Memoria de la V Conferencia Nacional sobre Derechos Humanos

INAUGURAL LESSONLIC. BEAT ROHR*RESIDENT COORDINATOR OF THEUNITED NATIONS SYSTEM IN GUATEMALA ANDRESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THEUNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMIN GUATEMALA –UNDP–I greet the honorable members of the table, the government authorities, the representatives of theGovernment of Finland, the academic authorities and the representatives of the various human rightsinstitutions who are present here today. May you all have a good evening.I want to thank and congratulate the organizers of this Conference: the Rafael Landívar Universityand the San Carlos University of Guatemala and their respective research institutes for the invitationto participate, but especially for promoting formation and reflection activities as this one, which are sonecessary for Guatemala.Justice and the respect for human rights are essential for development. As Coordinator of the UnitedNations System for Guatemala and Resident Representative of the UNDP, I think that the overalltheme of the conference “Democratic Governance and Human Rights”, as well as the various topicsto be studied, are of huge importance for the country, especially when we are witnessing that neitherDemocratic Governance nor the protection of human rights have progressed at a good pace in recent years.Eleven years have passed since the subscription of the Peace Accords and in that period Guatemalanshave witnessed many advances, but there have also been regrettable setbacks, and the balance to datestill shows pending challenges.In the coming days of conferences, you will have the chance to study in detail about DemocraticGovernance and Human Rights with the various experts. As far as I am concerned, I simply want tobring to discussion some aspects:Democratic governance has become one of the most relevant topics in our days, and this is becausethe involved goal is to achieve increasing the levels of human development in all populations, for whicha framework of democratic governance is essential.* He has a Business Administration and Studies, Project Management in University of Quebec, Hull, Canada, and a Management in Pacific Western University, LosAngeles, California. He was regional director and operations supervisor of the Committee of Exterior Aid Remittances –CEAR– in the Middle East, the Balcans,East Europe and the Caucasian region. He was national director of the CEAR in Lima, Peru; in Maputo, Mozambique; in Nairobi, Kenya, and in Managua, Nicaragua.He was also services director of the University of Canada, in Addis Abeba, Ethiopy and in Wusc, Khartoum, Sudan. He was planer of the CEAR in the city ofMexico. He served as director of the international program of the CEAR in Wusc, Ottawa, Canada, and as Director at the Ministry of Education in Hull, Quebec,Canada. He is currently Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Guatemala and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program–UNDP– in Guatemala.– 429 –