Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala (1997-2000)
With more than 11 million inhabitants, Guatemala is the most highly populated country in Central America. Situated in the heart of the Maya world more than 50% of the population is indigenous. After 36 years of armed conflict, a process of national reconciliation was initiated in 1990-91 and in December 1996 the Final Peace Agreement was signed. The Peace Agreements call for the implementation of human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples, strengthening of civil society as well as reform of the educational system among others, thus supporting the democratization process of Guatemala. In March 1997 the UNESCO/DANIDA Project on Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala was initiated with a view to strengthen the participation of indigenous peoples in the transition from a state of civil war to representative democracy.
Launched in March 1997, this project aims at contributing to the implementation of the Peace Agreements by creating human rights awareness and strengthening the capacity of local indigenous leaders in their work. It focuses on local human resources as a means of supporting the current democratization process and it provides participants with tools to facilitate dialogue and to reinforce participation specifically at a local level. This project on human rights and indigenous peoples is mainly carried out in the Alti Plano of Guatemala.
The NGO Muni-K'at is the centre of co-ordination of project activities. The Office of the Ombudsman contributes to the workshops by teaching human rights and the application of human rights standards in Guatemala. Professors and students from l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris, France) travel to Guatemala and teach at the workshops. The project is funded by DANIDA and UNESCO provides the intellectual and technical assistance required.
The main activities are:
- Training of 50 municipal leaders, indigenous leaders and representatives from non-governmental organizations in human rights, democracy, the exercise of power , etc.
- Masters course on Human and Social Sciences with a focus on indigneous peoples and human rights
- Training of trainers (mainly workshop-participants of phase I) in human rights, democracy and social sciences.
- Creation of networks, both by the participants when undertaking the task of disseminating information, as well by creating a data base, a web-site and therefore an electronic network related to the project.
- Teaching aids in the form of "Estudios Documentos " are produced, the aim of these publications is to include issues for reflection, analysis and documentation and for field studies and finally, as teaching aids.
Expected Impacts
It is expected that greater awareness will be created among indigenous peoples, particularly in the Altiplano, about participation in the democratization process of Guatemala. Enabled to voice their opinion, initially at the local level, it is envisaged that a debate on the social, political and economical changes taking place in Guatemala today be initiated. It is expected that the beneficiaries will be empowered to actively participate in the process of democratization.
Experience
It is envisaged that creating access to and making available information in relation to the project themes will support indigenous peoples of Guatemala to identify needs and solutions as regards human rights and democracy in their communities.
During phase I of the project, approximately 25 persons participated in the Masters course and 50 representatives from NGOs and municipalities benefited from the workshops.
This page was modified on 22/03/00
Several issues of "Estudio Documento" were published on issues such as "Gobernar la Globalización II ", "Derecho Humano a la Paz Germen de un Futuro Posible" and "Derecho Indígena". These teaching and information materials have been distributed to libraries in the area, both public libraries and libraries of NGO's etc.
The number of participants has been overwhelming, and the interest shown in the project has been great. However, the number of women participating in phase I was lower than expected, therefore gender equity was introduced as a requirement for participanting in phase II. The groups partaking in phase II of the project thus has a more equitable gender distribution than in phase I.
Based on the experience in phase I it became clear that there exists a need to train trainers, consequently a training of trainers course was added to phase II - the group of particpants being beneficiaries of phase I.
As a majority of the particpants work either in NGO's or in municipalities, there is an opportunity to disseminate information and knowledge widely among principal actors of local democracy, namely civil society and local government. This possibility has been used by the particpants and project coordination to create debate and rasie awareness about human rights and democracy.
The opportunity of learning about and analysing present day society in Guatemala has been successful, the beneficiaries have expressed an interest and a will to engage themselves actively in the democratization process.
Finally the Masters course is of unique value, both due to its contents and because there are few Masters courses in Guatamala. Phase II has demonstrated a higher interest in human rights as a topic for thesis writing among students.