OHCHR in Guatemala

Profile

The mandate of the Office in Guatemala covers promotion and protection of human rights, advice and technical assistance to the Government, other state institutions and civil society, and monitoring of and reporting on the human rights situation in the country.

Achievements

• In 2020, OHCHR-Guatemala adapted to the times of COVID-19 among many other actors by developing new ways of working. Restrictions of movement affected especially monitoring and capacity-building activities, as online meetings, fact-finding and desk research became the new normal. Between January and September, OHCHR-Guatemala organized 129 capacity-building activities, of which 108 were organized online. In total 2,974 persons were reached (2,436 women and 1,704 men) through these activities.
• Since March 2020, OHCHR-Guatemala has been monitoring the human rights impacts of COVID-19. Specific rights have been identified, such as, health, social security, food, work, freedom of expression, participation and access to justice. OHCHR-Guatemala has paid special attention on advocacy, especially on specific impacts of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples: relevant State institutions as well as indigenous authorities and CSO have benefited from information, webinars, support on translation and interpretation of messages, organization of meetings, and sustained technical support. This is turn has led to high level meetings, discussions and some specific measures , such as the issuance by the Ministry of Health guide for the prevention and management of COVID-19 for indigenous peoples at the community level and the dissemination by state institutions of informative messages on COVID-19 in accessible formats, including with sign language interpretation, among others. The Office has fortified its role as the human rights custodian in the UNCT and has been co-chairing the protection cluster.
• OHCHR-Guatemala continued to work with indigenous peoples to enhance their capacities to claim their individual and collective rights, especially in relation to cultural identity, land and territories, consultation, free, prior and informed consent, and overall development.
• OHCHR-Guatemala has played a leading role in gathering and providing reliable and credible information regarding allegations of human rights violations and trends to various national and international human rights mechanisms. State institutions, civil society organizations, UN partners and the international community have used this information as a basis for interventions and actions to prevent and respond to human rights violations and abuses throughout the country. See OHCHR- reports about the human rights situations in Guatemala.

Partners and Donors

Partners: The Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches, the National Human Rights Institution, indigenous authorities, the Inter American Commission for Human Rights, UN agencies, national, international and regional civil society and academia.

Donors: European Union, Sweden, Canada, Norway, MPTF.

UN Human Rights Focus Areas

Thematic pillars

• Mechanisms: Increasing implementation of the international human rights mechanisms outcomes
• Development: Integrating human rights in sustainable development
• Accountability: Strengthening rule of law and accountability for human rights violations
• Non-discrimination: Enhancing equality and countering discrimination
• Participation: Enhancing & protecting civic space & people’s participation
• Peace and Security: Early warning, prevention and protection of human rights in situations of conflict and insecurity

Shifts

• Inequalities
• Global constituency
• Civic space
• People on the move
• Corruption

Spotlight populations

• Women
• Young people
• Persons with disabilities

Last reviewed: November 2020