The United Nations Office for Human Rights in Guatemala expresses its deep concern over the current debate in the Guatemalan Congress over bills for security and justice, promoting measures that do not attack the structural problems, delegitimize and undermine the rule of law.
It is misleading to think that actions based on repression and human rights violations are the solution to insecurity, such as the application of the death penalty today in Guatemala, to renounce international human rights treaties, the creation of courts with "faceless judges" and the so-called "anti-gang laws "
The latter, besides being ineffective have been strongly condemned by the United Nations for being discriminatory and promote the persecution of young people simply by their clothing or the use of tattoos, not because they commit a crime. Furthermore, in a country that lacks adequate meeting places and recreation, these laws criminalize youth and restrict freedom of association, since any youth social would be included in the definition of "mara"- gangs, being innocent.
To execute ten people on death row does not solve the problem of insecurity. The death penalty has not proven to have a deterrent effect on crime, it reproduces violence and neglects to address the structural problems that originate the problem.
The waiver of international human rights treaties would be a serious setback, which not only threatens the rights of Guatemalans, but that marginalizes the country against the international community and contradicts the commitments acquired by the State of Guatemala before international human rights organizations.
Source
Source: The United Nations Office for Human Rights in Guatemala, Press Release, September 29, 2010.
http://www.oacnudh.org.gt
