Guatemala
Guatemala Peacebuilding Initiative
Guatemala was the last Central American country to emerge from the Cold War proxy battles that wracked the sub-region and peaked in the 1980s. It is also the country where the fighting took the greatest human toll, with an estimated 200,000 dead or disappeared in a conflict that started in 1960 and ended in UN-brokered peace accords on December 29, 1996. Twelve years after the signing of the most ambitious accords in the hemisphere, Guatemala is place where basic human security – freedom from both fear and want – remains elusive. The continuing lack of security is underscored by high levels of violent crime, fed by near-total impunity. With a rate of 45.2 murders per 100,000 in 2006, Guatemala ranked seventh in the world. It is estimated that 97-98 percent of those crimes go unsolved.
Marginalized groups -- indigenous, youth, women, and the landless -- bore the brunt of the internal armed conflict. The UN Commission for Historical Clarification concluded that eighty-three percent of the 42,000 fully identified victims were Mayan. Today, as local communities continue to be devastated by violence, it is these same groups that are most vulnerable to post-conflict human security threats. The overall climate of insecurity and impunity in turn leads to deeper societal disruptions, and undermines trust in the very institutions essential to the consolidation of a just and lasting peace in Guatemala.
The Guatemala Peacebuilding Initiative at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) seeks to work with local partners to help strengthen their efforts to consolidate peace with justice in the communities in which they live. The Initiative builds upon a series of IPJ assessment missions, including attendance at the public hearings of the Interamerican Human Rights Commission. Recent collaborative exchanges have included speaking engagements at the University of San Diego by a number of national-level human rights leaders from Guatemala and a January intersession trip to Guatemala by the School of Leadership and Education Sciences.
In June 2009, the Institute completed a mission to Guatemala in order to facilitate dialogue and the sharing of best practices between local civil society leaders working in various sectors of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The institute is committed to expanding its peacebuilding work in Guatemala as new funding is secured.
Executive Summary of June 2009 trip to Guatemala
For further information on this project contact: Elena McCollim, Program Officer.
