Reports

“Forced to Give Up on Their Dreams”

Sexual Violence against Girls in Guatemala

The 85-page report, “‘Forced to Give Up on Their Dreams’: Sexual Violence against Girls in Guatemala,” documents the numerous barriers that girls who are survivors of sexual violence face accessing essential health care, education, social security, and justice. Guatemalan law classifies any sexual activity involving a child under 14 as sexual violence. Guatemala’s National Registry of Persons (RENAP) reported that between 2018 and 2024, 14,696 girls under 14 gave birth and became mothers, in many cases against their will.

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A woman looks out of the window of a damaged building

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  • October 7, 2020

    “Every Day I Live in Fear”

    Violence and Discrimination Against LGBT People in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and Obstacles to Asylum in the United States

    The 138-page report, “Every Day I Live in Fear”: Violence and Discrimination against LGBT People in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and Obstacles to Asylum in the United States, documents violence experienced by LGBT people in the three Northern Central American countries collectively known as the Northern Triangle, including at the hands of gangs, law enforcement officials, and their own families. Human Rights Watch found that Northern Triangle governments fail to adequately protect LGBT people against violence and discrimination, and that they face major obstacles if they attempt to seek asylum in the United States.

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  • May 19, 2020

    Deportation with a Layover

    Failure of Protection under the US-Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement

    The joint report by Refugees International and Human Rights Watch, “Deportation with a Layover: Failure of Protection under the US-Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement,” shows that the US-Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement, or ACA, does not meet the criteria in US law for a Safe Third Country Agreement that would enable Salvadorans and Hondurans to seek asylum in a safe country other than the US.
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  • November 13, 2017

    Running out the Clock

    How Guatemala’s Courts Could Doom the Fight against Impunity

    This  report documents a pattern of repeated and unjustifiable delays in criminal cases brought by the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office. 

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  • May 17, 2017

    “Punishing the Patient”

    Ensuring Access to Pain Treatment in Guatemala

    This report documents how Guatemala’s drug control regulations – meant to prevent drug abuse – make it almost impossible for many patients with cancer and other advanced illnesses to get strong pain medicines like morphine. Patients described their extreme pain and other symptoms and how they struggled to cope with a dim prognosis. They said they had to make visits to multiple doctors because many were unable to adequately treat pain, and many said they faced lengthy travel on crowded buses to reach hospitals that offer pain treatment.

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  • March 31, 2016

    Closed Doors

    Mexico’s Failure to Protect Central American Refugee and Migrant Children

    This report documents wide discrepancies between Mexican law and practice. By law, Mexico offers protection to those who face risks to their lives or safety if returned to their countries of origin. But less than 1 percent of children who are apprehended by Mexican immigration authorities are recognized as refugees, according to Mexican government data.

     

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  • July 27, 2006

    Swept Under the Rug

    Abuses against Domestic Workers Around the World

    This 93-page report synthesizes Human Rights Watch research since 2001 on abuses against women and child domestic workers originating from or working in El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Togo, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

  • March 10, 2004

    CAFTA's Weak Labor Rights Protections: Why the Present Accord Should be Opposed

    A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, March 2004

    On February 20, 2004, President George W. Bush notified Congress of his intent to sign the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)-an accord that the United States recently negotiated with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. According to U.S.
  • October 14, 2003

    Labor Rights Protections in CAFTA

    In January 2003, U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) negotiations began among the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The final negotiating round is scheduled for early December 2003. CAFTA presents an important opportunity to raise labor standards throughout Central America.
  • August 22, 2002

    Guatemala: Political Violence Unchecked

    Guatemala Mission Findings

    Human Rights Watch recently returned from a research and advocacy mission to Guatemala. During the mission, Human Rights Watch representatives met with President Alfonso Portillo, government ministers, and human rights defenders, among others.
  • February 12, 2002

    From The Household To The Factory

    Sex Discrimination in the Guatemalan Labor Force

    Women in Guatemala's largest female-dominated labor sectors face persistent sex discrimination and abuse, Human Rights Watch charges in this report. The 147-page report examines two sectors, export processing and private households, which employ tens of thousands of women sewing clothes for sale in the United States and working as live-in domestic workers.
  • May 20, 1999

    New Document Reveals Executions by Guatemalan Army

    On Thursday, May 20, Human Rights Watch and three other human rights organizations released a document that was smuggled out of Guatemalan military files. The document reveals the fate of more than 180 individuals "disappeared" by Guatemalan security forces between August 1983 and March 1985.
  • July 1, 1997

    Guatemala's Forgotten Children

    Police Violence and Abuses in Detention

    Thousands of children living in Guatemala's streets face routine beatings, thefts, and sexual assaults at the hands of the National Police and private security guards (who are under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry). More serious crimes against street children, including assassination and torture, have lessened since the early 1990s, but still occur.
  • March 1, 1997

    Freedom of Association in a Maquila in Guatemala

    A two-person Human Rights Watch delegation traveled to Guatemala in January 1997. The visit focused on reports of the discriminatory treatment of trade unionists at the assembly plants there of the U.S.-based corporation Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH), and allegations of obstacles posed by the company and the Guatemalan labor ministry to the union’s recognition for purposes of collective bargaining.
  • March 1, 1997

    Corporations and Human Rights

    Freedom of Association in a Maquila in Guatemala

    A two-person Human Rights Watch delegation traveled to Guatemala in January 1997. The visit focused on reports of the discriminatory treatment of trade unionists at the assembly plants there of the U.S.-based corporation Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH), and allegations of obstacles posed by the company and the Guatemalan labor ministry to the union's recognition for purposes of collective bargaining.
  • January 1, 1996

    Return to Violence

    Refugees, Civil Patrollers, and Impunity

    Tens of thousands of Guatemalans fled systematic army repression between 1980 and 1983, flooding southern Mexico with refugees. Hundreds of thousands more were estimated to be displaced internally. Recent cases of state violence against returning refugees cast serious doubts on the Guatemalan government's commitment to ensure safe repatriation and foster the rule of law in rural areas.