GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala must urgently place a moratorium on evictions until it is able to ensure adequate legal protections and end the widespread practice of violent and inhumane forced evictions and criminalisation, particularly of Indigenous Peoples and peasant communities, a UN expert said today.
"Homes are often burned during evictions, along with the food crops and private possessions of very poor people, which would amount to cruel and inhuman treatment and a grave violation of international law", said Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing in his end of mission statement concluding his official visit upon the invitation of the Government.
"I have heard from an endless number of communities that have been subjected to forced evictions carried out in a ruthless manner, with no opportunity to bring evidence of land ownership, no prior notice, or opportunity to salvage crops and belongings," the expert said.
"Whether carried out under judicial order with massive police participation, or extra-judicially by private parties with the help of hired private security, too many evictions are conducted violently, with persons ending up injured or even killed in some cases," Rajagopal said. "This is unacceptable. All branches of the Guatemala Government should take immediate steps to end collective evictions."
"As if this suffering and ensuing trauma were not enough, there is a clear pattern of criminalisation and intimidation of those trying to protest or denounce these forced evictions," the Special Rapporteur said.
Rajagopal said arrest warrants have been issued against many human rights defenders, legal professionals, community leaders and even entire communities. Many of them are convicted or held in preventive detention on fabricated charges. Thousands live in hiding for fear of arrest warrants.
"This persecution has had a stifling effect on defenders of the right to adequate housing and has led to the complete erosion of the rule of law in parts of the country," the expert said.
The collective evictions take place due to a lack of legal certainty as to whom the land belongs to, which is deeply rooted in the legacy of colonialism, extractive imperialism, armed conflict, and dispossession, Rajagopal said.
"Without legal certainty of land rights, there can be no secure access to the right to adequate housing," he warned.
"Under international law, Indigenous Peoples and others have a right to demonstrate ancestral forms of collective land ownership or land possession. However, currently what prevails is a complete lack of understanding and recognition of ancestral forms of land ownership, nor has there ever been any reckoning with past violations that left Indigenous Peoples dispossessed and impoverished," Rajagopal said. "Instead, what we see is an over-valorisation of private property rights of some and neglect of the rights of others."
The expert said that while good will had been demonstrated by the Executive, a collective effort is needed to tackle these enormous challenges, including the support of the Legislature and the Judiciary, with the full participation and consultation of Indigenous Peoples and other communities.
