Dear Sir/Madam,

With this Alert we wish to share our concerns about the current situation of the Guatemalan Human Rights Defenders Protection Unit (UDEFEGUA). Since the end of April 2009, several women who work for the organisation have been the subject of threats or intimidation because of their work protecting other human rights defenders. These threats do not only endanger UDEFEGUA workers, placing them in a situation of increased vulnerability, but also threaten Guatemala’s entire community of human rights defenders, due to UDEFEGUA’s role as a service that advises and protects human rights defenders, while monitoring and reporting attacks made against them.
On the morning of 5 March, several men broke into the home of Erenia Vanegas, a UDEFEGUA investigator, when no-one was at home. Eyewitnesses said they saw a young man calling at the door. Neighbours told him nobody was home, and later several men arrived in a black vehicle with tinted windows. They entered the home with ease, and five minutes later they came back out and drove away. Towards midday, Erenia Vanegas’ daughter returned and, on seeing the open door, decided not to enter. Instead she asked the neighbours what had happened and they relayed to her what had taken place that morning. When the members of the Public Prosecutor’s Human Rights Unit arrived, it was confirmed that the men had forced the locks and smashed one of the windows. They had looked through the wardrobes and a box of documents, but taken nothing with them.
One month earlier (2 February), Claudia Samayoa, UDEFEGUA’s coordinator, was also the target of intimidatory acts. Her vehicle was tampered with; oil was put underneath the driver’s floor-mat. The oil reached the pedals, rendering them slippery and making the moving vehicle difficult to control. Ms Samayoa managed to avoid an accident because she was driving at a reduced speed. This event took place on the same day as the meeting of the Institute for the Analysis of Attacks against Human Rights Defenders¹.
Between April and May 2009, several UDEFEGUA workers, among them Erenia Vanegas and Claudia Samayoa, received death threats via text messages on their mobile telephones. On the same dates and in the same fashion, six members of the group Security in Democracy (SEDEM) were also threatened. The messages refer to the work of both organisations in promoting human rights and seeking justice. PBI initiated its accompaniment of UDEFEGUA in May 2009, after these events.

These threats and intimidatory acts occur in the context of UDEFEGUA’s work in Guatemala². In particular, UDEFEGUA carries out verification of cases of threats and attacks against human rights defenders. Among these are: the case relating to protests in San Juan Sacetepéquez; the assassinations of several members of the Resistance Front for the Defence of Natural Resources and People’s Rights (FRENA), which have taken place over recent months in Malacatán (San Marcos); and a complaint concerning irregularities in the Ministry of the Interior, with respect to the Institute for the Analysis of Attacks against Human Rights Defenders.
Studies conducted by UDEFEGUA reveal that attacks on the Guatemalan community of human rights defenders have been rising over recent years, with 195 attacks in 2007, 220 attacks in 2008 and 353 attacks in 2009. At the end of 2009, UDEFEGUA registered a 37% increase in the number of aggressions reported, compared with 2008. This confirmed what had already been predicted midway through the year: that 2009 had been the most violent year of the decade, and for human rights defenders also. A very significant number of the attacks were murders. As the facts compiled by UDEFEGUA show, in the decade 2000-2009, the Unit registered a total of 110 murders of human rights workers; 12 in 2008 and 15 in 2009³.

Faced with this situation, our CONCERNS centre on the following:

• The increase in intimidatory acts and threats to UDEFEGUA and its workers.
• The risk to the personal safety and lives of UDEFEGUA members.
• The reduction or closure of spaces of action for human rights defenders, who are themselves the object of threats and attacks.
• The increased vulnerability of the Guatemalan community of human rights defenders due to attacks against the Unit itself, a civil society organisation which receives, verifies, monitors and follows up complaints regarding attacks on human rights defenders.

For these reasons, WE CALL UPON THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION to:

• The investigations that are being conducted following these attacks on UDEFEGUA workers, in particular the cases of Erenia Vanegas and Claudia Samayoa.
• The vulnerable situation of UDEFEGUA’s work at present.
• The situation for human rights defenders: promoting the use of existing mechanisms for protection, and by expressing to the Guatemalan Government concern about the security and protection of these individuals.

We also ENCOURAGE the international community to actively approach Guatemalan human rights defenders, organisations and social movements, to offer support and protection as detailed in the European Union Guidelines for the protection of human rights defenders, as well as other appropriate instruments and mechanisms.

Yours sincerely,
PBI Guatemala Project

1 The Institute for the Analysis of Attacks against Human Rights Defenders has a mandate to discuss and analyse cases in which human rights defenders have been attacked, and also to identify methods that will offer protection and facilitate rapid reaction. It was founded through a Ministerial Agreement on 11 January 2008. The Ministry of the Interior, its General Office for Civil Intelligence (DIGICI) and the National Civil Police Criminal Investigation Division (DINC-DDHH) all participate in this Institute. The Public Prosecutor’s Office, two human rights organisations and one organisation for international cooperation are invited to the Insitute’s meetings. In April 2009, this invitation was extended to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

2 The mission of UDEFEGUA is to accompany human rights defenders so that they can develop their own protection and security procedures, creating favourable spaces of action for their work and lobbying for the necessary policies to achieve this.

3 UDEFEGUA, En el nudo de la impunidad. Informe sobre la situación de defensores/as de derechos humanos. Guatemala, January-December 2008. UDEFEGUA, Informe bimestral Septiembre-Octubre. Guatemala, October 2009. UDEFEGUA, Violencia, respuesta a 10 años de lucha: Informe sobre situación de defensoras y defensores de derechos humanos”. Guatemala, January-December 2009.