Focussing on strengthening the rights of indigenous women and girls in Guatemala

Twenty-five years after the armed conflict that ravaged this Central American country, it is clear that violence continues to be deeply ingrained in social relations, affecting indigenous communities in particular, and among them, women and girls first and foremost.

Since 2018, through Rights and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls in Guatemala (DEMUJERES), and in consortium with Lawyers Without Borders Canada (LWBC), CECI has been working to promote the freedom, dignity and empowerment of indigenous women and girls in the struggle against gender and sexual-based violence, and improving access to justice

 

Indigenous women and girls, subjected to sexual violence…

Used as a weapon of war during the internal conflict, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has taken on alarming proportions. It is the ultimate manifestation of patriarchal power, rooted in the colonial period and then reinforced under the fincas system of large properties with abundant pools of indigenous labour.

Secular machismo and racism, internalized by society and institutionalized by the State, are reinforced by religious beliefs and certain cultural practices that legitimize gender inequality, the marginalization of indigenous peoples, and violence against women and girls. The country now has one of the highest rates of femicide in the world.

“In the collective psyche of Guatemalan society, indigenous women are necessarily in a servile position,” says Saríah Acevedo, Guatemalan Coordinator of DEMUJERES, and a sociologist. “Since colonization, the collective belief is that indigenous women can be subjected to sexual acts against their will. This is normal and, according to the same social psyche, there’s no reason to be prosecuted for it.”

… and multiple forms of discrimination

According to the most recent national census, 41% of the Guatemalan population self-identify as indigenous. In reality, people of indigenous origin may actually represent over 60% of the population of 18 million inhabitants. Considering the marginalization and poverty of these populations, “we can say that indigenous women are subjected to every form of discrimination possible that exists in Guatemala today,” says Saríah Acevedo, who is Mayan.

“These women live in a macho country, are indigenous in a racist country, are rural in a country that is pursuing a path of centralized and urbanized development, and they are poor in a country of profound inequalities. Being an indigenous woman in Guatemala today means being subjected to a confluence of all of these forms of discrimination.”

An intersectional approach

This reality has led to debates within the country’s feminist movements and indigenous women’s rights organizations. The latter have argued that considering gender alone is inadequate in addressing the reality of their situation.

The accumulation of different forms of discrimination (such as gender, ethnicity and poverty) means that indigenous women and girls are affected by SGBV in a distinctly different way than other women.

Consequently, DEMUJERES has adopted an intersectional approach. By recognizing the existence and intersection of several factors of oppression and taking into account their combined effects, the project can address the violence indigenous women and girls are subjected to with a more global and complex approach and, consequently, more effectively support local partners in the struggle for their rights—their individual rights as women, but also their collective rights as indigenous women.

Implemented in three of the country’s departments, the project is based on very close collaboration with local partners. “It seeks to address one of the most serious forms of discrimination affecting indigenous women in this country, namely, access to justice,” says Saríah Acevedo. “The justice system is geographically remote, costly, unilingual and has no concept of reparation, a core aspect of indigenous justice. The project seeks to help close these gaps.” To achieve this, the five-year program focuses on three priorities.

Stepping up women’s empowerment and capacity to take action

One of the project’s components is to support women’s organizations that offer psychosocial, legal or economic assistance to SGBV victims. With better support, women have more power in advocating their right to a dignified life free of violence. Based on an empowerment approach, these organizations are working to gain recognition of indigenous women and girls as having rights and to empower them to be agents of change.

One of these organizations is ADICI Wakliiqo, a community association that has been working for nearly 25 years in the Alta Verapaz department. Through traditional farming activities that enable women to achieve food self-sufficiency, as well as through Mayan therapy programs to help heal the wounds of victims of violence, this indigenous organization seeks to restore to girls and women the power and strength to fight. “We must deconstruct all of the beliefs that underlie discrimination, racism and patriarchy, and heal all the suffering, including of longstanding date, the suffering inflicted by colonization, the fincas system and armed conflict,” says Marta Fidelia Quib, one of the association’s community therapists who is participating in training future indigenous therapists. “We must heal these inner traumas so that women can build their self-confidence, move forward and shed their victim status. Because victimization is paralyzing. What we want is for indigenous women and girls’ voices to be heard. We want them to question what, up until now, they have seen as normal, but isn’t. And that they themselves advocate for their rights.”

Improving access to justice

In addition to providing legal services that are more accessible and more adapted to the specific needs of indigenous women and girls, the project offers support to actors in the legal system who represent them. By providing adapted training and facilitating peer-to-peer exchanges, it seeks to promote best practices in human rights and protection against SGBV as well as better knowledge of the existing legal system. To fight the impunity that characterizes acts of violence perpetrated against indigenous women and girls, the project also supports emblematic cases that will contribute to developing better jurisprudence in this area.

Raising community awareness of positive masculinity

To promote a social environment that encourages respect for women’s rights, gender equality awareness campaigns are being conducted, particularly among men in the targeted indigenous communities. The positive masculinity approach, employed by the DEMUJERES project, considers men a vital part of the solution.

“For over 20 years, indigenous women have been saying that we must make men our allies!” says Saríah Acevedo. “Building a society free of violence cannot be done without men’s contribution. We must involve them, so that they can understand that we have rights and can participate alongside us in the struggle against discrimination.” 

In keeping with this goal, CECI supported the organization of the Second Mesoamerican Meeting on Masculinities, which, due to the pandemic, was held virtually last month. More than 600 stakeholders, women and men with different experiences and from different backgrounds, were able to take advantage of this discussion forum to talk about and reflect on the historical construction of masculinity and the daily practice of indigenous masculinities.”

“What makes us men? Who gets to decide the boundaries of this identity and this role? What does it mean to be a man in our culture? Today, it’s society that tells us how we should be, how we should act in order to be considered men, and that forces us to wear masks so that we can conform to what is expected of us,” says Jun Kanek Nimwitz Pérez, a young Mayan man who helped prepare the meeting and took part in it. While he believes that the construction of indigenous masculinities was shaped by a history of violence (colonization, conflict, etc.), he is convinced that his culture has what it takes to build a positive masculinity and more inclusive forms of social organization. “The Mayan cosmovision is rich with stories, practices and energies that combine feminine and masculine elements. If, as young Mayans, we manage to rediscover and reappropriate this vision, which is the source of everything, it will be easier for us to create an egalitarian society.”

Saríah Acevedo agrees wholeheartedly. “Indigenous men have told us that they want to construct their own models of men free of violence, and that no one should come and tell them, once again, how to act. This is no doubt the most valuable lesson of all, one that is shared by all indigenous peoples: it is through our own experiences and knowledge that we must seek alternatives and our own solutions.”

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The Rights and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls in Guatemala (DEMUJERES) project is carried out by CECI in consortium with Lawyers Without Borders Canada (LWBC), with financial support from the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada.