First modification:
In this edition of Enlace Centroamérica from Antigua, Guatemala, we talk about the historic victory in a high court of Mayan indigenous women who were raped during the Guatemalan civil war at the end of the 20th century. Five ex-paramilitaries were sentenced to 30 years in prison for systematic rape and sexual slavery of 36 women from the Rabinal municipality. The victims consider it a triumph and a vindication, but, for their lawyers, the sentence fell short.
The Mayans inhabit all of Guatemala and represent the identity of the country for their wisdom and ancient culture. During the civil war they suffered a series of atrocities committed over 36 years. Precisely, it was 36 Mayan indigenous women who recently won a long trial after being raped at the hands of 5 paramilitaries in the 1980s. The international NGO Impunity Watch was decisive in the construction of the arguments and the collection of evidence in this case. .
“In the first place, you have to understand that for a woman to talk about sexual violence is a difficult step to take, because of all the stigma that surrounds these events, and because women are often blamed for what happens to them, more so when it comes to sexual violence,” says Haydee Valey, who belongs to the same Mayan Achí community that suffered the harassment in the municipality of Rabinal and is also part of the firm of three indigenous lawyers who managed to do justice 40 years after the events. . A challenge that began with the narrations of the assaulted women and the opening of the case in 2011.
When constituting the stories of the victims, the indigenous Mayans repeated the phrase “they passed over me”, because in the Achí language the word rape does not exist. But without a doubt, the statements of the survivors before the High Risk Courts created at the beginning of the 21st century were the key to convincing the judges, in part because of the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System that recognizes the intrinsic value of testimonies. of victims of sexual violence.
First modification:
In this edition of Enlace Centroamérica from Antigua, Guatemala, we talk about the historic victory in a high court of Mayan indigenous women who were raped during the Guatemalan civil war at the end of the 20th century. Five ex-paramilitaries were sentenced to 30 years in prison for systematic rape and sexual slavery of 36 women from the Rabinal municipality. The victims consider it a triumph and a vindication, but, for their lawyers, the sentence fell short.
The Mayans inhabit all of Guatemala and represent the identity of the country for their wisdom and ancient culture. During the civil war they suffered a series of atrocities committed over 36 years. Precisely, it was 36 Mayan indigenous women who recently won a long trial after being raped at the hands of 5 paramilitaries in the 1980s. The international NGO Impunity Watch was decisive in the construction of the arguments and the collection of evidence in this case. .
“In the first place, you have to understand that for a woman to talk about sexual violence is a difficult step to take, because of all the stigma that surrounds these events, and because women are often blamed for what happens to them, more so when it comes to sexual violence,” says Haydee Valey, who belongs to the same Mayan Achí community that suffered the harassment in the municipality of Rabinal and is also part of the firm of three indigenous lawyers who managed to do justice 40 years after the events. . A challenge that began with the narrations of the assaulted women and the opening of the case in 2011.
When constituting the stories of the victims, the indigenous Mayans repeated the phrase “they passed over me”, because in the Achí language the word rape does not exist. But without a doubt, the statements of the survivors before the High Risk Courts created at the beginning of the 21st century were the key to convincing the judges, in part because of the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System that recognizes the intrinsic value of testimonies. of victims of sexual violence.
First modification:
In this edition of Enlace Centroamérica from Antigua, Guatemala, we talk about the historic victory in a high court of Mayan indigenous women who were raped during the Guatemalan civil war at the end of the 20th century. Five ex-paramilitaries were sentenced to 30 years in prison for systematic rape and sexual slavery of 36 women from the Rabinal municipality. The victims consider it a triumph and a vindication, but, for their lawyers, the sentence fell short.
The Mayans inhabit all of Guatemala and represent the identity of the country for their wisdom and ancient culture. During the civil war they suffered a series of atrocities committed over 36 years. Precisely, it was 36 Mayan indigenous women who recently won a long trial after being raped at the hands of 5 paramilitaries in the 1980s. The international NGO Impunity Watch was decisive in the construction of the arguments and the collection of evidence in this case. .
“In the first place, you have to understand that for a woman to talk about sexual violence is a difficult step to take, because of all the stigma that surrounds these events, and because women are often blamed for what happens to them, more so when it comes to sexual violence,” says Haydee Valey, who belongs to the same Mayan Achí community that suffered the harassment in the municipality of Rabinal and is also part of the firm of three indigenous lawyers who managed to do justice 40 years after the events. . A challenge that began with the narrations of the assaulted women and the opening of the case in 2011.
When constituting the stories of the victims, the indigenous Mayans repeated the phrase “they passed over me”, because in the Achí language the word rape does not exist. But without a doubt, the statements of the survivors before the High Risk Courts created at the beginning of the 21st century were the key to convincing the judges, in part because of the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System that recognizes the intrinsic value of testimonies. of victims of sexual violence.
First modification:
In this edition of Enlace Centroamérica from Antigua, Guatemala, we talk about the historic victory in a high court of Mayan indigenous women who were raped during the Guatemalan civil war at the end of the 20th century. Five ex-paramilitaries were sentenced to 30 years in prison for systematic rape and sexual slavery of 36 women from the Rabinal municipality. The victims consider it a triumph and a vindication, but, for their lawyers, the sentence fell short.
The Mayans inhabit all of Guatemala and represent the identity of the country for their wisdom and ancient culture. During the civil war they suffered a series of atrocities committed over 36 years. Precisely, it was 36 Mayan indigenous women who recently won a long trial after being raped at the hands of 5 paramilitaries in the 1980s. The international NGO Impunity Watch was decisive in the construction of the arguments and the collection of evidence in this case. .
“In the first place, you have to understand that for a woman to talk about sexual violence is a difficult step to take, because of all the stigma that surrounds these events, and because women are often blamed for what happens to them, more so when it comes to sexual violence,” says Haydee Valey, who belongs to the same Mayan Achí community that suffered the harassment in the municipality of Rabinal and is also part of the firm of three indigenous lawyers who managed to do justice 40 years after the events. . A challenge that began with the narrations of the assaulted women and the opening of the case in 2011.
When constituting the stories of the victims, the indigenous Mayans repeated the phrase “they passed over me”, because in the Achí language the word rape does not exist. But without a doubt, the statements of the survivors before the High Risk Courts created at the beginning of the 21st century were the key to convincing the judges, in part because of the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System that recognizes the intrinsic value of testimonies. of victims of sexual violence.