Programme description

Title: Guatemala peace process support programme (PCON)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Guatemala
Lead executing agency: Office of the Vice-President of the Republic of Guatemala
Overall term: 2005 to 2011

Context

Even 12 years after the conclusion of peace accords and after 36 years of internal armed conflict, the traditional conflict lines in Guatemala remain. The majority of the population suffer from poverty and marginalisation, and there is racist exclusion of the indigenous majority of the population. The weak government institutions are only able to guarantee security, welfare, the rule of law and human rights to a limited extent. The security situation is precarious and new violent phenomena in the context of organised crime and the international drug trade lead to an increase in the already high tendency towards violence.

In view of the connections between old and new violence, the political and social integration of the Mayan population, itself heterogeneous in nature, is a major challenge. The peace accords, which set a national agenda for a tolerant, multicultural, inclusive society based on peaceful conflict resolution, have not yet been adequately implemented. Institutions were created on the basis of the peace accords which countered the discrimination against the Mayan population and which were intended to influence government action in the areas of social, economic and cultural development. The central problem in the fact that the competences and efficiency of government institutions in general are weak, and thus important institutions intended to implement the peace accords have only very limited control.

Objective

The competences and performance capability of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders at national and sub-national level are strengthened with a view to implementing government policies, institutional reforms and coordination mechanisms for reconciliation, citizen security and peaceful conflict resolution.

Approach

PCON concentrates on the process of coming to terms with the past. It advises governmental and non-governmental organisations on knowledge management, on how to cope with the past, and on spreading a culture of active remembrance, especially in the Ixil region, which was particularly hard hit by the internal armed conflict. It supports the non-governmental organisation CIRMA in establishing a virtual museum aimed at coming to terms with history. The programme promotes the coordination of the actors involved, the improved professional preparation and distribution of documents and witness statements on the civil war, and the social debate on reconciliation in relation to the present.

Civilian security
PCON supports the National Civil Police (PNC) in strengthening the department for strategic planning and internal control, and in drawing up concepts for a career structure and the training of PNC executive staff. The programme continues to promote the implementation of institutional reforms to make police services and security policy more citizen-friendly and more transparent. Non-governmental institutions in the security sector are supported here in their role as critical observers. At local level, PCON promotes the joint drafting of local security plans by governmental and non-governmental actors.

Methods of peaceful conflict transformation
PCON supports the consolidation and dissemination of existing methods of peaceful conflict resolution. It trains governmental and non-governmental actors in these methods and promotes knowledge and the application of indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms and exchange between regional networks for conflict transformation through the establishment of a supra-regional platform. It supports the arbitration board of the Secretariat of Agrarian Affairs (SAA) in resolving and dealing with agrarian conflicts. The programme supports governmental and non-governmental institutions so that they can join forces to offer instruments for the peaceful resolution of conflicts at decentral level, taking into account the specific needs of women and young people, and can improve the monitoring of these instruments.

Results achieved so far

In cooperation with civil-society and governmental institutions, and in coordination with other donors, support has been given for the implementation of measures to improve public security, for example ongoing police reforms as part of the national security package. Thus, a new scheme for the police has been developed and a proposal on its organisational structure adopted. PCON has provided advice on the basic and further training of police officers, in particular designing further-training courses targeted at expert staff with special tasks. The Minister of the Interior has made an explicit request for technical advice from PCON on the introduction of a community policing concept.

A comprehensive empirical study has documented the severe discrimination against indigenous women. This was an important stimulus for the Guatemalan Government in the upcoming drafting of policies for the health, education and, in particular, justice sectors. Interculturalism remains a focus of the programme.

The Secretariat of Agrarian Affairs (SAA) provides a further option for resolving land conflicts at decentralised level through the arbitration board while taking into account culture-specific particularities.

Local networks working on conflict transformation have improved their activities through exchanging best practices and have intensified their cooperation through the establishment of a supra-regional platform.