A Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice delegation visited Guatemala on November 6 and 7, 2023. The purpose of this visit was to analyze and address the current situation in Guatemala from a legal perspective and to offer recommendations from this group of  nternational law experts to support restoration of public confidence in the Guatemalan judicial system, institutionalization of an independent judiciary, alignment with international democratic standards, and strengthening the rule of law.

(published in the News of our work in the Bulletin no. 48)

For some years now, walking through the streets of the historic center of Guatemala City, we are astonished by the hundreds of photographs that paper some of its walls. They are the faces of people who disappeared during Guatemala’s Internal Armed Conflict (IAC), lasting over three decades, and ending with the signing of the Peace Accords in December 1996.

On May 27, 2021, eleven former military officers were arrested and charged by the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) with serious human rights violations committed during the Internal Armed Conflict (IAC). These arrests are part of the “Diario Militar” (DM) case, referring to a document also known as the “Death Squad Dossier”, which contains detailed information about the capture and disappearance of 183 people between August 1983 and March 1985.

June 2021 marked the 10th anniversary of the unanimous endorsement by the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These Principles represent a step forward in the attempt to transition to a fairer economic growth model by recognizing the shared responsibilities of the State and the private sector in promoting sustainable development and protecting human rights.