Making transformative reparations a reality for survivors of sexual and other forms of violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations

Date: Tuesday, 20 September 2022

The indigenous women of the Polochic Valley, the ancestral land of the Q'eqchi' people, are at the forefront of defending their lands and territories, safeguarding life and nature, and building and preserving peace. Sexual and other forms of violence against women have been used, both in conflict and post-conflict situations, to suppress their voices, punish them, subjugate them, and cause them and their people shame, breaking their ties with their families and communities. 

The lack of reparations sends a permissive message that, in Guatemala, fuels the continuation of violence against women. In their search for justice and rebuilding their lives, the women of the Polochic Valley face the continuum of violence with nothing but their own resilience and strength. Indigenous women and girls face the worst forms of exclusion from the justice system due to geographic, linguistic, and financial inaccessibility and discrimination.

Defying all odds, the Grandmothers of Sepur Zarco, Q'eqchi' women from the Polochic Valley, decided to end 30 years of silence and the cycle of impunity by bringing the first case of sexual and domestic slavery in conflict situations - an international crime - to a national court.

Results

With funding from the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), the project promoted transformative knowledge-based reparations standards, including non-repetition measures, and empowered the leadership of women at the forefront of three unprecedented cases: Sepur Zarco, Panzós and Lote Ocho.

The actions of the Grandmothers of Sepur Zarco for preserving peace with a gender perspective were accompanied, demonstrating the immediate and transformative effect on their lives and that of their communities. The primary beneficiaries were Q'eqchi' women survivors of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations.

The structural change in the position of the Grandmothers of Sepur was cemented with a collective socio-political leadership at the national and international levels. This implies the transformation of the perception of themselves, translated into the irreversible collective recognition of their contribution to peace, justice, and transformative reparation, generating a social change in the communities, which have adopted a sense of pride and appreciation based on the knowledge of their history.

The process of empowerment of Q'eqchi' women generated alliances between networks (3 territorial and 21 community) which resulted in the generation of an early warning and protection system against sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations as a mechanism for prevention and non-repetition that also included Ixil and Achí women.

Breaking language and generational barriers, the grandmothers, the leaders of Lote Ocho and the widows of Panzós have become literate in communication technologies, including smartphones, to ensure fluid communication during the COVID-19 confinement.

The exchanges between women from Lote Ocho, Panzós, and the Grandmothers have generated mutual learning, strengthening, and joint construction of strategies among women. A grandmother from the Sepur Zarco Case reflects on these processes and shares that "we have accompanied them to give them strength and encouragement in their struggle. One day they will achieve the justice they are asking for".

Progress was made in complying with the 18 reparation measures of the Sepur Zarco Case sentence, with various results. Improvements were verified in the identification of routes for access to land; the establishment of a provisional health post, health personnel, and essential medicines in the community of Sepur Zarco and the implementation of vaccination and care days for women; improvements in the school infrastructure of primary schools in three communities; The search and identification of the whereabouts of missing persons continued, with the identification of the deceased husband of one of the grandmothers; the sentence was translated into 4 of the 22 Mayan languages and textbooks were produced for pre-primary and primary school; the design of the monument that will represent the search for justice of the women of Sepur began, with the active participation and leadership of the grandmothers.

In addition, there is an index of women's access to justice and reparation designed based on the learning and standards generated by the sentence of dignified and transformative reparation in the Sepur Zarco case. The Index, the only one of its kind, translated the conceptualization developed by Q'eqchi' women into measurable and globally comparable indicators, linking them to the Monitoring and Evaluation Systems of the National Action Plan 1325, the commitments of the Peace Agreements regarding women's rights, the National Policy for the Promotion and Integral Development of Women and the National Plan for the Prevention and Eradication of Domestic Violence and Violence against Women.