Guatemala: In Defence of Women's Lives

36 years of civil war left over 200,000—mostly Mayan—people dead in Guatemala. A peace treaty was signed in 1996, but the killing has not ceased. In since 2000, 3,000 women have been found brutally murdered in Guatemala, and the numbers continue to grow. In 2006 victims numbered 663, a 16% increase from 2005.

 

A network of women’s organisations—stretching from the jungle interior of the Peten, to the capital Guatemala City and through to the Highlands—bravely denounce these crimes, at great risk to themselves.

 

Ixqik is a grassroots women’s organisation working rural in Peten to train women community leaders how to provide support and access to legal attention for victims and their families. Work by small groups like Ixqik is strengthened by national coordination by ‘Red de no Violencia’ (the Network of No Violence Against Women).

 

The Network attributes ever-increasing levels of violence to be complex and varied, but no doubt the heart of the problem is the impunity that continues to be enjoyed by generations of killers. Hundreds of massacres claimed the lives of thousands during the civil war, and only a handful of murderers have been brought to justice. A culture of violence against women is further sanctioned by the lack of a legal framework classifying domestic violence as a crime.

 

At great risk to themselves and their families, supporters of Ixqik and ‘Red de no Violencia’ continue to draw media attention to the situation, provide physical and psychological attention to survivors of violence and pressure the government to reform the justice system and end the culture of impunity.

 

Each year in November grassroots organisations celebrate their work and honour the lives lost in a march to Guatemala City’s Central Park where a memorial with photos, candles and flowers is held.