0 - Eureka Street

few exceptions have been achieved thanks
to Herculean efforts by the victims (usually
supported by church or human rights
networks), who have maintained constant
pressure on the justice system to complete
criminal trials, often at considerable risk to
their own safety.
Over recent years, victims'
associations, human rights activists,
prosecutors, lawyers and judges involved
in such trials have suffered continual
harassment in connection with their
work. This has included physical attacks,
death threats, intimidation, surveillance,
Su rvivors of massacres in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, march to honour the memory of the dead. They are
carrying a quilt created from hundreds of smaller pieces, each naming a victim and giving details of when
and where th ey died. Photos: Lucy Turner
break-ins and telephone
intervention, as well as robbery
and the destruction of key information. It
is believed that the perpetrators of these
acts are clandestine groups associated
with military regimes of the past.
In summary, while governments have
made progress in implementing ome of
the truth commission's recommendations,
impunity for past human rights
crimes remains systemic and widespread .
The persistence of impunity is having
a profoundly limiting effect on Guatemala's
consolidation of democracy and the
establishment of the rule of law.
Government indifference to impunity
is an open wound for thousands of families
who suffered state brutality during
the war. In many rural communities victims
and victimisers continue to live side
by side (such as in Maria Mejia's case),
which has a destructive influence on such
communities and continues to retard reconciliation
at all levels.
In addition, the failure of the justice
system to try to punish those responsible
for even the most heinous of crimes-
genocide, for example-communicates
a m essage to Guatemalan society as a
whole about the irrelevance of the rule
of law.
The UN Special Rapporteur on
Judicial Independence, Param Coomaraswamy,
made the following observation
in his 2000 report on Guatemala:
. . . impunity is a cancer; if not
arrested and excised it will slowly
but surely destabilise society. Disenchanted
citizens will lose confidence,
if they have not already, in the
government, and resort to taking
justice into their own hands.'
INCREASING LEVELS of conflict
and violence in Guatemala today, and the
emergence in recent years of lynching as
a popular response to crime, bears out the
prediction of Coomaraswamy.
Government indifference to citizens'
demands for justice has led many to file
petitions with the Inter-American Human
Rights System. Via these cases, petitioners
seek the mediation of their demands
with the Guatemalan state, and in the
event that the state fails to comply with
the recommendations of the Inter-American
Commission or the terms of a settlement,
the case may be referred to the
Inter-American Human Rights Court.
To date, this court h as handed down
ten judgments against the state of
Guatemala, the majority of which involve
forced disappearances, extrajudicial
executions, torture, and, for the first time
in 2004, one of the hundreds of massacres
committed against the Mayan people.
While former governments have been
reluctant to co-operate with the Inter­
American Commission, and have actively
denied responsibility before the court,
since assuming power in January 2004,
President Oscar Berger Perdomo has implemented
a more progressive approach. This
includes recognising state responsibility
for human rights crimes committed by the
armed forces during the war and signing
'friendly settlements' with families of victims,
the terms of which typically include
a commitment to begin criminal investigations,
compensation, public apologies
and measures to dignify the memory of
the victim. It was in compliance with one
such 'friendly settlement' with the family
of Maria Mejia that the event at Sacapulas
took place in August.
The ability of the Berger government
to tackle the complex phenomenon of
impunity in order to comply with its commitments
in these agreements-and its
obligations to Guatemalan society as a
whole-remains to be seen. Meanwhile,
the banner with the stark black lettering
continues to reflect the sentiments felt by
thousa nds of Guatemalans today. •
Lucy Turner is a Melbourne lawyer
who has been working with victims of
human rights abuse in Guatemala since
September 2003.
OVEMBER- D EC EM BER 2005 EU REKA STR EET 19