Ms Blanca Blanco:

Speaking as a Trócaire spokesperson, and Dr. Paz y Paz Bailey, as a former Attorney General, we are worried at the current situation faced by human rights defenders. This year alone 799 human rights defenders have received threats or been attacked, an increased from previous years. The people who are mostly attacked are human rights defenders who work on truth and justice, so this is a backlash from the genocide trial. Environmentalists are also attacked. Although Guatemala is a signatory of the ILO Convention on the right of indigenous peoples to be consulted about any extractive industry or any enterprise to be set up in their territory, there is no legal framework in Guatemalan law to implement it. Therefore, the efforts on consultations have mainly taken place on behalf of civil society. As Dr. Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey mentioned, Guatemala is one of the most violent countries that is not currently in a conflict situation, particularly in respect of violence against women. On average, two women are killed every day.