GI-ESCR submits Shadow Report on Guatemala to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

In light of the 72nd session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, together with the the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), Payxail Yajaw konob' (Plurinational Ancestral Government), and the International Platform Against Impunity, submitted a shadow report on Guatemala for its fourth periodic review in front of the Committee.

The report highlights the State Party’s fulfilment of its obligation to ensure that companies and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) exercise due diligence and accountability in relation to human rights and highlight our concerns with regard to the Maya Akateka, Maya Chuj, Maya Q'anjob'al and Maya Mam Indigenous Nations, who live in the Yichk'isis Microregion, in the municipality of San Mateo Ixtatán, department of Huehuetenango.  This submission centers their case and recent developments and focuses specifically on the need for a human rights-based and responsible exit strategy of corporations and IFIs that financed them involved in the construction of the hydro-electric dams in the affected region.

Previously, GI-ESCR and AIDA have raised awareness of this case through a video in our series “Portrays of a Feminist Energy Transition”.