November 2007
November 25, International Day of Nonviolence Against Women
The Consortium of Actors for Change*, together with other organizations of the "November 25 Collective", organized public programs of theatre, music, speeches, forums and a caravan through the center of the capital. The Consortium requested NPG accompaniment for some of these events because they had recently received threats both at the institutional and personal level.
The statistics on femicide in Guatemala are alarming. Though still fewer than men, the rate of attacks against women is increasing. In the last five years 3,500 women have been murdered in Guatemala; usually women under thirty, poor and often with signs of the so-called "social cleansing" campaign of clandestine armed groups.
According to Diane Russell, a well know author on the subject, Guatemala is a woman hating culture largely because of the war where the military trained men to think of women as enemies because they gave birth, presumably to potential future guerrillas. According to some testimonies gathered since the war, women were seen by both sides as a target for aggression.
For three generations there has been no punishment of such murders. Only three of every 100 cases of assassination or homicide for either sex get to trial. According to the Institute of Comparative Studies and Penal Sciences, the remaining 97 languish unresolved due to the indifference or corruption of judicial authorities.
La Unidad Report and International Pressure
La Unidad** released its bi-monthly report for September-October and reported that there had been an increase in the number of attacks just after the September 9 elections and again in the first part of October.
* The Consortium provides accompaniment to women who have suffered sexual abuse, particularly women who were affected by the conflict. This is done through psycho-social support and through the promotion of local women's organizations, support groups, and seminars. They offer legal advice or contacts for women seeking justice for abuses, for reparations, and recuperation of the historical memory. Finally, they sponsor a radio program and do theatre presentations in an effort to sensitize the larger society and combat stigmatization of women who have been raped.
** La Unidad de Protección de Defensores y Defensoras de Derechos Humanos, the main group accompanied by NPG, provides an independent source of information on current violations against human rights workers. Without this, the community of human rights defenders, both national and international, would have to depend on the government for information on these violations and it would have no reliable cumulative record of the state of human rights defense in the country.
In addition, La Unidad takes advantage of whatever measures are available to support and protect the individuals and groups that have been attacked. This could involve help with analyzing the source of the attacks, the possible motives and the implications for their security. They also make recommendations on security measures and on how to present their case to government agencies. La Unidad staff will sometimes accompany victims for a period of time or for specific events or appointments and it will visit the government offices to try to keep up pressure on a case.
