Guatemala

Status: adopted

On the 13th of November 2025 the Guatemalan State adopted its Public Policy for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala. The existence of the Public Policy is not optional, but rather is the direct result of the condemnation imposed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) together with Guatemalan civil society, the country’s communities of defenders, and the international community.

A 2014 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Human Rights Defender and Others vs. Guatemala ordered Guatemala to develop protection measures for human rights defenders. Although government officials had expressed a willingness to develop a policy to protect defenders, these promises did not translate into viable proposals until January 2024, when the government of Bernardo Arévalo took office. Civil society organisations have continued to call on the Guatemalan government to comply with the order of the Inter-American Court, which has led to a new process to develop a public policy to be launched in 2024.

The Guatemalan government launched the drafting process in 2018, which included roundtable discussions between different state institutions and representatives of civil society organisations on the aspects to be included in the public policy. The first draft, which summarised the inputs of the process and was to be taken to areas outside the capital for consultation, disappeared with the arrival of President Alejandro Giammattei’s government in January 2020. The institution that led the process, the Comisión Presidencial de Derechos Humanos (COPREDEH), was dissolved in the middle of the same year, and the body designated to take over COPREDEH’s responsibilities, the Comisión Presidencial por la Paz y los Derechos Humanos (COPADEH), had neither the capacity nor the political support to ensure continuity in the formulation of public policy. There was no sign of significant movement on the draft between 2020 and 2024.

However, in 2025 the process took pace, culminating in the adoption of the Public Policy on November 13th 2025.

Despite this advancement in structural protection measures, journalists in Guatemala have not yet received the same level of protection. A State mechanism intended to protect journalists has been pending since 2012. Following the approval of the Public Policy for Human Rights Defenders, the Guatemalan government authorities reaffirmed their commitment to promote the creation of a specific protection plan for Guatemala’s journalists.

Guatemala is monitored by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. The last official country visit to Guatemala was made in 2009 and the reports noted extreme violence against human rights defenders. Annual reports (such as those from 2022 or from 2021) highlight the worrying number of HRDs attacked and killed and the urgency of improving the existing national protection mechanisms for HRDs. An informal visit took place in February 2018 and the public police was one of the issues raised.

Guatemala is also monitored by the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In its 2023 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) final results, adopted in July 2023, Guatemala accepted 127 out of 207 recommendations and noted (rejected) the remaining 80. The total number of recommendations noted by the government represents a rejection rate of 40%. 

The government accepted numerous recommendations, including key ones for protecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights (like community radio) and improving justice for defenders, though significant concerns remained about judicial independence, attacks on lawyers/judges, and overall democratic space, with rights groups urging implementation and noting ongoing criminalization and threats.

The 2017 UPR national report highlighted the need for more trained personnel for the protection of human rights defenders. It also noted the development of bodies such as the Office for the Analysis of Attacks against Human Rights Defenders (Instancia de Análisis de Ataques Contra Defensores de Derechos Humanos, created by Ministerial Agreement No. 103-2008) and the Department for the Protection of Persons and Security (División de Protección de Personas y de Seguridad). However, these government bodies have been heavily criticised by civil society and are not considered to provide effective protection to defenders.  In 2017, Guatemala supported recommendations to develop a protection policy for human rights defenders, but as mentioned above, the process was abandoned.

CIVICUS continues to rate Guatemala as “repressed” which means that civic space is significantly constrained. Freedom House Index rates Guatemala as ‘partly free’. Concerns include increased self-censorship, judicial persecution and attacks on human rights defenders, and attacks on women human rights defenders.

[Updated: 11/12/2025]