After the genocide, Guatemala continued to try to recover from the genocide, although it was difficult to do with an amnesty law in place. Amnesty: meaning that the authorities took no action against offences. There are a few laws that were put in place after the genocide took place to protect them from anything like this to take place again, but during the genocide there was no such thing.
Still, today there is extreme social inequalities and high levels of crime which are not protected by law in Guatemala. Things such as death penalties, and violent forced evictions that Canada has long let go. It is also known that children do not have human rights, and are subject to death, poverty, and lack of education. And from what I know, there have been no attempts to remedy any of this. In fact, the former Guatemalan President gave a disappointing amount of justice for genocide victims and their relatives, which leads me to believe that he doesn't really care.
There was also a recent news article that I read, the headline: Rios Montt guilty of the Genocide in Guatemala. In short, the government was responsible for over 1, 500 citizens of Guatemala. This clearly states that there was no "Charter".
Now let's think about the Canadian Charter. If something like this had been in place during 1982, the time of the genocide, things would have turned out much different. Under "Legal Rights", it speaks of punishment if citizens have done something wrong. The right to remain innocent until proven guilty; The right to the benefit of a lesser punishment if proven guilty; The right to no cruel or unusual form of punishment if proven guilty. Nearly everything that happened in Guatemala at this time went against these rights and freedoms that we have in Canada. In Tree Girl many citizens of Guatemala were raped, tortured, and killed even though they weren't guilty (and even if they weren't guilty, then they still got the "greater punishment"). I suppose they were facing a bit of discrimination as well, as no American's got "punished" or killed for anything that they did – only the Guatemalans.
Gabi, from the book, was forced to leave Guatemala to be free of any of this torture (or rape), which also goes against the mobility rights that we have in Canada. The right to stay or leave the country is stated, and when leaving, citizens have the right to do so. In the book, Guatemalan's were stopped at the border if caught, and suffered severe consequences that also goes against the "Legal Rights" of Canada.
So, in short, Guatemala doesn't really have any rights. The government is corrupt and isn't doing anything to help his citizens in this area of rights and freedoms. I hope, for the citizen's sake, that this will begin to change soon. What do you think?
Sources: Thanks so much for letting me look at your information!
- http://www.freedominfo.org/regions/latin-america/guatemala/
- http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/guatemala-rios-montt-trial-delay-is-a-letdown-to-genocide-victims
- http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_guatemala2.html
- http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/countries/americas/guatemala
- http://www.freedominfo.org/2006/03/foi-laws-and-development-agend/
- http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/historic-conviction-brings-long-awaited-justice-in-guatemala
- http://lanorfolk.blogspot.ca/2009/03/us-knews-of-human-rights-abuses-in.html
I love how your post brought up so many great ideas about human rights and it's always shocking to find out that people don't have the same rights we do. Did Guatemala have any document stating the human rights of it's citizens at the time or were there none at all? If so, do you think that the citizens keven knew what their rights were? Also, do you think that the governemnt will do something to improve their system in the near future? I would surely hope so. Your book sounds like a good read and I would definatly be interested in looking into it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Lily! From what I researched, there was no document that protected thier rights, which is really tragic. I was going to continue looking into it when I found that article on the government, so it seems to me like he doesn't care. You are right, it IS shocking. It's also so tragic. As far the government changing in Guatemala, eh... I'd say it's doubtful. As I said, the current leader isn't doing anything, and since they don't have that democratic right to vote that we have here in Canada their probably won't be a new government any time soon.
DeleteI defiantly recommend you pick up Tree Girl if you are looking for a heartbreaking story. It really made me think. Thanks for commenting!
~ Brianna @ For the Love of Books
Hey Brianna!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your GINS Connections to the Charter post, I was very well informed about the issues in Guatemala and I totally agree with you that sooner than later something should be done about Individual Rights & Collective Rights in these countries. Recently, I was reading Omar’s post and the country his book took place in was Sudan. It was interesting to note that Sudan, and countries around, had a Human Rights Organization that worked to protect rights and freedoms of the citizens. He also talked about an International Human Rights Law, which was similar as well, although considered more of an international scale. You already worked to look at different perspectives of your issues (which is always awesome), but one suggestion could be looking into Human Rights Organizations in that area, or if one is being worked to be applied. Definitely, you know a lot more about this issue then I would but it would be interesting if something like this is working to be placed! Lastly, you explored the Mobility Rights and Legal Rights aspect of the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms and compared it well to Guatemala’s status. Is there some other section of the Charter that could possibly compare or change the status of Guatemala if it were to be enforced there? This question may bring up and work to develop some other ideas that you could investigate.
Anyways, you have such an amazing and well organized blog and all your GINS posts are well written. I love the variety of aspects you considered for both your Connections to Consumerism and Connections to Charter posts! From what you have said, it seems as though this is a really good book. Let me know what you think about it when your done, I might consider reading it too :) Great job Brianna!! :) ~ Maggie
Thanks for stopping by Maggie! And that comment... wow. It sure looks like you took a lot of time to write that and I really appreciate it. I will defiantly think about your suggestions in the future.
DeleteIn answer to your question about the rights, I have a few ideas. 1) With democratic rights to vote, the government leaders and decision-makers may change, resulting in more rights and freedoms being developed in Guatemala. 2) The Guatemalan citizens were obviously facing a lot of discrimination because of their race/ethnicity, as they were the only ones getting killed. Equality rights may help stop this issue, but to be honest, I don't think it would actually do much because the killers didn't really care about anything. 3) Finally, fundamental freedoms. In the book, Gabi and her family were practicing their religion, and they weren't accepted for it. Plus, there first plot-point in the book where we really see any killing was when Gabi and her friend, Manuel were out with some children in the woods, organizing a meeting. In the fundamental freedoms section of the Charter (in Canada), it mentions how everyone within the borders has the freedom to do both of these things. The Guatemalan genocide wouldn't have been nearly so bad if these same rights and freedoms were enforced there, and also if they were followed.
If you are interested in books that cover social issues like this (incredibly sad, and covers some difficult issues) then I defiantly think you should read it. I actually really liked it myself! Thanks again for commenting!
~ Brianna @ For The Love of Books
I just want to start by saying, your posts are awesome and engaging! I really enjoyed reading them. Something I really like in this post was that you didn't have too many ideas and the ones you did have you elaborated on which satisfied the reader. You were saying that in your book many citizens are punished in extreme measures sometimes without reason; is this normally the case? If so, do you know any statistics about it?
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Paige! I actually didn't research anything about that, but that does seem like an interesting topic that I may look into a little bit later. My guess, though, is that this isn't the case, or at least not to these extremes. See, during the genocide, the punishment for, well, living or being yourself was rape/torture, and then death following straight after. My guess is that if the government decided to punish the Guatemalan's in inappropriate measures, they (at the very least) wouldn't have died. Interesting question though. Thanks!
Delete~ Brianna @ For the Love of Books