GUATEMALA: 12 years after conflict, few solutions for IDPs or other victims A profile of the internal displacement situation 12 August, 2008 This Internal Displacement Profile is automatically generated from the online IDP database of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). It includes an overview of the internal displacement situation in the country prepared by the IDMC, followed by a compilation of excerpts from relevant reports by a variety of different sources. All headlines as well as the bullet point summaries at the beginning of each chapter were added by the IDMC to facilitate navigation through the Profile. Where dates in brackets are added to headlines, they indicate the publication date of the most recent source used in the respective chapter. The views expressed in the reports compiled in this Profile are not necessarily shared by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. The Profile is also available online at www.internal-displacement.org. About the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, established in 1998 by the Norwegian Refugee Council, is the leading international body monitoring conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide. Through its work, the Centre contributes to improving national and international capacities to protect and assist the millions of people around the globe who have been displaced within their own country as a result of conflicts or human rights violations. At the request of the United Nations, the Geneva-based Centre runs an online database providing comprehensive information and analysis on internal displacement in some 50 countries. Based on its monitoring and data collection activities, the Centre advocates for durable solutions to the plight of the internally displaced in line with international standards. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre also carries out training activities to enhance the capacity of local actors to respond to the needs of internally displaced people. In its work, the Centre cooperates with and provides support to local and national civil society initiatives. For more information, visit the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre website and the database at www.internal-displacement.org. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre Norwegian Refugee Council Chemin de Balexert 7-9 1219 Geneva, Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 799 07 00 [email protected] www.internal-displacement.org 2 CONTENTS CONTENTS 3 OVERVIEW 7 12 YEARS AFTER CONFLICT, FEW SOLUTIONS FOR IDPS OR OTHER VICTIMS 7 RESUMEN DEL INFORME EN ESPAÑOL ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. CAUSES AND BACKGROUND 11 BACKGROUND 11 WHILE A SERIES OF AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS RULED GUATEMALA, GUERRILLA ORGANIZATIONS EMERGED TO OBTAIN REFORMS, 1954-1996 11 “LA VIOLENCIA”: THE ARMY INTENSIFIED REPRESSION AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEASANTS, 1970S-1980S 12 SERIOUS DETERIORATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION AND CHALLENGES FACING PRESIDENT BERGER (2004) 14 CAUSES OF DISPLACEMENT 17 NO FORCED DISPLACEMENTS TEN YEARS AFTER SIGNING OF PEACE ACCORD (MAY 2006) 17 THE ARMY SCORCHED EARTH STRATEGY TO RE-ESTABLISH CONTROL OVER AREAS OF CONFLICT CAUSED MASSIVE DISPLACEMENTS (1970S-1980S) 18 ARCHBISHOP'S HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE ANALYSES THE MAIN CAUSES OF DISPLACEMENT (1999) 20 PEACE EFFORTS 21 CENTRAL AMERICA PEACE PLAN: ESQUIPULAS II (1987) 21 ACCORD ON RESETTLEMENT OF THE POPULATION GROUPS UPROOTED BY THE ARMED CONFLICT (1994) 21 1996 PEACE AGREEMENT AND OTHER SUBSTANTIVE AGREEMENTS (1990-1996) 24 THE COMMISSION FOR HISTORICAL CLARIFICATION (CEH) WAS CREATED IN 1994 26 POPULATION FIGURES AND PROFILE 28 GLOBAL FIGURES 28 NO OFFICIAL IDP FIGURES AS OF OCTOBER 2007 28 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 32 MAJORITY OF IDPS WERE INDIGENOUS FARMERS FROM QUICHÉ, HUEHUETENANGO CHIMALTENANGO AND ALTA VERAPAZ (2003) 32 IDPS REMAIN ANONYMOUS BY FEAR OF PERSECUTION PARTICULARLY IN URBAN AREAS (2000) 33 3 THE COMMUNITIES OF PEOPLE IN RESISTANCE WERE FOUND IN IXIL, IXCÁN AND PETÉN (1999) 35 PATTERNS OF DISPLACEMENT 37 GENERAL 37 DISPLACED PEOPLE EITHER SCATTERED FAR FROM AREAS OF ORIGIN OR HID IN MOUNTAINS AND JUNGLES NEAR THEIR HOME AREAS (2000) 37 ARCHBISHOP'S HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE DESCRIBES BOTH SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM PATTERNS OF DISPLACEMENT (1999) 38 PHYSICAL SECURITY & FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT 39 PHYSICAL SECURITY 39 THE STATE MASSACRED FLEEING POPULATIONS DURING THE CONFLICT (2001) 39 THE MAYAN POPULATION WAS THE MAIN TARGET OF MASSACRES AND SCORCHED EARTH OPERATIONS PERPETRATED BY THE ARMED FORCES (1999) 41 PLIGHT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN DURING THE CONFLICT (2004) 42 HARASSMENT OF ORGANIZATIONS WORKING WITH THE DISPLACED (1998) 43 SUBSISTENCE NEEDS 44 GENERAL 44 IDPS LIVE PRECARIOUSLY TEN YEARS AFTER THE SIGNING OF THE PEACE ACCORD (2006) 44 SHELTER AND NON-FOOD ITEMS 45 MANY UPROOTED FAMILIES STILL LIVE IN THE MOST PRECARIOUS HOUSES (2004) 45 ACCESS TO EDUCATION 47 GENERAL 47 LOW ACCESS TO EDUCATION SERVICES PARTICULARLY AFFECTS RURAL INDIGENOUS AREAS WHERE IDPS CAME FROM (2004) 47 ISSUES OF SELF-RELIANCE AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 49 SELF-RELIANCE 49 76 PER CENT OF GUATEMALAN FAMILIES LIVE IN POVERTY AND 33 PER CENT ARE EXTREMELY POOR (2003) 49 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 51 INDIGENOUS AND DISPLACED PEOPLE ARE NOT ENJOYING THEIR FULL POLITICAL AND CIVIL RIGHTS (2004) 51 IDPS AND WAR AFFECTED POPULATIONS PRESSURE THE STATE TO COMPLY WITH ITS RESPONSIBILITIES (2004) 53 IDPS ORGANIZED INTO COMMUNITIES OF PEOPLE IN RESISTANCE DURING THE CONFLICT (2001) 53 4 FORMER IDPS WISH THAT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS TOOK THEIR NEEDS MORE INTO ACCOUNT (2001) 54 DOCUMENTATION NEEDS AND CITIZENSHIP 55 GENERAL 55 SEVERAL THOUSANDS IDPS STILL LACK PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS (2002) 55 SPECIAL LAW TO EASE DOCUMENTATION PROCEDURES (2004) 56 ISSUES OF FAMILY UNITY, IDENTITY AND CULTURE 58 GENERAL 58 INDIGENOUS CULTURE NOT RESPECTED DESPITE AGREEMENT ON IDENTITY AND RIGHTS (2003) 58 SOCIO-CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES OF DISPLACEMENT AND OF CONFLICT ON MAYAN COMMUNITIES (1999) 59 PROPERTY ISSUES 61 LAW AND POLICY 61 MEASURES TO GRANT LAND AND PROPERTY RIGHTS AGREED IN THE PEACE ACCORDS HAVE NOT BEEN EXECUTED (2003) 61 GOVERNMENT REPEALED A DECREE WHICH ALLOWED TO GIVE AWAY LAND BELONGING TO IDPS (2000) 63 DIFFICULT ACCESS TO CREDIT AND LAND FOR UPROOTED WOMEN DESPITE NEW LAW (2003)64 RESTITUTION 65 THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR REPARATIONS SET UP IN 2004 DYSFUNCTIONAL (MAY 2006) 65 VIOLENT EVICTIONS OF CAMPESINOS FROM LARGE LAND HOLDINGS (MARCH 2006) 67 PEACE ACCORDS HAD LITTLE IMPACT ON IDPS’ PROPERTY AND LAND RESTITUTION RIGHTS (2003) 68 LACK OF LEGAL SECURITY IN THE HOLDING OF LAND LEADS TO SERIOUS SOCIAL CONFLICTS (2004) 70 ORGANIZED IDPS OBTAINED EASIER ACCESS TO THEIR LAND OR COMPENSATION THAN DISPERSED IDPS (2001) 73 PATTERNS OF RETURN AND RESETTLEMENT 74 RETURN 74 MOST OF THE IDPS ARE LOCATED ON THE SOUTHERN COAST (MAY 2006) 74 RETURNS HAMPERED BY LACK OF PROPERTY RIGHTS AND STIGMATISATION OF IDPS (2003) 74 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES 77 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE 77 OVERVIEW NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE 77 5 REFERENCE TO THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT 78 KNOWN REFERENCES TO THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES (AS OF JULY 2004) 78 LIST OF SOURCES USED 80 6 OVERVIEW 12 years after conflict, few solutions for IDPs or other victims Almost twelve years after the end of Guatemala’s 36-year civil war in 1996, the merit of considering internally displaced people (IDPs) separately is open to debate. Some claim that the many problems still shared by IDPs and other groups of victims render the category obsolete, but others argue that the number of forcibly displaced people still unable to regain their land or reintegrate elsewhere means the distinction remains important. Over 200,000 people were killed or disappeared at the height of the conflict between 1981 and 1983, and between 500,000 and 1,500,000 people were internally displaced or fled the country. Although the majority of IDPs returned to their homes shortly after they fled, a large number of people remained displaced throughout the country. Most of these longer-term IDPs settled in the shanty towns of the capital Guatemala City, where they worked in the informal sectors as street sellers, domestic workers or in factories, or on the southern coast, where some worked as seasonal labourers on large land holdings. Many displaced people emigrated to seek work in the United States. Political developments over the past decade have had little impact on the structural inequalities that triggered the armed conflict, and many Guatemalans remain among the poorest people in the western hemisphere. Crime rates have escalated since the official end of the war in 1996, and Guatemala is in 2008 among the most violent countries in the world that is at peace. The time elapsed since the end of the conflict, and the complex and protracted crisis the majority of Guatemalans face regardless of whether they were displaced are good reasons to stop counting IDPs. Yet IDP organisations claim their members are still suffering from trauma, loss of land, work and indigenous language rights, and still facing the widespread impunity of those who perpetrated abuses against them. Nonetheless, no national or international institutions are specifically targeting IDPs or their organisations. In January 2008, the United Nations and the social-democratic government elected in November 2007 set up the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). One of the tasks of the new Commission will be to investigate crimes and the criminal networks that emerged after the conflict, with the intention