Guatemala Human Rights Commission

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The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC)is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, humanitarian organization that monitors, documents, and reports on the human rights situation in Guatemala. GHRC advocates for survivors of human rights abuses in Guatemala, and works toward systemic change. GHRC was founded in 1982 by Alice Zachmann, SSND, in response to having visited and witnessed the human rights abuses taking place in the country during the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996).[1]

With little attention being given to the increasing violence in the 1980s, the Commission published urgent action bulletins, organized speaking tours and delegations, and created “Voiceless Speak,” a program that provides financial assistance to Guatemalans living in the United States who promote peace and respect for human rights in their native country. In 1989, the Guatemala Human Rights UPDATE, a bi-weekly human rights publication was started.[2]

In the early 1990s, the Commission supported, among others, the efforts of Jennifer Harbury whose husband, Efraín Bámaca Velásquez, a guerrilla commander, had been captured and forcibly disappeared in Guatemala in 1992 in violation of the Geneva Conventions regarding prisoners of war. By staging hunger strikes and holding multiple protests, Jennifer and GHRC successfully forced the US Congress and the State Department to declassify thousands of documents that dealt with the United States’ action in Guatemala. Jennifer's case led to the revelation that a covert CIA operation had directed millions of dollars to the Guatemalan military (despite their being a congressional ban on military aid since 1990) and forced the operation to be terminated.[3][4] GHRC's involvement in the case briefly made it a target as well.[5]

After the Peace Accords were signed in 1996, GHRC began the Puentes de Paz project, which supports the mental health needs of a women’s group in Guatemala by providing psychologists, and Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC), a program founded to support survivors of torture in Guatemala. Both later attained their own non-profit status.[6]

While GHRC continues to publish the bi-weekly Update, support the Voiceless Speak Fund, host annual delegations, lead speaking tours, and present various film series, the Commission has also expanded its works to include founding the For Women’s Right to Live Campaign and the Human Rights Defenders Program, assisting Guatemalans seeking asylum, introducing resolutions to the US Congress, and producing semi-annual reports on Guatemalan human rights.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kunkel, Paul. "Tyranny and Hope in Guatemala." http://www.stmalachi.org/communio/archive/12-18-94.htm Retrieved 06-02-2008.
  2. ^ http://www.ghrc-usa.org Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
  3. ^ Alterman, Eric. "Lying in State." The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020422/alterman. Retrieved 06-03-2008
  4. ^ Harbury, Jennifer. (1997) Searching for Everardo. New York: Warner Books, Inc. ISBN: 0-446-52036-5
  5. ^ Harbury, Jennifer. "Why Am I Being Targeted by the CIA and FBI?" http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles/Harbury_Targeted.htm Retrieved 06-03-2008.
  6. ^ http://www.ghrc-usa.org Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
  7. ^ http://www.ghrc-usa.org Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA

[edit] External links

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