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UNICEF hails Guatemala truth commission report

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said that the Report "demonstrates that children were not only indirect victims of the conflict, but also direct targets of cruel violence."

According to the Report, released on Thursday in Guatemala, children were killed, abducted, forcibly recruited as soldiers, illegally adopted and sexually abused. Foetuses were cut from their mother's wombs, young children were smashed against walls or thrown alive into pits where the corpses of adults were later thrown. The disappearances of children, which in some cases included the stealing of infants for adoption, were widespread occurrences during the years of conflict.

UNICEF, in collaboration with the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ), provided technical support to the Truth Commission in the collection and analysis of information on the impact of the armed conflict on children.

Among its landmark recommendations, the Report calls for the establishment of a National Commission for the Search for Disappeared Children. The Commission would have the role of looking into the fate of those children who were kidnapped, illegally adopted or separated from their families.

UNICEF, ICRC, and international NGOs are requested to provide advice and technical and financial support to the National Commission and Ms. Bellamy said today that UNICEF is prepared to work with the Commission in whatever way possible to enhance the protection of child rights and contribute to national reconciliation.

UNICEF also joined others in honouring the memory of Guatemalan Bishop Juan Gerardi, who coordinated the Catholic Church's report on atrocities committed during the armed conflict, including those against children. Bishop Gerardi was brutally murdered shortly after the release of the Catholic Church's report in April of last year.

UNICEF, in partnership with the government and other national counterparts, is working in Guatemala to foster an environment of respect for children's human rights. In Quiche, a programme for children supported by UNICEF seeks to heal the psychological trauma of war through theatre, drawing, poetry, sports and play. Guatemala's Ministry of Health, as part of its mental health programme, is expanding the programme to 300 schools in seven affected departments of the country.

In the area of primary education, UNICEF is supporting inter-cultural methodologies and peace education activities through schools, youth groups and the mass media.

*The summary of the Truth Commission Report, formally called the Report of the Guatemala Commission for Historical Clarification, can be found on the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program Web.

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