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‘Water is to protected. Water is not for sale. Water is to be defended.’

At an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Doris Ramírez, a fisherwoman from Guatemala raised concerns about the consequences business activities have had on marine biodiversity in Guatemala.

'From the time we grow up, our grandparents teach us to love nature and the environment, to respect rivers, lakes and mountains, because, as children, they explain to us that all of it is sacred.'

Before the Human Rights Council, Guatemalan Indigenous defenders spoke of the 'historic opportunity' that Guatemala is experiencing but also of the deep systemic problems that must be urgently addressed.

'My passion is the defence of the right to land and territory,' says Lourdes Gómez, a land rights defender and professor working on issues affecting Indigenous women defenders and the impacts of palm oil production.

ISHR has joined dozens of national, regional and international NGOs expressing concern at the attempts of the government to restrict the right to protest of Guatemalan human rights defenders.

The Guatemalan government rejects 40% of recommendations at crucial UN human rights review. Amidst a delicate electoral context, NGOs urge the government to cooperate in good faith with UN bodies and implement key recommendations to address attacks against human rights defenders, justice officials, and discrimination against Indigenous Peoples, women, and LGBTIQ+ persons.

During Guatemala’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) this week, States repeatedly called on Guatemala to take steps to deal with three ongoing crises: attacks against human rights defenders, endemic corruption and a lack of judicial independence.

Public servants, journalists, and indigenous defenders have suffered targeting and reprisals from an increasingly brazen government, confirming the urgent need to adopt legal mechanisms for the protection of human rights defenders.

Bernardo Caal, an indigenous human rights defender, has been sentenced to seven years and four months in prison for leading a peaceful opposition to construction on the Cahabón River.