UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD
It also documented and expressed concern over changes that had taken place
within the police force since the arrival of
new authorities in the Ministry of Interior.
Upon request, OHCHR supported the
national police in reviewing protocols on
public demonstrations, road blockages
and evictions. Jointly with the International
Committee of the Red Cross and the
Presidential Commission for Coordinating
Executive Policy in the Field of Human
Rights, OHCHR held four workshops for
police officers to improve these protocols
and develop a single protocol on the use of
force. As a result, police has played an important role in preventing forced evictions
affecting indigenous communities.
Furthermore, OHCHR provided technical
assistance to authorities and civil society
in relation to documentation and investigation of complaints about extortion, the
confiscation of documents, arbitrary detentions affecting migrants and collaborated
with local and national authorities towards
the adoption of protection mechanisms
as the establishment of shelters during
their transit.
OHCHR closely monitored the humanitarian crisis caused by the eruption of the
Fuego Volcano and carried out nearly
20 missions to the affected area. It documented various human rights concerns,
coordinated closely with UN agencies and
provided technical assistance to State
authorities and has supported displaced
communities in the search for legal assistance to access adequate housing.
236 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018
Spotlights:
UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD
Participation (P)
P6 – Rights-holders, especially women,
youth, indigenous peoples and other underrepresented groups, defend human
rights and make their voices heard.
OHCHR contributed to ensuring the
meaningful participation of rights-holders, especially women, youth, indigenous
peoples and others from underrepresented groups, in various public processes by
strengthening their capacity, providing
technical assistance and ensuring dialogue and coordination.
OHCHR took steps to strengthen indigenous peoples’ capacities as rights-holders
to take part in the formulation of proposals
for participation that are more inclusive
and respectful of their rights. The Office
worked with the Government to improve
these conditions, including through the
provision of technical assistance.
OHCHR was an observer in three working groups that were created by the
Government, with the participation of
rights-holders, in order to find alternative
solutions to conflicts that arise in relation
to land. These working groups have now
dealt with 97 land conflicts affecting various regions.
Moreover, OHCHR organized four high
level meetings between the judiciary and
indigenous authorities to ensure dialogue
and coordination across both justice systems. These meetings generated relevant
inputs for the Judicial Organism, which enabled it to establish action points focused
on improving the access of indigenous
peoples to justice, in particular women,
as well as the identification of areas where
more coordination is needed.
Disabilities
Women
The Office also provided technical assistance to the National Weavers Movement,
a group of indigenous women from various regions in the country that promoted
legal reforms including a specific law – ordered by the Constitutional Court – for the
protection of indigenous textiles. These
actions are part of the Office´s support for
strategic litigation initiated through the
Maya Programme and continued with the
Profem project to ensure protection by
the State of the collective intellectual
property and ancestral knowledge related
to Maya textile art.
OHCHR also worked with the Political
Association of Maya Women (Moloj) to
strengthen their capacity to formulate human rights indicators that are relevant for
indigenous women within the framework
of the recommendations made to the State
in its third cycle of the UPR (2017).
OHCHR followed up on around 225 emergency cases of protection of human rights
defenders. In these cases, the Office verified and cross-checked information with
victims and their families as well as with
State institutions (National Civil Police,
NHRI, Office of the Attorney General),
to support the provision of a protection
response and assessment from a human
rights perspective. In addition, OHCHR
continued to follow up on around 75 cases
of criminalization of human rights defenders. It met on a regular basis with legal
teams defending human rights defenders from spurious charges, participated
in judiciary hearings of those cases and
carried out around 20 visits to detention
centres where human rights defenders
were held on criminal charges.
Non-Discrimination (ND)
ND1 – National laws, policies and practices
take a human rights-based approach, and
in particular respect the rights of indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities,
women, LGBTI persons, and other groups
that experience discrimination.
Through technical assistance and advocacy work, OHCHR contributed to increasing
the capacity of key State institutions on international human rights standards related
to indigenous peoples’ collective rights
and the rights of persons with disabilities,
women and LGBTI persons, as well as
those of groups facing discrimination.
OHCHR continued to promote the implementation of the access policy for
indigenous peoples in the Office of the
Attorney General. OHCHR provided
technical assistance and advice to the
Secretariat of Indigenous Peoples of the
judicial branch and promoted training processes on indigenous peoples’ rights for
staff of government institutions that have
mandates concerning human rights and
the justice system. In this context, OHCHR
provided training to 56 judges on the
rights of indigenous peoples under the
auspices of the School of Judicial Studies.
OHCHR monitored threats and attacks
against LGBTI human rights defenders,
provided technical assistance to the State
regarding Bill 5272 (containing discriminatory provisions against LGBTI persons)
and Bill 5395 (promoting the rights of trans
persons). The Office also implemented the
Free & Equal campaign in Guatemala, with
the aim of making LGBTI persons visible
as subjects of rights while also raising the
awareness of Guatemalan society as a
whole in order to reduce discrimination
suffered by LGBTI persons in the country. From April to July 2018 the campaign
reached 1,5 million people.
Regarding the rights of persons with
disabilities, OHCHR provided technical
assistance to the State on a draft law on
mental health. The Office prepared an initial mapping of draft laws related to the
rights of persons with disabilities.
ND1 – Indigenous peoples, women, and
other groups subject to discrimination
make use of strategic litigation to demand
their rights and hold to account individuals
and institutions that violate human rights.
Through methodological and substantive
support, OHCHR contributed to increasing the knowledge of indigenous peoples,
women and certain groups about relevant
international human rights standards and
the potential of strategic litigation.
OHCHR continued following up on cases of the Maya Programme, in particular
the implementation of judgments of the
Constitutional Court regarding land, territories, bilingual intercultural education,
intellectual property over textile art and violence and sexual slavery against Q’eqchi’
indigenous women of the Sepur Zarco
community. In the latter, the court ruling
established 16 transformative reparation
measures, including measures to ensure
justice for the enforced disappearance of
members of the community, guarantees
of non-repetition, and measures to fulfil
economic, social and cultural rights of the
victims and their communities. OHCHR
is providing technical assistance for the
implementation of the reparation plan.
indigenous midwives; and girls victims
of the 2017 fire in the State-run Hogar
Seguro Virgen de la Asunción orphanage
for children victims of violence. OHCHR
supported families of girls who died, as
well as 15 survivors, by supporting government institutions and organizations that
represent them in judicial proceedings, in
order to guarantee their access to justice
and reparation.
Under the Development pillar, OHCHR
worked to ensure that businesses and
other economic actors were held to account for human rights abuses and also
supported the Government to ensure
that legislation and policy related to food,
housing and land increasingly complied
with international human rights norms
and standards. Finally, OHCHR worked to
increase the capacity of the UN Country
Team to incorporate a human rights-based
approach into the new United Nations
Development Assistance Framework
2020-2024.
Furthermore, the Office provided methodological and substantive support to
the legal teams involved in judicial proceedings in three emblematic cases
of discrimination against women in the
framework of the Profem project, specifically indigenous women weavers;
Shifts:
Inequalities
UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 237
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