Article by PBI-Canada

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project accompanied the International Women’s Day march in Guatemala City on Sunday, March 7.

Prensa Latina reports: “A feminist wave took today the streets of Guatemala’s capital historic center with the slogan ‘Vivas nos nos’ [Alive us] to denounce gender-based violence and demand justice.”

That article adds: “The peaceful march convened by the Guatemalan Feminist Wave collective drew attention to the more than nine thousand cases of sexual violence in this country annually, equivalent to more than 24 victims per day.”

It also notes: “The parade departed from the Human Rights Plaza of the Supreme Court of Justice and culminated in the Plaza de las Niñas in Zone 1 of the capital where a small altar recalls the fire that occurred on March 8, 2017, in the Hogar Seguro shelter and the death of 41 girls under state protection.”

PBI-Guatemala has been accompanying the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) at the court hearings of the government officials charged in this crime.

Democracy Now has reported: “In 2020 alone, nearly 500 femicides were reported in Guatemala, and at least 60 children were killed.”

According to the Observatory of Women of the Public Ministry, between January 1 and 17 of this year, 23 women were killed in Guatemala. And data from the National Institute of Forensic Sciences says that 71 women were killed in the first two months of 2021.

Earlier this year, Front Line Defenders also expressed concern about the increasing violence and threats against Indigenous women human rights defenders and Indigenous rights organizations in the northeast of Guatemala.

#8M2021 #Diadelamujer