Mujeres reclaman fin de femicidio y exclusión

POR CRISTINA BONILLO / PERIODISMO COMUNITARIO

A través de varias campañas, organizaciones de mujeres, de la sociedad civil, instituciones estatales y organismos de cooperación internacional, pretenden poner fin a la violencia que afecta a las mujeres guatemaltecas, y que en lo que va del año ha cobrado la vida de más de 600.

La iniciativa internacional 16 días de activismo para la eliminación de la violencia contra las mujeres, encabezada por la ONU, la Comisión Europea y la Secretaría Presidencial para la Mujer, organiza actividades culturales, desde el próximo 25 de noviembre hasta el 10 de diciembre —teatro, cine, conciertos—, talleres, capacitación y marchas por todo el territorio nacional. Se trata de sensibilizar a la sociedad y cambiar el imaginario cultural que se tiene de que, cuando una mujer es víctima de violencia, es “porque algo habrá hecho”, explicó la secretaria para la Mujer, Sonia Escobedo.

Pocos avances

Pedro Henríques, representante de la Comisión Europea, recordó que en Guatemala “son pocos los progresos” que se han dado para detener la violencia contra las mujeres. “El asunto va más allá de la situación de inseguridad, ya que contra la mujer no solo se dan asesinatos, sino otros tipos de violencia física, psicológica, patrimonial, económica y sexual”, expresó. La mayoría de estos tipos de abuso se invisibilizan, especialmente en lo relativo a la violencia económica.

Nadine Gasman, representante de las Naciones Unidas, refirió que la violencia contra las mujeres “supone una carga devastadora” para Guatemala, y manifestó que el Gobierno tiene aún muchos retos por cumplir, entre ellos la asignación de más fondos para la justicia y la salud, así como la capacitación de personal de todos los ámbitos y en lo relativo a los derechos de la mujer. También recordó que es necesario acabar con la brecha étnica existente en el país, ya que las mujeres indígenas son las que menos acceso a servicios y oportunidades tienen.

Conflicto armado y mujer

Otras iniciativas presentadas ayer apuestan por sacar del silencio a las mujeres que fueron asesinadas o violadas durante el conflicto armado, entre ellas el I festival regional por la memoria Mujeres y guerra, que se llevará a cabo en Huehuetenango, del 25 al 27 de noviembre.

Por su parte, la Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas aprovechará la celebración del Día Internacional de la no Violencia contra la Mujer para denunciar la impunidad en la que quedaron las víctimas de femicidio durante la guerra, así como las condiciones de pobreza extrema en que viven éstas, el racismo contra la mujer indígena y la ausencia de condiciones para el ejercicio pleno de la ciudadanía de miles de mujeres en todo el país.

Para ello participarán en marchas, y presentarán obras de teatro, cine y foros en varios puntos del país.

VÍCTIMAS

En el 2008 han sido asesinadas más mujeres que en el 2007, pese a la aprobación de la Ley contra el Femicidio.

• En el 2008 han sido asesinadas 626 mujeres, frente a las 590 víctimas del 2007.

• La mayoría de ataques han sido con arma de fuego, seguido por arma blanca y estrangulamiento.

• Desde el 2001, cuatro mil féminas han sido asesinadas y más del 90 por ciento de los casos no han sido resueltos.

• De seis mil denuncias por violencia intrafamiliar, sexual y femicidio, solo mil 800 llegaron a tribunales.

• El 80 por ciento de las mujeres no denuncia, por miedo a represalias.

• La capital es la más afectada, seguida de Escuintla, Petén, Izabal, Suchitepéquez y Chiquimula, según el Ministerio de Gobernación.

http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2008/noviembre/22/278565.html

November 2007 Delegation (Moved from web site)

This information was previously posted on MIA’s main web site: www.miamericas.info

Shopping and sightseeing were a minor sidelight in this whirlwind visit to beautiful Guatemala. We had important work to do, learning by listening to women who are living there, to individuals and groups involved with solving the sever social difficulties there, and telling what we learned to two Guatemalan Congresswomen and several U.S. State department officials.

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he No Violence Against Women March

Societal change is always started by small passionate groups, and our delegation fit that description perfectly. We had students, people active in fighting for women’s rights in the U.S., and college professors in our delegation. All were very passionate about the situation for women in Guatemala, and showed they were willing to work to make their views known. We ate breakfast at 7 or 7:30 am most morning and out the door a half hour later, traveling, marching, learning, and making our presence felt.

After the No Violence Against Women march, we met with Congresswoman Nineth Montenegro

Before the trip, some in the group were considering leaving us for a day or so to do the tourist thing, but the work we were doing was so powerful, so compelling, that they decided to stay with us for the whole time. This was a powerful testimony to how worthwhile and valuable the delegation was.

Several of our delegates have told us they will be returning for future delegations, and some promise to bring students or friends with them. We invite you to consider joining our next delegation. If you are thinking about joining, contact us and we can give you a chance to talk with some of the participants of previous trips.

click here to see more photos of the 2007 delegation

Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta Santa Barbara, Z18

Escuela (School) Oficial Rural Mixta Santa Barbara, is in Zona 18 on the outskirts of Guatemala City. It’s in the highest-crime area of the capital city, and is the school where MIA has chosen to initiate its campaign “Hombres Contra Feminicido”.

This program teaches kids, especially boys, how to interact constructively with each other. Gender stereotypes, gender relations, and gender equality are all addressed in an attempt to break the cycle of men’s violence against women. We are implementing the program using materials from the white ribbon campaign. If you want to help, contact us at miamericas@yahoo.com

Below are some photos of the school from our July 2008 delegation.

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The kids put on a skit for us.

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Our facilitator at work, with the delegates in the background.

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July Delegation (Late report)

July 2008 we organized a delegation to Guatemala with 9 people: one professor and 8 students.

We visited many organizations (up to 4 in one day!) in the capital and had a field trip to a small village north of Quetzaltenango to visit a group focused on economic development in their small town.IMG_0037 The trip into the mountains makes for a long couple days, but it is so worth it to get out of the capital and see the people and the amazing environment that is Guatemala.

We visited the trash dump where hundreds of families live and pick recyclables out of the freshly dumped trash. Often, the people gleaning the goodies from the trash are run over by the earthmovers or buried in trash slides.
The delegation was a little uncomfortable
Basureros (trash pickers) at work

We were given the tour of the dump site by representatives from Camino Seguro, which provides child care and early childhood education in a clean, safe environment for the families living at the dump.

We visited an organization that works with the families of those killed in Guatemala’s 36-year civil war. H.I.J.O.S. seeks justice for the children of those killed in the genocidal war. HIJOS -- Cecilia

We went to the U.S. Embassy, but did not get to meet the Ambassador on this trip, because Ambassador James Derham had just left the country, and the new Ambassador had not yet arrived. We don’t have any photos of our visit to U.S. Soil inside Guatemala because photography is not allowed in the Embassy.

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The students at San Carlos University, the Sector de Mujeres, and Jorge Alvaradoose daughter Claudina was brutally murdered were all important stops on this visit.

Besides the education of U.S. Americans who join our delegations, we are running an education program in Guatemala at two schools where we teach children how to have constructive interaction between boys and girls. IMG_0093 We hope this will lead to improved gender relations throughout the children’s lives, a group of boys willing to speak out against men’s violence against women, a group of girls strong to stand up and not tolerate violence.

After 10 days of emotional visits, we were happy to return home and start working to change the sad realities we learned about.

November Delegation

We’re almost ready to take off on another delegation to Guatemala with 10 professors and students. Our first delegation was a year ago, and was very successful, and our second was this summer. A measure of its success is that most of the delegates signed up for this trip were recommended to come by someone on a previous trip.

In fact, two delegates from this past July are signed up for the November trip.

One delegate from July, a college professor in Orange County, California, has enlisted 12 students from her university to come next January.

So what do we do on these delegations? Our main focus is on women’s rights, and we visit organizations that also are involved with women’s rights, plus government officials who need to understand the situation women face in Guatemala. We’ll meet women’s rights organizations, organizations of survivors of the violence that has plagued Guatemala, the U.S. Embassy who has been charged by Congress to help end violence against women, and others.