The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, presented on Monday, March 3 to the Human Rights Council the report of this agency on Guatemala, a country that makes a cooperation based on cooperation, and after recognizing advances in certain areas denounced the improper use of criminal norms against those who defend human rights.
He argued that the High Commissioner of Human Rights, the entity he directs, “continues to be concerned with the improper use of criminal law by actors within the Public Ministry and the Judicial Organization against the Defense of Human Rights and, particularly, persons operators of justice,” he said.
He described those situations of “criminal persecution” and considered that there are “political motivations behind.”
Such shares are directed against officials of the current government and the Supreme Electoral Court, “with the purpose of questioning the results of the 2023 elections,” he explained.
On the other hand, Türk said that “setbacks” have been seen in access to justice in relation to serious human rights violations during the internal armed conflict, with cases that include the cancellation of undue processes and delays that have deprived the victims of their rights.
“Faced with these setbacks and as part of transitional justice it is important to advance with the initiative for a National Dignification and Reparation Plan and a National Plan for the Search of Missing Persons,” he proposed.
Among the positive aspects he scored, he highlighted the renewal of the agreement that will allow the Office in Guatemala of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue working for three more years.
He also congratulated the dialogue between the State and the indigenous and Afro -descendant authorities, and recommended that these contact spaces be institutionalized and the agreements reached. EFE