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Civil Society and NGO Reports, Papers and Statements

The Demobilization and Political Participation of Female Fighters in Guatemala
A report to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Wenche Hauge, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), March 2007
This report focuses on how the female fighters of the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) in Guatemala fared in the demobilization and reintegration process that began in 1997, and to what degree the women became socially and politically active afterwards. The study seeks to explain why there are quite varying levels of post conflict social and political activity among these women in 2006, ten years after the peace accord between the Guatemalan government and the URNG was signed.

Getting Away With Murder: Guatemala’s Failure to Protect Women
Hastings College of Law of the University of California, November 2005
This information describes some of the root causes of the worst environment for gender violence (rape and murder) among all of the nations of the Americas in 2006.

Political Repression in Finca Nueva Linda: a hard blow to peace and democracy building in Guatemala
Union Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNMAG), 8 September 2004

Global Internally Displaced Persons Database: Guatemala Profile
IDP Project of the Norweigan Refugee Council, August 2004 (updated)
Although the conflict in Guatemala has by and large abated, there was a resurgence of civil patrols (paramilitaries) activity, estpecially in the departments of El Quiché and Baja Verapaz, according to Amnesty International (AI, 4 Septmeber 2002). Reportedly 90 families fled violences committed by former civil partollers in El Quiché during 2001 (AI, 4 September 2002). Current estimates of internal displacement vary between zero to 250,000 persons. In 1997, the US Committee for Refugees reported that there were 250,000 internally displaced people in Guatemala. However, by 1998, those IDPs were longer included in its listing of figures. USCR explained that because conflict or fear of persecution no longer impeded Guatemalans from returning home, they were no longer considered internally displaced for the purposes of its annual report (USCR 1998). UN agencies also officially consider there to be no more internally displaced people in Guatemala.

La Situacion de la Mujer Guatemalteca
Ana Garcia Ramos, Foro de la Mujer, 7/8 de noviembre 2002

El Legado Mortal de Guatemala: El Pasado Impune y las Nuevas Violaciones de Derechos Humanos
Amnistia Internacional, Londres, 28 de febrero de 2002
Este informe examina el sistema judicial de Guatemala y senala el abismo que existe entre lo que dicta la ley y lo que ocurre en la practica. Examina el indebido funcionamiento del sistema judicial guatemalteco- y la manera en que esto se traduce en un empeoramiento de la situacion de los derechos humanos-, y la injerencia de diversos sectores de la sociedad guatemalteca en el proceso judicial entre ellos esos a los que a veces se alude como al "Estado de Mafia Corporativa." Este informe concluye con una serie de sugerencias para poner fin al largo historical guatemalteco de impunidad, corrupcion e injusticia.
Guatemala's Lethal Legacy: Past Impunity and Renewed Human Rights Violations
Amnesty International, London, 28 February 2002

Documento del Foro Nacional de la Mujer de Guatemala a Presentar al Grupo Consultivo
Washington, D.C., 11 y 12 de febrero 2002
El Foro Nacional de la Mujer como parte de la institucionalidad de la Paz reafirma que los Acuerdos de Paz siguen siendo la premisa para la construcción de una Democracia Firme y Duradera. En ese contexto las mujeres hemos aportado a la construcción de la Paz y la democracia en Guatemala, el cual sigue siendo uno de los objetivos de nuestra instancia para contribuir en la consolidación e implementación de los Acuerdos de Paz en lo relativo a las mujeres.

Refugee Women in El Salvador and Guatemala: Challenges and Lessons of Reintegration
Mujeres Refugiadas en El Salvador y Guatemala: Dificultades y Lecciones
Patricia Weiss Fagen, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). PROWID Post-Conflict Roundtable. ICRW: 2000

Threats against human rights defenders women in CONAVIGUA
Amnesty International, Appeal, 1997
The National Coordination of Widows of Guatemala, Coordinadora Nacional de Viudas de Guatemala (CONAVIGUA), is a women's organization campaigning to establish the fate of "disappeared" relatives, to raise awareness of conscientious objection, to promote education and to support people displaced as a consequence of the internal armed conflict. Since the organization was formed almost a decade ago, its members have been the target of repeated death threats, intimidation and physical attacks.

Gender, Conflict and Development, Volume II: Case studies: Cambodia; Rwanda; Kosovo; Algeria; Somalia; Guatemala and Eritrea
[Excerpts specific to Guatemala]
Bridget Byrne, Rachel Marcus and Tanya Powers-Stevens, report prepared at the request of the Netherlands Special Programme on WID, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on a conference on gender, conflict and development of the Vrouwenberaad Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, December 1995, revised July 1996

UN Documents

Faces: Women as Partners in Peace and Security: Women Fight for an Equal Voice in Guatemala
UN Department of Public Information and UN Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), October 2004

Preliminary Note on Special Rapporteur's Missions to El Salvador and Guatemala
Yakin Ertürk, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, E/CN.4/2004/66/Add.2, 8 March 2004
The Special Rapporteur visited El Salvador (2 to 7 February 2004), and Guatemala (8 to 14 February), at the invitation of both Governments. The objective of the mission was to study the causes and consequences of violence against women and to formulate recommendations for an effective response to the phenomenon.

La Mujer en la Paz de Guatemala
Cronicas de MINUGUA (Mision de Verificacion de las Naciones Unidas en Guatemala), No. 13, 7 de marzo 2001

Government Statements and Reports

Fifth Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala: The Rights of Women
Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Chapter XIII, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111, doc. 21 rev., 6 April 2001

Report of Guatemala to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
Government of Guatemala, Combined Third and Fourth Periodic Report, CEDAW/C/GUA/3-4, 20 March 2001

Informe Nacional Sobre la Situacion de la Mujer Guatemalteca y Cambios a Partir de Ultimo Informe
Secretaria Presidencial de la Mujer Guatemala, Trigesima Asamblea de Delegadas de la Comison Interamericana de la Mujer, 2000
La Secretaria Presidencial es responsable de la promocion, diseno y monitoreo de politicas publicas que garanticen la igualdad de genero en Guatemala. La Secretaria fortalece la capacidad de la Comision Nacional para la Prevencion de la Violencia Intrafamiliar por monitorear el cumplimiento de los compromisos hechos en los Acuerdos de Paz.

Books, Journals and Articles

Femicidio en Guatemala
Irene Alamilla, 26 September 2003

Dar Voz a la Mujer en Guatemala
Greg Brosnan, Opciones, diciembre 2002

The Blindfold's Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth
Sister Dianna Ortiz with Patricia Davis. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2002
In 1989, while working as a missionary in Guatemala, Sister Dianna Ortiz, an American Ursuline, was abducted by security forces and brutally tortured. Her case attracted international attention—not because it was so unusual, but because she escaped to reveal the details, and because of the explosive charge that the man who intervened with her captors—a mysterious “Alejandro,” may have had connections with the U.S. Embassy.

Women and Civil War: Impact, Organizations and Action
Krishna Kumar. Lynne Reinner Publishers, Inc., 2001
Women typically do not remain passive spectators during a war, nor are they always its innocent victims; instead, they frequently take on new roles and responsibilities, participating in military and political struggles and building new networks in order to obtain needed resources for their families. Consequently, while civil war imposes tremendous burdens on women, it often contributes to the redefinition of their traditional roles and the reconfiguration of existing gender relations in the society. This work presents a detailed analysis of how intrastate conflict affects women, and how women's networks and organizations respond in ways that increase their economic, social, and political power. The authors also consider policy implications for the international community.

After the Revolution.: Gender, Democracy in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala
Ilja A. Luciak. The John Hopkins University Press, 2001

Of Centaurs And Doves: Guatemala's Peace Process
Susanne Jonas, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2000
In this, the first English-language book-length account of Guatemala's historic but difficult peace process, Susanne Jonas assesses the negotiation and content of the 1996 peace accords, and their implementation as of 1999. Her analysis also highlights their significance beyond Guatemala--for Central America over the long run, and for the Americas as a whole--and the effects the peace accords will have on U.S.-Latin American relations. This sequel to The Battle for Guatemala picks up as the peace negotiations were beginning in Guatemala after thirty years of civil war, and follows the process through 1999. The authenticity and comprehensiveness of Jonas' account of the negotiation and implementation of the peace accords stem from the hundreds of interviews she conducted from 1990 through 1999 with all of the key actors, both domestic and international. This book, therefore, represents the author's unique positioning to develop a "trans-national" perspective that is both rooted in Guatemala and informed by multiple international viewpoints.

Gendered Space of Terror and Assault: The Testimonio of REMHI and the Commission for Historical Clarification in Guatemala
Catherine Nolin Hanlon, Gender Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography. Vol. 7, 2000

Fear as a Way of Life: Mayan Widows in Rural Guatemala
Linda Green. New York: Columbia UP, 1999

Guatemala Nunca Más / Never Again
REMHI Project. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1999
This report describes the atrocities committed against the Guatemala people during the civil war (1960-1996). The Catholic Church created the Recovery of Historical Memory project (REMHI), followed by the United Nations-sponsored Historical Clarification (Commission Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico - CEH). THE REMHI was a 3-year investigation that began before the signing of the final peace accord and was part of a larger national healing process. REMHI trained over 600 interviewers and human rights promoters with the collaboration of more than 200 parishes. Since the REMHI was not restricted the names of those responsible for crimes were listed when known.

Guatemala After the Peace Accord
Rachel Sieder. Institute of Latin American Studies, 1999

Violent Memories: Mayan War Widows in Guatemala
Judith N. Zur. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1998
This local study of the impact of political violence on a Maya Indian village is based on intensive fieldwork in the department of El Quiché, Guatemala, during 1988–1990. It examines the processes of fragmentation and realignment in a community undergoing rapid and violent change and relates local, social, cultural, and psychological phenomena to the impact of the war on widows' lives.Zur combines a narrative, life-history approach with anthropological analysis, emphasizing the way people talk about and explain the violence. She describes the survival strategies of widows and their attempts to reconstruct their lives, both on a physical level and in terms of meaning, and finds that "remembering" is not simply the automatic engagement of the past within the present, but a process that allows widows to discover new possibilities for action and for reshaping their own positions in society.