Guatemala experienced a brutal 36-year conflict in which an estimated 200,000 lost their lives, which a UN-sponsored truth commission characterized as genocide. This panel discussion will feature the insights of key actors in efforts to achieve truth, justice and reconciliation after genocide. They will address obstacles to the justice process, as well as the effects of the Rios-Montt conviction and annulment on domestic and international norms. This inter-disciplinary panel of scholar/practitioners will explore political participation and rule of law in Guatemala’s fledgling democracy.
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Event Speakers:
Sofia Duyos is a Spanish human rights lawyer. She has played a key role as counsel for the victims in the Spanish Tribunal’s international genocide case against the Guatemalan generals. She has written extensively about the Guatemalan Genocide. She also served as counsel with the Archbishop’s Office of Human Rights on the murder case of Bishop Juan Gerardi.
Jose Carlos Marroquin is a Guatemalan journalist, newspaper publisher (La Hora, Guatemala), political strategist, advocate for transparency of government practices, and was a key consultant on anti-corruption work for Cicig - the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala.
Dr. Victoria Sanford is an anthropologist, founding director of the Lehman Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies, and has published 4 books on the Guatemalan Genocide. She has conducted research in Guatemala since 1993, co-authored the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation's 1998 report to the Commission for Historical Clarification (truth commission), and served as an invited expert witness for the Spanish Tribunal's international genocide case against the Guatemalan generals.
October 01, 2013