Guatemala: UN HRC Adopts Landmark Decision On Transgenerational Harm For Mayan Peoples Suffering Forced Displacement
A total of 269 members of the K'iche', Ixil and Kaqchikel Mayan Indigenous Peoples, who have been forcibly displaced from their communities during the 'scorched earth' operations of the internal armed conflict in the 1980s, turned to the Committee in 2021, claiming their rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) were violated. Although the victims had reached a settlement with Guatemala and agreed on a number of reparation measures under the 2011 National Compensation Programme, the programme, which foresaw, in particular, the resettlement and construction of alternative housing, was never implemented.
'Forced displacement is permanent in nature until the victims benefit from a safe and dignified return to their place of habitual residence or are voluntarily resettled elsewhere,' Committee member Hélène Tigroudja said.
In its decision, the Committee found that the victims were violently uprooted from their traditional lands and forced to seek refuge in Guatemala's capital city, in violation of their right under Article 12 of the ICCPR. Amid this different cultural setting, they were also forced to conceal and ultimately change their identities in violation of Article 27.
'The uprooting of the victims from their natural environment and lands had a deep, devastating, and lasting impact as they were irremediably stripped of their cultural identity,' Tigroudja said. 'They had to abandon their cultural practices, stop wearing their traditional clothing and stop speaking their language, which also constitutes an irreparable loss for their children and grandchildren,' she added.
In a new approach, the Committee considered that the State violated not only the rights of the individuals who were forcibly displaced but also the rights of third-generation children born in displacement after the events, to whom the trauma of displacement was transmitted.
'Indigenous Peoples' rights are, by definition, intergenerational. Transmission is a key condition for the continuity of Indigenous Peoples' existence and cultures,' Tigroudja said.
In its decision, the Committee also highlighted that the forced displacement and accompanying violence resulted in the victims having to leave behind the buried bodies of their relatives. Moreover, they were unable to perform funeral rituals for family members who were executed, died or forcibly disappeared during the conflict, in violation of their right under Article 7 not to be subjected to torture and inhumane treatment.
'In Mayan culture, not performing funeral rites is considered a moral transgression which can lead to spiritually caused illnesses that can manifest as physical diseases and can affect the entire lineage,' Tigroudja added. 'These are not only performative ceremonies and rituals but an integral part of the physical, moral and spiritual integrity of members of the communities as well as of the communities as a whole,' she said.
The Committee requested Guatemala to search for and hand over the remains of the disappeared family members to the complainants so that they could perform funeral rituals in accordance with their cultures. The Committee also requested Guatemala to build the houses according to the agreed specifications; to provide the victims, their children and grandchildren with the necessary medical, psychological and/or psychiatric treatment; to also provide them with scholarships if they wish so; and to carry out a public act of acknowledgement of international responsibility in which it should apologise for the violations.
Guatemala is also requested to translate the decision into the Mayan K'iche', Mayan Ixil and Mayan Kaqchikel languages.
The Committee's findings were assisted by Third-Party Interventions submitted by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a judge attached to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace of Colombia, and the NGO Indigenous Peoples Rights International.
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