ, the Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (EPAF) and the Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala (FAFG) provided input during the Guide’s development.
The Guide was launched during a Webinar. The key speakers were Luis Fondebrider from the EAAF; Claudia Rivera from the FAFG and Franco Mora from the EPAF. It was moderated by Carolina Villadiego from the ICJ.
At the launch, all the forensic experts emphasized the central role that the families of disappeared persons must play in the process of investigation, recovery, and analysis of human remains. In particular, it was acknowledged that they not only have key information to find the remains but also, they have driven the processes.
Background
The Guide was produced as part of a regional project addressing justice for extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru, which is coordinated by the ICJ.
The aim of the project is to promote the accountability of perpetrators and access to effective remedies and reparation for victims and their families in cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Colombia, Guatemala and Peru – and Latin America more broadly – through effective, accountable and inclusive laws, institutions and practices that also reduce the risk of future violations. The project is supported by the EU European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).
The ICJ’s partners include the Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos de Guatemala (FAMDEGUA), Asociación Red de Defensores y Defensoras de Derechos Humanos (dhColombia), Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAF), Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (EPAF), Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala (FAFG), and the Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL).
Contacts:
Kingsley Abbott, Coordinator of the Global Accountability Initiative, e: kingsley.abbott(a)icj.org
Carolina Villadiego, Legal and Policy Adviser, Latin America, and Regional Coordinator of the Project, e: carolina.villadiego(a)icj.org
Millions of indigenous people in Guatemala (Mayas, Garífunas and Xincas) are at increased risk of falling victim to COVID-19 unless the government immediately provides them with necessary information and ensures they have access to adequate health care without discrimination, the ICJ said today.
“Guatemala’s indigenous people face an increased risk of suffering during this global pandemic because of the historic and systemic discrimination against them, which means that they don’t have access to proper information needed to protect themselves, nor to health care should they fall ill because of COVID-19,” said Ramón Cadena, ICJ’s Central America Director.
“The most suffering indigenous communities could be those very poor indigenous communities living at the border with México.”
The ICJ called on Guatemalan authorities to ensure that information about public health measures regarding COVID-19 be offered in the languages most used by indigenous communities (mayan languages such as ixil, quiché, mam, q´eqchí, kaqchikel; and garífuna and xinca languages).
During the pandemic the State of Guatemala has not taken into account the difficulties, such as financial, geographical, technological or linguistic barriers, that indigenous people face in accessing information.
On the other side, the ICJ has noticed that the information about the governmental measures to face the pandemic, has been disseminated in a very limited way.
Indigenous communities have been excluded from the official health system because of the discrimination against them and the lack of resources invested in the health system of Guatemala due to processes of privatization of social services, which have been implemented in Guatemala after the signature of the Peace Accords.
“The general weakness of the Guatemalan public health system, historic racism against the indigenous community and the tremendous general social inequality in the country all aggravate the potential impact of the pandemic on the indigenous community,” Cadena said.
The ICJ urges the State of Guatemala to take the necessary legislative, administrative, and judicial measures to protect Indigenous Peoples and preserve their human rights during the current emergency, specifically their right to health, food, and housing.
The ICJ also called on the Guatemalan government to avoid measures that threaten the life and dignity of people, including those from the indigenous community who are generally most subject to violations of their civil and political rights.
“Any measures taken in response to the pandemic must be limited to those that are strictly necessary, legitimate, and proportionate to the risk facing the community, and limited in time and subject to review,” Cadena said.
“There are certain guarantees, such as the right to an effective judicial remedy, that cannot be suspended or repealed and that are vital so that citizens, including indigenous people, can safeguard their rights, and even as the pandemic inevitably affects the legal system the government must do all it can to avoid discrimination against the indigenous community, which already suffers from racism and lack of access to justice.”
The ICJ convened two workshops in Guatemala City from 11 to 13 February for more than 30 lawyers and more than 30 representatives of victims’ organizations on the international law and standards that apply to the investigation of unlawful death and enforced disappearances.
The workshops were conducted as part of the project under the ICJ’s Global Accountability Initiative entitled, Promoting justice for extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Colombia, Guatemala and Peru, and supported by the EU European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). The project promotes accountability of perpetrators and access to effective remedies and reparation for victims and their families in cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
The workshop for lawyers was inaugurated by the President of the Board of Lawyers of Guatemala, Ovidio Orellana. The workshop with representatives of victims organizations was inaugurated by the Chief of Cooperation of the European Union Alberto Cortezón.
Participants in the workshops emphasized that the Guatemalan public authorities must respect and effectively impolement the the revised Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death, and that there was a need to reinforce advocacy strategies for the respect of the Protocol by the Guatemalan Human Rights Institutions.
The Presidential Commission on Human Rights (COPREDEH) and the Ombudsman´s Office participated during the workshop with victims’ organizations. They committed themselves to take the necessary actions to incorporate into their work the principles and content of the Minnesota Protocol, as a complementary tool to other conventions and binding law.
Contacts:
Ramón Cadena, Regional Director of ICJ’s Central America Office, email: ramon.cadena@icj.org
Kingsley Abbott, Senior Legal Adviser & Coordinator of the ICJ’s Global Accountability Initiative, email: kingsley.abbott@icj.org
Carolina Villadiego Burbano, ICJ Legal and Policy Adviser, Latin America, and Regional Coordinator of the Project, email: carolina.villadiego@icj.org
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