And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 18:56:48 -1000
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: IITC CHR-Intervention Agenda Item 5: The Right of Peoples to
Self-Determination
United Nations Commission on Human Rights 55th Session, March 22 - April
30, 1999
Agenda Item 5: The Right of Peoples to Self-Determination and its
application to Peoples under colonial rule, alien domination or foreign
occupation
Oral Intervention
Mr. Chairman and respected delegations,
The International Indian Treaty Council once again recalls the Vienna
Declaration from the World Conference on Human Rights and its Program of
Action's reference to respect for the principles of equal rights and
self-determination of Peoples.
In this regard, the IITC deeply values the efforts, supported by the
international community, undertaken by the civil society, the Mayan People
and the Guatemalan Congress to find viable mechanisms for negotiation,
national consensus and agreement for addressing the problems and
disenfranchisement of the majority of the population of Guatemala, in
particular the discussions on Constitutional reform.
Through these reforms, for the first time in Guatemalan history, there is
official recognition of the existence and comprehensive diversity of Mayan,
Garifuna and Xinca Peoples, along with the need to recognize their
traditional authorities. The Constitutional Reforms, all of which are
essential toward the consolidation of the democratic process and the
building of a truly Pluricultural and Plurilingual nation and State, were
approved by the Legislature on October 18, 1998.
However, despite efforts by some government sectors to support the process
for democratization and Peace, elements within the government and the
business sector which dominates the country are obstructing progress. They
oppose the popular consultations for the legislative changes necessary to
achieve justice for the Indigenous Peoples as well as Ladino population
Guatemala, claiming that the popular consultation process established by
the Guatemalan Congress, is "unconstitutional".
Working through the ultra-conservative Center for the Defense of the
Constitution, they have convinced the Court of Constitutionality to
sanction their manipulation of the Constitution and their claim against the
popular consultation process through which the Indigenous Peoples,
comprising the majority of the poulation of Guatemala, will be able to have
a voice in the development of the new Guatemalan society.
Mr. Chairman, with the signing of the Firm and Lasting Peace on December
29, 1996, an armed conflict ended and various Peace Accords were put into
action. One result of the Accords was the establishment of the Commission
for Historical Clarification (CEH) and the completion of the work and
resulting Report of the CEH, the summary of which was presented publicly to
the government, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, civil society
and the United Nations on February 25, 1999.
The Report classifies the crimes committed in Guatemala as genocide, citing
tortures, rapes and other sexual abuses against women and children as well
as the violent deaths of 200,000 people and other deeds which contributed
to the destruction of a major part of the social and communal fabric of the
Mayan People. The Report states clearly that the State of Guatemala took
part in and was responsible for the aforementioned acts.
The IITC asks that this session of the Commission on Human Rights:
1) adopt the Report of the Commission for Historical Clarification as an
official document of the United Nations and 2) urge the Guatemalan
government to prioritize and fulfill the recommendations made by the
Commission for Historical Clarification immediately and without qualification
Mayan organizations have presented proposals for defining historical
reparation policies on the part of the Guatemalan State toward the Mayan
People. We encourage the government of Guatemala to adopt the proposals as
State policy for the cultural, educational, political, economic and social
reconstruction and revitalization of the Mayan People and other Indigenous
Peoples of Guatemala.
Mr. Chairman, the IITC and the entire international community has borne
witness to the horrors and destruction caused by 36 years of internal armed
conflict and the State policies of discrimination, exclusion, destruction,
extermination and assimilation carried out by Guatemala and its
institutions in recent years.
The IITC asks the Guatemalan administration that will replace that of Mr.
Alvaro Arzu, to assume the historical responsibility to continue to move
the Peace Accords forward with full participation of the Mayan, Garifuna
and Xinca Indigenous Peoples as well as the Ladino or mestizo population of
that country.
We also ask that the international community and the United Nations urge
the government of Guatemala to uphold the essential process of popular
consultation necessary for the implementation of the Peace Accords with
respect for the fundamental right of self-determination, and to fulfill the
recommendations of the Commission for Historical Clarification.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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