* The present document is being issued without formal editing.

** The annex to the present report may be accessed from the web page of the Committee.

Tenth periodic report submitted by Guatemala under article 18 of the Convention, due in 2021 * , **

[Date received: 1 December 2021]

I.Introduction

1.The State of Guatemala is submitting its tenth periodic report on the implementation of the concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the combined eighth and ninth periodic reports. The harmonized measures taken by institutions to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action and the Sustainable Development Goals are described in detail.

2.On 14 January 2020, Alejandro Giammattei Falla took office as President of the Republic for the 2020–2024 term. He adopted the General Government Policy, which is based on the National Plan for Innovation and Development. The National Plan sets out guidelines for and strategic public actions to be taken by institutions that are operating in alignment with national development priorities. Those priorities emanated from the process of incorporating into policy the K’atun “Our Guatemala 2032” National Development Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals.

3.The Presidential Secretariat for Women remains the advisory and coordinating body for public policies to promote the comprehensive development of women, under the direct leadership of the President of the Republic. In accordance with its mandate, it coordinated the preparation of this report in a collaborative manner, through forums that were both inter-institutional (central Government and local governments) and intra-institutional (non-governmental organizations (NGOs), women’s organizations and international cooperation partners).

II.Article 1. Discrimination

4.With regard to incorporating a comprehensive article into the Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala on the right to non-discrimination in line with articles 1 and 2 (b) of the Convention, between 2017 and 2020, the Constitutional Court upheld the exercise of that right by women in the Guatemalan legal system, guaranteeing non-discrimination in the workplace and the family, informed by a perspective of intersectionality and equality.

5.Case No. 559-2020 emphasized “the obligation of the courts of justice to monitor compliance with conventions in all cases brought before them, ensuring due compliance with international human rights standards and, specifically, in cases of violence against women, to verify that judicial decisions have adequately taken into account the gender perspective, which is to be understood as a category of analysis and an indispensable interpretative tool in this area, one that helps to understand and identify discrimination, inequality or illegitimate disadvantage based on biological sex, limiting women’s exercise of their rights”.

6.Regarding the implementation and visibility of the Convention, in 2019 the Presidential Secretariat for Women formulated the 2018–2021 Strategy to Follow-up on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Strategy focuses on two areas, namely, carrying out follow-up within the Presidential Secretariat for Women and providing public institutions with technical support and guidance. Under the Strategy, the Presidential Secretariat for Women approved an intersectoral mechanism for follow-up to the Convention and established an ad hoc mechanism for following up on the preparation of reports and constructive dialogues.

7.The Presidential Secretariat for Women built technical tools to harmonize and align regulatory frameworks by monitoring compliance with conventions in the technical assistance model by the central Government and local governments in their planning and budgetary processes.

8.In 2018 and 2019, it provided technical advice to the judiciary, the legislature and the Constitutional Court on the formulation of guidelines for compliance with the regulatory framework established under the Convention and with international commitments on women’s human rights.

9.Training courses were run for the technical teams of the Presidential Secretariat and public institutions. National and international technical assistance with implementation of the Convention was received.

III.Article 2. Policy measures

10.As part of the judiciary’s institutional policy on gender equality and the promotion of women’s human rights, in 2018 a monitoring and evaluation system was designed. In 2019 the baseline was set and a mechanism for the implementation and follow-up of the policy was established, with the aim of mainstreaming the gender equality perspective in the administration of justice.

11.The specialized care model in magistrates’ courts has been operational since 2018, with due diligence in cases of violence against women as its basis. Its objective is to standardize the case management model, specialized care, inter-agency coordination and human resources specialization. Between 2020 and 2021, the School of Judicial Studies launched a virtual platform for the training and awareness-raising programme on how to apply the specialized care model.

12.The School of Judicial Studies updated the tool for mainstreaming gender and a human rights-based approach into the drafting of judgments relating to the crime of femicide and other forms of violence against women. In 2020, it adopted a working protocol for virtual hearings in the criminal justice system and a protocol for virtual hearings with a victim-centred approach in coordination with magistrates’ courts, tribunals and courts specialized in trying the crime of femicide, sexual violence and other forms of violence against women. From 2020 to November 2021, the courts responsible for trying cases of femicide and other forms of violence against women held 12,560 virtual hearings.

13.During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the System for the Provision of Comprehensive Care to Victims has followed up by conducting single-party virtual hearings for the purpose of granting, extending or expanding protective measures in cases of violence against women, in order to protect the victim and provide information and guidance.

14.The quality of records and the generation of judicial statistics on violence against women have been enhanced through the System’s establishment of a computer module for recording information on victims receiving psychosocial care.

15.In 2020, a manual for processing basic variables related to the characteristics of people in court records was developed. The manual contains guidelines for including, processing and interpreting data and information on disability, population group, age and sex.

16.To attend to the needs of children and adolescents, the comprehensive care model for children and adolescents was launched in 2019, with the aim of upholding and protecting their human rights by providing prompt, culturally sensitive care with a gender perspective to ensure personal protection, give legal, psychological, social and health guidance, reduce secondary victimization and provide child and adolescent victims of crimes with differentiated care. The model is being implemented by the Public Prosecution Service, the judiciary, the National Civil Police under the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Social Welfare Secretariat, the Office of the Counsel General, the Criminal Public Defence Institute, the National Institute of Forensic Science, the Institute for Victim Care and Assistance and the Municipality of Guatemala.

17.The Supreme Court of Justice has 30 specialized courts and magistrates’ courts serving children and adolescents in 240 municipalities. In 2019, it established the 24‑hour criminal court of first instance with specific competence to hear those offences in Guatemala and Quetzaltenango, incorporating the comprehensive care model for children and adolescents. The Children and Family Court of Malacatán, San Marcos was converted into a specialized criminal court for children and adolescents in conflict with the law, and three new courts were established in Retalhuleu, Totonicapán and El Progreso.

18.Between 2019 and May 2021, 4,529 judicial officials participated in training sessions, virtual courses or specialized workshops on the human rights of women, the care of victims, statistics and communication with a gender perspective and the regulatory framework established under the Convention. In 2019 and 2020, 31 students were enrolled in the Master’s programme in gender and justice. In 2020, a doctoral programme in gender and justice was established.

19.In September 2020, the Public Prosecution Service adopted a protocol for providing indigenous women with culturally and linguistically sensitive care and established the National Network of Interpreters and Translators of Indigenous Languages. The network is made up of 58 interpreters and translators representing 15 linguistic communities, distributed among the different prosecutors’ offices.

20.The Criminal Public Defence Institute has 70 offices throughout the country. It provides free legal assistance in 11 offices nationwide in courts on duty and its services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The free legal assistance programme for victims of violence and their families ran until September 2020, referring 1,777 cases to the Institute for Victim Care and Assistance.

21.The Institute for Victim Care and Assistance is the lead agency for policies relating to the treatment of victims. An autonomous entity that possesses its own assets and operates independently, the Institute provides services to victims of crime, including free legal assistance, psychological care and support in the search for alternatives and solutions to cope with the repercussions. It began operating in September 2020 and, in its first year, handled 6,486 cases and provided 25,800 services to victims.

22.In 2018, the Constitutional Court established a unit for the provision of assistance to vulnerable persons. The aim of the unit is to strengthen and promote access to constitutional justice in a manner that is sensitive to the needs of people of different cultural backgrounds and vulnerable groups, as well as considerations related to gender and childhood.

IV.Article 3. Guarantees of human rights and fundamentalfreedoms

23.Bill No. 4977, pursuant to which the Ministry of Women is to be established, is pending final approval by the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala on third reading. In June 2020, women deputies introduced bill No. 5791, which proposes amendments to Decree No. 114-97 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala (Executive Branch Act), by adding article 14 quater, Presidential Secretariat for Women. The aim of the bill is to formally establish the Presidential Secretariat for Women as an institution under the Executive Branch Act and to codify the process of electing the Secretary and define the powers of the office.

24.The Presidential Secretariat for Women is implementing the new Internal Organic Regulations, which contain proposals aimed at institutionalizing its activities. Between 2017 and 2021, planning tools were built, based on results-based management and accountability for gender equity. The areas of monitoring compliance with conventions and intersectionality were established.

25.Between 2021 and 2024, three priorities were identified for the implementation of the National Policy for the Promotion and Comprehensive Development of Women, namely, education, the eradication of violence against women and girls and women’s economic development. Those priorities were coordinated with the General Government Policy and the National Plan for Innovation and Development.

26.Between 2020 and 2021, the budget of the Presidential Secretariat for Women remained at 28.5 million quetzales, with no other sources of funding. For 2022, there is a projected budget of 25 million quetzales provided for by law. The Office for the Defence of Indigenous Women’s Rights was allocated an institutional budget of 19.2 million quetzales in 2017, and 19 million quetzales in 2021. Its projected budget for 2022 is 18.8 million quetzales.

27.As at August 2021, 94 people had been hired (66 women and 28 men). Of that number, 100 per cent were permanent staff, and 75 per cent of managerial positions were held by women. There are six departmental women representatives, and nationwide coverage is being scaled up.

28.In March 2021, the President of the Republic of Guatemala relaunched the selection process to fill the post of Presidential Secretary for Women. He called on legally constituted women’s organizations to nominate suitable candidates and appointed Ana Leticia Aguilar Theissen on 22 June 2021.

29.With regard to the strengthening and follow-up of the National Coordination Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Violence against Women, progress was made towards establishing regular and special meetings, following up on policy measures aimed at eradicating violence against women and on the Office’s activities. In 2021, members and alternates were appointed to six working committees. The 2018–2022 strategic plan, which regulates the Office’s actions to prevent, address, punish and provide reparation to victims of violence against women, was strengthened.

30.Resources for the promotion of women’s human rights were recorded in the gender-based budget classifier system, and they show that the thematic budget remains modest compared with the total central Government and local government budget. There is evidence that some budgetary structures are not related to strategic interventions and do not contribute to reducing inequalities.

31.In 2017 and 2018, the Ministry of Public Finances issued circulars designating the Presidential Secretariat for Women as the lead agency operating the gender-based budget classifier system. Technical assistance in the linking of planning processes has been provided to the central Government and to local governments. The gender-based budget classifier system manual was updated in 2018.

32.In 2017, 853.9 million quetzales were earmarked, an amount that has increased in subsequent years with improvements in registration and technical assistance with identifying actions, interventions and the recording of relevant information. In 2018, the system had a budget of 4,105.0 million quetzales. In 2019, the budget was reduced to 4,054.5 million quetzales, and the 2020 budget increased to 4,532.4 million quetzales.

33.In 2019, the Presidential Secretariat provided technical assistance to 348 institutions (103 central Government institutions and 245 local government institutions) of which 304 linked their budgetary structures to the gender-based budget classifier system. In 2020, 443 institutions (107 central Government institutions and 336 local government institutions) received assistance, of which 279 were municipal offices for women’s affairs, 77 were municipal planning offices and 64 were municipal offices of finance. As at November 2021, 404 institutions (95 central Government institutions and 309 local government institutions) were linked.

34.Since 2017, biannual and annual follow-up reports on the gender-based budget classifier system have been prepared for sectoral and territorial analysis as part of the planning process, in order to help reduce development disparities.

V.Article 4. Temporary special measures

35.The Presidential Secretariat for Women focused on incorporating an intersectional approach into the advisory and technical support provided to the central Government and local governments, based on the development of strategic agendas aimed at achieving a broader recognition of diversity and the life cycle, as well as complying with the observations of treaty bodies on the human rights of women.

36.The Presidential Secretariat for Women, in coordination with the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, formulated the 2017–2023 Strategic agenda on the human rights of women and girls with disabilities, in the context of the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The agenda is aligned with the National Council’s 2017–2021 action plan, the Convention and the Sustainable Development Goals. It addresses the situation and status of women and girls with disabilities, and in particular, their access to health care and the generation of statistical information.

37.Departmental and municipal committees on disability and a thematic committee on persons with disabilities of the Special Social Development Cabinet were established. The Presidential Secretariat for Women and the National Council for Persons with Disabilities aim to incorporate the equity approach into those mechanisms. In 2021, the Care Centre for Persons with Disabilities was established in San Jerónimo, Baja Verapaz. The Centre provides therapy, rehabilitation, speech therapy and special education, among other services.

VI.Article 5. Stereotyped roles and prejudices

38.The 2020–2029 National Plan for the Prevention of and Eradication of Violence against Women was updated by the National Coordination Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Violence against Women with the technical support of the Presidential Secretariat for Women. A nationwide consultation was carried out in which 715 people participated, representing the public sector, civil society, academia, international cooperation partners and NGOs.

39.The strategy for the implementation of the National Plan was adopted in 2021. The strategy is composed of a set of technical guidelines consistent with the general guidelines contained in the Plan, to plot the course of its implementation. The technical guidelines identify the stages of implementation, the entities responsible and the time frame within which it is to be implemented. The baseline, target and technical basis of the Plan indicators are being determined.

40.Women deputies introduced bill No. 5511 in the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala. The bill provides for the approval of a framework Act on the comprehensive protection of girls who are victims of sexual violence. Its purpose is to establish norms and mechanisms that govern the comprehensive protection of girls who are victims of sexual violence. They also introduced bill No. 5890, which provides for the adoption of an Act on preventing, addressing and punishing sexual and psychological violence against women in public institutions. The bill was introduced in a plenary session in March 2021.

41.In 2020, the thematic committee on women of the Special Social Development Cabinet formulated recommendations on the protection of the human rights of Mayan, Garifuna, Xinca and mestizo women in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. The objective of the thematic committee is to respond to the recommendations issued by international mechanisms on various issues, including on the prevention of violence against women.

42.The Ministry of the Interior is implementing the 2017–2027 National Strategy for the Prevention of Violence and Crime, which includes the Programme for the Prevention of Violence and Crime in the Home. The Ministry is working to strengthen and extend the comprehensive protection system to the home by taking measures to prevent violence and protect the human rights of women.

43.The Ministry of the Interior conducts training courses on constitutional rights and safeguards related to the participation of women and indigenous peoples, gender equality and equity, and the prevention of violence. The courses are specifically designed for the community committees on the prevention of violence against women. Since 2020, 156 committees have been formed, with the participation of approximately 1,335 women. Members participate in training and awareness-raising programmes on new forms of masculinity.

44.With regard to the prevention of violence, the Ministry of the Interior conducted campaigns on preventing violence against women during lockdown. The Presidential Secretariat for Women conducted a communications campaign on the prevention of violence against women and other crimes in order to raise awareness, provide information and foster a culture of reporting cases of violence against women.

45.With regard to the generation of information and statistical data, the National System of Information on Violence against Women brings together the institutions that generate information related to violence against women. The System is composed of three working committees (lobbying, information technology and content) that guide the data recording systems of the participating institutions. Between 2018 and 2020, it produced three statistical information publications.

46.The National System of Information on Violence against Women has drawn up a proposal for a national survey on violence against women to collect data on its prevalence, magnitude and frequency. A preliminary draft of the conceptual framework has met with the approval of experts on violence against women (women’s organizations, the Gender Unit, civil society and cooperation partners) and has been submitted to the National Institute of Statistics for further consideration. The Presidential Secretariat for Women has provided technical assistance with preparing a manual for interviewers and a manual on self-care.

47.From 2017 to August 2021, the Public Prosecution Service recorded 686 femicides reported nationwide; 481 of them were perpetrated against women aged 18 and older. A total of 294,484 cases of violence against women were reported nationwide. Between 2019 and 2020, the multidisciplinary team of the System for the Provision of Comprehensive Care to Victims assisted 13,799 victims.

48.Between 2017 and 2020, according to the judiciary, a total of 541 cases of femicide were brought before the courts, and it handed down a total of 289 judgments, comprising 66 acquittals and 223 convictions. From 2019 to May 2021, a total of 25,167 cases were opened for offences of violence against women and it handed down a total of 2,517 judgments, 1,103 of which were acquittals and 1,414 of which were convictions (See table 1).

49.From 2019 to May 2021, 77,018 complaints were filed with the magistrates’ courts for offences of violence against women.

50.Between 2017 and August 2021, the Public Prosecution Service recorded a nationwide total of 4,022 reported incidents of rape, aggravated rape and rape with special aggravating circumstances. By age group, the highest figure corresponds to children aged from 14 to 17 (15,746 cases), followed by those 18 years and above (12,057) and those 13 and under (3,795). The age of the victim was not reported in 8,604 cases.

51.In 2020, the judiciary established courts and tribunals for femicide and other forms of violence against women and sexual violence in the departments of Santa Rosa, Baja Verapaz and Zacapa. There are specialized bodies of this kind in 17 of the country’s departments.

52.The judiciary also adopted the judicial policy on care for victims of gender-based violence, related to the crimes of femicide, other forms of violence against women and sexual violence, as well as its 2019–2023 strategic plan.

53.The Public Prosecution Service established the Equality Policy Mechanism in 2018 and updated its 2020–2024 strategic plan in 2019.

54.In 2018, the Public Prosecution Service launched the 1572 hotline in coordination with the National Civil Police. The hotline has been receiving complaints of physical, psychological and sexual violence since 2020. As at April 2021, 94,849 calls had been received, and the average age of callers was 33 years.

55.In March 2021, the Public Prosecution Service launched the IxKem comprehensive care model for women victims of violence, whose purpose is to offer specialized care and minimize victimization by providing differentiated, coordinated, multidisciplinary, specialized and centralized services at a single site, thereby effectively and comprehensively addressing the needs of the victims and their quest for justice, from the moment the complaint is filed until the criminal case has concluded. Fifteen State institutions are participating in this model.

56.In 2021, the Public Prosecution Service expanded its institutional presence by establishing 273 prosecutors’ offices. It also established 27 prosecutors’ offices representing the Office of the Prosecutor for Women at the national level and 10 in hospitals, in order to grant victims of sexual crimes immediate access.

57.The Public Prosecution Service drafted a guide to providing care to crime victims in crisis and assessing risk in cases of violence against women, as well as a guide to preparing psychological and social work reports to ensure multidisciplinary care.

58.The Public Prosecution Service adopted General Instruction No. 05-2019 on mainstreaming equality and gender approaches in criminal prosecution, facilitating the classification of offences, the criminal investigation, litigation strategies and the provision of care and protection to victims.

59.The Public Prosecution Service adopted a theoretical and conceptual guide and a protocol for the investigation of offences of violence against women in the public and private spheres. The purpose of the guide and the protocol is to standardize the criminal investigation and prosecution of those offences. In addition, guidelines for the investigation and litigation of femicides were adopted to guide and strengthen the work of prosecutors.

60.In order to assist indigenous women victims of violence, technical and professional multidisciplinary staff have been assigned to the 13 regional offices and the central headquarters of the Office for the Defence of Indigenous Women’s Rights. From 2017 to August 2021, the Office served 37,429 indigenous women by providing them with legal, social and psychological assistance. Owing to COVID-19, it continued to provide telephone assistance to victims of violence and set up the 1529 toll-free hotline, which is available in four languages: K’iche’, Mam, Q’eqchi’ and Kaqchikel.

61.With regard to specialized training in the justice system, the Public Prosecution Service conducted three diploma courses on human rights, victimology and the gender perspective in 2019 and 2020, with a view to strengthening investigation strategies and criminal analysis and adopting a victim-centred approach. It conducted training programmes related to compliance with the Convention, including in-person courses, virtual courses, diploma courses and workshops, with a total of 1,118 participants.

62.With regard to the disappearance of women, in 2018 the Public Prosecution Service publicly launched a mechanism for the immediate search for missing women (the Isabel-Claudina alert system). A total of 5,773 alerts were recorded, 88 per cent (5,052) of which have been deactivated and 12 per cent (721) of which remained active until August 2021.

63.Between 2020 and 2021, courses on Decree No. 9-2016 (Immediate Search for Missing Women Act) and the mechanism for the immediate search for missing women were given to staff of the justice system and prosecutorial agencies of the Public Prosecution Service, 2,966 of whom were trained in 2019, and 1,276 of whom were trained in 2020. The curriculum of a self-taught course was designed using the platform of the Training Unit of the Public Prosecution Service to train the Service’s personnel.

64.In the context of the mechanism for the immediate search for missing women, the Public Prosecution Service has followed up on the budgetary allocation for the establishment of the Executive Secretariat of the National Coordination Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Violence against Women and the adoption of the regulations of Decree No. 9-2016 (Immediate Search for Missing Women Act). Between 2018 and 2021, a proposed methodology and road map for the formation of local teams to conduct immediate searches for missing women and a methodology for assessing risk and investigating cases of missing women were developed. General Instructions No. 09-2018, No. 05-2020 and No. 07-2020 were adopted, which establish the internal procedures for the mechanism, inform the public that Public Prosecution Service personnel are the officials responsible for activating internal protocols and courses of action, and set forth investigative guidelines for 6-, 48- and 72-hour searches.

65.According to information from the National Registry of Sex Offenders, a total of 3,205,032 applications were received, and 429 individuals were identified as sex offenders between 2018 and May 2021.

66.The Ministry of Culture and Sports conducted six training sessions on mechanisms to address sexual harassment in schools, art academies and conservatories, in order to provide information about the issue. All instructors must present an attestation from the National Registry of Sex Offenders. In cases involving complaints, the corresponding processes have been initiated.

67.With regard to assisting women victims of violence, pursuant to article 104 of Decree No. 25-2018 (General Budget of State Revenues and Expenditures Act), the Ministry of the Interior makes budgetary allocations to the Guatemalan Women’s Group in order to support the provision of comprehensive care for women survivors of violence through the comprehensive support centres for women survivors of violence, which are operated by the Group.

68.In 2019, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare updated the protocol for the provision of care to victims of sexual violence. This protocol is applied at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of health care. The Ministry also runs regional training sessions for the personnel of the national network of hospitals.

69.There are 44 dedicated clinics for victims of sexual violence and pregnant girls under 14 years of age in the 40 hospitals that comprise the national network. In addition, under the comprehensive care model for children and adolescents, a medical clinic was established whose multidisciplinary teams provide care to victims and refer cases to the Public Prosecution Service, the National Institute of Forensic Science, the magistrates’ courts and other entities.

70.In order to strengthen and expand forensic services, the National Institute of Forensic Science undertook several projects in 2017: (a) the drafting of a specialized manual on conducting specialized psychological evaluations; (b) a mechanism to establish the procedure for conducting an autopsy in a gender-sensitive manner and instructions on conducting forensic medical examinations related to sex offences; (c) the provision of 24-hour care for victims of sexual abuse; (d) a one-stop policy for assessing the situation of victims, especially in offences against women; (e) the provision of specialized care to child and adolescent victims of violence in the areas of clinical and forensic psychology under the comprehensive care model for children and adolescents; and (f) the provision of specialized care to women in the areas of clinical and forensic psychology under the IxKem comprehensive care model for women victims of violence. From 2017 to August 2021, the National Institute of Forensic Science recorded 203,809 forensic evaluations, 9,298 autopsies and 77,456 requests for psychological evaluations of women.

71.Regarding investigations of acts of violence against women committed in conflict situations, the Office of the Prosecutor for Human Rights of the Public Prosecution Service investigates cases of sexual violence that occurred during the internal armed conflict. The Office also investigates the whereabouts of missing persons.

72.As part of the Sepur Zarco case, the Public Prosecution Service has exhumed human remains, recovering 54 bones that have not yet been identified. Individuals capable of locating clandestine burial sites continue to be sought, and arrangements have been made with the Ministry of the Interior to provide the victims and their families with perimeter security.

73.The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture and Sports translated the SepurZarco judgment into 18 Mayan languages: Itza’, Achi’, Akateko, Ixil, Kaqchikel, K’iche’, Mam, Mopan, Popti’, Poq’omam, Poqomchi’, Q’anjob’al, Q’eqchi’, Sipakapense, Tektiteko, Tz’utujil, Chuj and Uspanteko. In addition, the production of a documentary on the case, featuring testimonies from the women affected, has been completed.

74.The Public Prosecution Service and Mujeres Transformando el Mundo (Women transforming the world) are co-coordinating the general inter-agency roundtable, a mechanism that monitors the implementation of the 16 reparation measures ordered in the Sepur Zarco judgment. The competent institutions present the actions that have been incorporated into institutional planning and the progress achieved in carrying them out.

75.In the Dos Erres massacre case, Gilberto Jordán made his first statement and the corresponding indictment, for crimes against humanity and murder, was issued. The court in charge scheduled public oral arguments to begin on 7 March 2022.

76.The proceedings are at the intermediate stage in the Creompaz case.

77.In the Molina Theissen case, Hugo Ramiro Zaldaña, Rojas Manuel Antonio Callejas, Manuel Benedicto Lucas García and Francisco Luis Gordillo Martínez were convicted in May 2018 of crimes against humanity, the aggravated rape of Emma Guadalupe Molina Theissen and the enforced disappearance of Marco Antonio Molina Theissen.

78.In the Achí sexual violence case, Francisco Cuxum Alvarado, who was indicted for crimes against humanity, made his first statement. The trial opened, and public oral arguments were scheduled to begin on 4 January 2022. Intermediate hearings were held, and evidence was presented on behalf of the defendants Bembenuto Ruiz Aquino, Bernardo Ruiz Aquino and Damian Cuxum Alvarado.

79.The Inter-agency Committee on Women and Peace and Security is the mechanism for promoting, supporting, monitoring and evaluating progress on the women and peace and security agenda, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and related resolutions. It identifies actions, provides guidance and tasks State institutions with duties under their purview.

80.In 2017, the national action plan on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) was adopted. The plan is made up of five pillars, each of which has specific objectives, strategic actions (16) and technical and operational measures (26). Between 2019 and 2020, an annual road map for its implementation was developed. The Presidential Secretariat for Women has provided technical support to the public institutions directly responsible for implementing the plan and prepares quarterly and annual progress reports.

81.In 2020, the Inter-agency Committee on Women and Peace and Security launched the Index on Women and Peace and Security as a measurement tool for assessing the current situation of women in that regard.

82.The institutions that make up the Inter-agency Committee on Women and Peace and Security have conducted training programmes. Between 2017 and 2021, the Ministry of Defence trained 65,811 participants. The Ministry offers professional development courses at the Polytechnic School and the Naval School. The courses cover themes relating to human rights, including the human rights of women. The judiciary established a diploma course on Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and related resolutions.

83.The Guatemalan army provides instruction and training to military units and personnel in order to prepare them to serve in peacekeeping operations worldwide. Women are being integrated into United Nations peace operations as military observers and as staff personnel in areas where military contingents are deployed.

84.With regard to dignified and transformative reparations, the judiciary formulated a policy on dignified and transformative reparations and its implementation plan for the period 2020–2024.

VII.Article 6. Trafficking and sexual exploitation

85.With regard to protecting children and adolescents in order to ensure their physical and psychological well-being, the Public Prosecution Service established four internal tracks for providing comprehensive care to pregnant women and girls under 14 years of age. It set up the 2411-8686 telephone hotline to receive reports of cases and facilitate communication between prosecutors and hospital, health centre and private clinic personnel.

86.The Public Prosecution Service has taken steps to combat online child sexual abuse through the child protection system project, which proactively monitors the Internet for child pornography content.

87.With regard to preventing and raising awareness of child and adolescent pregnancy, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare prepared a guide on the provision of comprehensive and differentiated care to pregnant girls under 14 years of age. It has supervised operations on the ground in order to ensure that health-care staff in hospitals comply with the guide, providing training, and to record cases in the Health Information Management System. Through the Bureau for the Epidemiological Monitoring of Pregnancies in Children under 14 Years of Age, the Ministry coordinates the analyses and actions performed by health-care personnel in prevention, care and follow-up care.

88.The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare formulated a comprehensive approach to the care of pregnant girl children and adolescents under 14 years of age, setting out guidelines for the care that girls will receive at every level of care in the health system, and the guidelines on the postpartum hospital discharge procedure for girls under 14 years of age and newborns.

89.According to the Public Prosecution Service, there were 193 fewer cases of rape of pregnant women between 2019 and 2020. With regard to pregnancies among children and adolescents under 14 years of age, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare reported a decline by 810 cases between 2017 and 2021 (see table 2).

90.The judiciary organized a course on trafficking in persons in all its forms for 115 members of the multidisciplinary teams from the specialized courts. The course was given by the Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons and the Pan American Development Foundation of the Organization of American States.

91.The judiciary has made available suitable venues in which to provide assistance to this group and produced guidelines to ensure that the criminal justice system attends to such cases promptly.

92.Starting in 2018, the Public Prosecution Service has put in place specialized regional offices of the Public Prosecutor to combat trafficking in persons in the western region.

93.In March 2021, the Ministry of the Interior established created the Anti‑Trafficking Unit of the Special Criminal Investigation Division of the National Civil Police, located in the department of Quetzaltenango, to work together with the Office of the Prosecutor for the Crime of Trafficking in Persons of the Public Prosecution Service. This Unit has jurisdiction in eight departments, including Totonicapán, Quiché, San Marcos, Sololá, Huehuetenango, Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez and Quetzaltenango.

94.Between 2017 and 2021, the Public Prosecution Service received 1,569 complaints from women nationwide. As at April 2021, the Special Criminal Investigation Division of the National Civil Police has investigated a total of 99 cases of trafficking in persons and 46 cases of smuggling of persons. Between 2019 and 2021, the judiciary referred 344 cases of trafficking in persons to criminal courts. Between 2019 and 2020, it handed down five judgments.

95.In 2019, the 2019–2029 Public Policy against Sexual Violence in Guatemala was adopted. Its aim is to reduce the incidence of sexual violence. In addition, the Committee on the Prevention of Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons was established as one of the technical and political bodies that comprise the Special Social Development Cabinet. The Committee has coordinated campaigns, training courses, research proposals and information management.

96.In July 2019, the Public Prosecution Service, the Office of the Counsel General and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security formed the Inter-agency Coordination Office against Labour Exploitation and Child Labour, to jointly address trafficking in persons in the forms of labour exploitation, forced labour and child labour. In 2020, the Coordination Office was joined by the Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons, and the mechanism became official. The main areas of action are: (a) detection, (b) assistance to victims and (c) victim referral.

97.The main actions implemented include: (a) inter-agency guidelines on how to detect and handle cases; (b) a platform for handling and receiving complaints online; (c) awareness-raising campaigns on traditional media and social networks to promote reporting through the “Yo me sumo” (Count me in) portal; (d) a protocol for the provision of comprehensive care to victims of trafficking in persons; and (e) operations to assess working conditions and rescue abused minors (Office of the Counsel General, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Public Prosecution Service and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare).

98.Between 2017 and 2020, the Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons assisted and housed in temporary shelters 823 women victims of trafficking in persons, sexual and labour exploitation and forced labour, among other crimes. It has strengthened the EDUSvet platform for the development of virtual courses, as well as the use of social networks to develop awareness-raising activities.

99.The Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons coordinated the update of the protocol on inter-agency coordination for the repatriation of victims of trafficking in persons. It also appointed personnel to coordinate with authorities on measures aimed at raising awareness of and preventing the trafficking of migrants passing through the country as part of the migratory movements known as migrant caravans.

100.The National System on Trafficking in Persons manages statistical data on the activities undertaken to prevent, detect, identify, prosecute and punish trafficking in persons, as well as the measures taken by the institutions that make up the Inter‑institutional Commission against Human Trafficking to protect victims of trafficking in persons.

101.The Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons conducted campaigns to prevent sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking and encourage the public to report incidents during lockdown. In conjunction with the National Civil Police of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education, the Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons coordinated the “Cuidado con el Grooming, Sexting y Sextortion” (Watch Out for Grooming, Sexting and Sextortion) campaign.

102.The Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons produced a guide on Internet security in the Q’eqchi’, Kaqchikel and Mam languages. The guide contains information on new techniques used by criminal groups to lure victims of sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking.

103.The Ministry of Education has strengthened the capacities of 26,000 primary and lower secondary school teachers in the prevention of offences involving sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking by conducting workshops and diploma courses at Ministry headquarters and in the departmental offices.

104.In 2019, the Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons established a special temporary shelter for adult migrant women who have been victims of crimes involving sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking. As at April 2021, it had assisted 51 people.

105.The Social Welfare Secretariat applied a comprehensive care model for child and adolescent victims of sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking in persons and a protocol for inter-agency coordination to protect and provide care to victims of trafficking in persons. It established a specialized programme for child and adolescent victims of sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking. The programme, which has two residences located in Guatemala City and Coatepeque, has assisted 58 children and adolescents. The Secretariat also prepared a manual on comprehensive care for child and adolescent victims of sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking, with the aim of ensuring the restitution of the victims’ rights.

106.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles the repatriation of victims of trafficking in persons. From 2017 to 2020, Belize, China (Taiwan), El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Spain were identified as the countries where Guatemalan women were trafficked. Migrant women victims of trafficking in persons who were foreign nationals, mainly from Belize, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico, were identified, received support with the repatriation process and were given immediate primary and secondary care.

107.The Guatemalan Migration Institute assists unaccompanied and accompanied migrant children and adolescents. In cases of trafficked children and adolescents, the Institute coordinates with the Office of the Counsel General and the Social Welfare Secretariat to carry the process forward.

108.With regard to abducted or missing children and adolescents at risk of being trafficked, the Public Prosecution Service has formed inter-agency committees focused on various areas: (a) the regulations for Decree No. 28-2010, the Alba-Keneth Alert System Act; (b) stronger coordination between the Operational Unit of the Alba‑Keneth alert system and the Office of the Advocate for Children and Adolescents; (c) coordination with the Computer Crimes Unit of the National Civil Police; and (d) coordination with other countries in which trafficked children and adolescents are suspected to be found.

109.The Operational Unit of the national coordination office for the Alba-Keneth alert system of the Office of the Counsel General has added staff to its work areas and has changed its headquarters in order to provide children and adolescents with comprehensive care.

110.Since 2018, the Office of the Counsel General, the Public Prosecution Service and the Special Criminal Investigation Division of the National Civil Police have formulated plans to verify and deactivate Alba-Keneth alerts from previous years.

111.An inter-agency guide to analysing and applying the risk criteria of the Alba-Keneth alert system was developed, establishing the general standards to ensure the safe return of children and adolescents by identifying the personal and external factors that led to the disappearance.

112.Regarding the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home case, the Office of the Prosecutor for the Crime of Femicide of the Public Prosecution Service has undertaken investigative actions. Regarding the three phases, the first phase has yet to commence, pending the scheduling of public oral arguments, and the second and third phases are also on hold, pending the scheduling of the evidentiary hearing. In addition, appeals filed by the Public Prosecution Service and additional plaintiffs are pending resolution.

113.The Office of the Counsel General conducts home visits to child and adolescent survivors of the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home tragedy, in order to continue monitoring their individual, family and community needs and making the referrals required to meet those needs. Protection plans are drawn up, establishing inter-agency links to meet the needs of children and adolescents, an effort carried out in coordination with the Social Welfare Secretariat. In addition, the Office has conducted periodic social checks to gather information on the persons with disabilities who survived the incident.

114.With regard to family reintegration, the Office of the Counsel General has conducted psychological and social investigations and coordinated with private and public homes in order to determine which family resource would be most suitable. The corresponding coordination efforts have been carried out within the framework of the inter-agency committee composed of the Office of the Counsel General, the Social Welfare Secretariat and the National Adoption Council to update the data on the 600 children and adolescents who lived in the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home.

115.Since 2018, the Office of the Counsel General has been in charge of the system for managing the comprehensive care of children and adolescents, in order to promote the comprehensive care of children and adolescents and prevent them from being victimized again, considering institutionalization only as a last resort. The Regulations on Children and Adolescents, which provide for the restructuring of the Office of the Advocate for Children and Adolescents, have been implemented.

116.The Social Welfare Secretariat has a series of agreements, letters of understanding and strategic partnerships at the community level, through which it seeks to strengthen comprehensive services for the restitution of human rights, family reunification, community reintegration and the gradual attainment of autonomy.

117.The Social Welfare Secretariat provides grants to the surviving victims of the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home incident to continue to pursue their full recovery and to receive medical, physical and psychological treatment, in addition to helping to shape a transformative and productive life plan.

118.Among the measures adopted to strengthen strategies, plans and actions aimed at family reintegration, the Social Welfare Secretariat is coordinating with its offices in the departments on the follow-up of cases and establishing partnerships with civil society and international cooperation partners in order to make improvements to existing investigative social work procedures.

119.In 2020, it reintegrated 144 children and adolescents, and as at August 2021, 87 children and adolescents have been reintegrated into an extended, biological, community or foster family.

120.The Social Welfare Secretariat’s verification, supervision and evaluation processes include weekly visits to residences to verify that care services are being provided and to ensure compliance with strategies to deinstitutionalize the residences. In response to the need for external supervision, a supervisor has been appointed and tasked with verifying the implementation of the recommendations made by the National Adoption Council, drawing upon the individual case files, which constitute the primary tool for obtaining the information needed to proceed with family reintegration and deinstitutionalization.

121.The Social Welfare Secretariat is applying the following instruments to promote deinstitutionalization: (a) the guidelines for temporary residential special protection; (b) the manual of rules and procedures of the Department for Special Protection against All Forms of Abuse; and (c) a protocol on the provision of psychosocial care to adolescents.

122.In accordance with Decree No. 16-2018 (Act declaring 8 March the National Day for the Victims of the Tragedy that Occurred in the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home, and approving a lifetime pension for survivors), the Ministry of Social Development continues to provide child and adolescent survivors of the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home tragedy with nutritional assistance through the “Social Food Bank” programme.

VIII.Article 7. Political and public life

123.For the 2019 elections, there were 4.4 million women (53.8 per cent) and 3.8 million men (46.2 per cent) on the electoral roll, for a total of 8.2 million people. This breakdown is consistent with the demographic composition of the country as reported in the twelfth national population census and the seventh national housing census, in each of which women made up 51.5 per cent of the population.

124.Among elected officials, women accounted for 19.4 per cent of the 160 deputies (31 elected women deputies), 2.9 per cent of the 340 mayors (10 elected women mayors) and 11.6 per cent of 3,774 positions in municipal corporations. These results constitute a relative improvement over the previous elections in 2015, in which women obtained 13.9 per cent of seats, 3 per cent of mayoral positions and 12 per cent of positions in municipal corporations.

125.Concerning appointed Cabinet positions, as at 30 September 2021, out of 14 ministries, one woman is head of the Ministry of Education, accounting for 7.1 per cent of the leadership.

126.Women make up 11.1 per cent of the nine-member Board of Directors of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala for the 2021–2022 period, with one woman occupying the position of First Vice-President. In addition, 7 of the 38 working committees are chaired by a woman (18.4 per cent): the Committee on Electoral Affairs; the Committee on Communications, Transport and Public Works; the Committee for the Defence of Consumer and User Interests; the Committee on Decentralization and Development; the Committee on Legislation and Constitutional Matters; and the Committee on Small and Medium Enterprises and Indigenous Peoples.

127.For the 2022–2023 term, the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala will be presided over by a woman deputy, who will take office on 14 January 2022.

128.With regard to the justice system, for the period 2017–2021, on average, women accounted for 56.9 per cent of judges of courts of first instance. 56.5 per cent of justices of the peace; 49.9 per cent of judges of the Supreme Court of Justice; and 61.3 per cent of Appeal Court judges. According to the Public Prosecution Service, women account for 40.2 per cent of prosecutorial, technical and administrative staff. The Public Prosecution Service continues to be headed by a woman.

129.The eighth bench of the Constitutional Court is composed of 10 judges (5 incumbent and 5 alternates). Three of them are women, two incumbent and one alternate (30 per cent) and seven are men (70 per cent). Of those seven, three are incumbent, and the remainder are alternates. Of the 391 technical, legal and administrative staff members, 47.1 per cent are women.

130.In 2021, 10 working committees, each of which is made up of 13 to 36 members, were formed to address the various development issues covered by the National Urban and Rural Development Council. Two to six women participate in the work of each committee. In no committee does the number of women participants exceed 17 per cent, with the exception of the Commission on Women, in which 28 per cent of participants are women.

131.Pursuant to the Regulations for the Distribution and Management of Financial Resources Allocated for Departmental Development Councils, the National Urban and Rural Development Council decided to include the Centre for the Provision of Comprehensive Care to Mothers and Infants and the comprehensive support centres for women survivors of violence among the projects eligible for funding. Pursuant to article 7 of Resolution No. 10-2021, the decision was made to retain infrastructure projects related to the comprehensive support centres for women survivors of violence among the eligibility criteria.

132.According to the 2017–2018 national human resources census, which was conducted by the National Institute of Statistics in coordination with the National Civil Service Office, parity was achieved in the participation of women in public administration, with women accounting for 50.1 per cent of a total of 292,753 workers. In September 2021, the National Civil Service Office, in consultation with the Guatenóminas system, demonstrated that women accounted for 51.4 per cent of the 267,238 staff in the public sector.

133.According to the 2017–2019 national employment and income survey, the proportion of women in management positions (directors and managers) has been rising steadily, increasing from 30 per cent in 2017 to 40 per cent in 2019.

134.To promote political participation by women, in 2016 the Elections and Political Parties Act was amended to address issues related to electoral financing and the holding of posts in political parties. The amendments did not include quotas to ensure parity and the rotation of power. On 5 March 2020, women deputies introduced bill No. 5708 in the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala. The aim of the bill is to promote the participation and comprehensive development of Guatemalan women. It establishes that political parties must include in their bylaws effective mechanisms to promote women’s participation in intra-party election processes and as candidates for elected positions, alternating their participation with that of men.

135.In 2021, the Supreme Electoral Court reviewed and updated the Gender Equity Policy and developed a protocol to address violence against women in the political and electoral sphere, with a view to promoting civic and political action by women throughout the electoral process. In addition, it introduced to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala bills No. 5389 amending Decree No. 1-85 (2017), No. 5886 amending Decree No. 1-85 (2021) and No. 5893 amending Decree No. 1-85 (2021), with the aim of achieving parity between women and men and minority groups in the Elections and Political Parties Act; and bill No. 5534 (Temporary Act providing for the implementation of article 12 of Decree No. 1-85 (2018)), providing for the implementation of article 12 of that Act.

136.In order to promote participation in political life and in the 2019 elections, the Supreme Electoral Court allocated 5 per cent of its budget to address the issue and take actions, foremost among them the holding of training workshops on electoral reform issues and promoting the participation of women organizers and leaders; as well as convening forums, panels of women experts, webinars, talks and courses that address topics related to the political rights of women. The Supreme Electoral Court also encouraged the registration of Mayan, Garifuna, Xinca and mestizo women.

137.The Ministry of the Interior is implementing a protocol for the implementation of immediate and preventive security measures, for the benefit of unionized workers, leaders, managers, militants, male and female union leaders and labour rights defenders. Through the Protection and Security Division of the General Operations Subdirectorate, three trade unionists, two from the Ministry of Education and one from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, have been granted protective measures.

138.The Ministry of the Interior addressed the specific situation and status of indigenous women and peoples in the 2017–2027 National Strategy for the Prevention of Violence and Crime, making it possible to tackle the interrelated forms of discrimination that affect those population groups. The Public Prosecution Service adopted a protocol for the investigation of crimes committed against human rights defenders. The protocol sets out the steps to be taken to solve the crime, determine the competence of the Office of the Prosecutor for Human Rights and manage measures to provide security or reparation to women victims, informed by a gender perspective.

IX.Article 8. Representation

139.In terms of the representation of women at the international level, as at September 2021, 391 women were in active service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (244 women at Ministry headquarters and 146 women in the foreign service). There are 32 women in managerial positions at the sub-directorate, directorate and chief of staff levels of the Ministry, with 2 women serving as deputy ministers.

X.Article 9. Nationality

140.Regarding universal birth registration, according to the National Institute of Statistics, coverage of births during the 2017–2021 period, which includes universal birth registration and underregistration, according to vital statistics disaggregated by sex, amounted to 1,641,666 births (30 August 2021), of which 49 per cent were girls (806,568).

141.Between 2012 and 2020, the National Registry Office opened and monitored 47 auxiliary offices located in hospitals belonging to the national network. Between 2017 and 2021, the Office’s awareness-raising campaigns reached 278,108 people, 254,499 of them women, with the aim of educating the public about the importance of timely registration and of preventing and eradicating underregistration. Owing to COVID-19, awareness-raising campaigns are being conducted virtually with medical and administrative personnel and civil society. Workshops were held for auxiliary civil registration operators, civil registrars and government institutions (Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ministry of Social Development, Supreme Electoral Court, National Institute of Forensic Science, National Adoption Council, National Council for Persons with Disabilities, Social Welfare Secretariat, Office of the Counsel General, Office of the Human Rights Advocate, Secretariat against Sexual Violence, Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons) and NGOs.

142.Publicity materials were distributed on timely and extemporaneous birth registrations. This effort was carried out in conjunction with municipal authorities and community leaders. From April to August 2021, four workshops were held. As a result, 794 files were compiled in the departments of Petén (municipality of Poptún) and Alta Verapaz (Santa Cruz Verapaz, Carchá and San Pedro Carchá).

143.By means of Decree No. 30-2021, the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala declared a state of public disaster due to natural phenomena in the departments of Petén, Quiché, Alta Verapaz, Izabal, Chiquimula, Zacapa, Jutiapa, El Progreso, Huehuetenango and Santa Rosa. The National Registry Office adopted regulations on waiving the fee for personal identification documents and a protocol on the provision of services in the aftermath of a tropical storm in response to the Eta and Iota emergencies. A total of 779 coordination contacts were made to plan and organize identification days.

144.Support was provided through the Network for Dialogue and Identification of the Guatemalan Population, a platform whose purpose is to promote timely registration and to prevent, reduce and eradicate the underregistration of any fact or act related to the civil status and capacity of individuals, as well as to foster a culture of identification. The Network is made up of municipal authorities, community leaders, the Civil Registrar of Persons, public, private and local institutions, NGOs and international organizations. Between 2018 and 2020 it formed 152 networks. From January to August 2021, 46 networks were created, and 38 networks were reactivated in the 10 departments that were prioritized, in order to serve those affected by Eta and Iota.

145.The National Registry Office has 402 offices nationwide, across 22 departments and 340 municipalities. Nine offices were created between 2017 and 2021 in Escuintla, Guatemala, Huehuetenango, Jutiapa, Petén, Quetzaltenango, San Marcos (two offices) and Zacapa. In addition, electronic services were provided through the web portal and through a mobile phone application to manage and print the required documents.

146.With respect to the modernization and decentralization of civil registry offices, the National Registry Office is carrying out a project on the regionalization of printing centres for issuing and distributing personal identification documents. The objective is to streamline the distribution and delivery of documents nationwide. In 2021, a printing centre for the south-western region was established in Quetzaltenango.

147.The mobile unit, which is responsible for meeting user demand anywhere in the country, has a coordination office. With respect to the capacity of civil registry offices to provide services in rural areas and in places where Mayan, Xinca and Garifuna are the main languages spoken, the necessary fields were incorporated into the issuance of personal identification documents, making it possible to register the country’s various peoples and linguistic communities.

148.In 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior and the National Registry Office signed an addendum to the Agreement on Inter-agency Cooperation for the Documentation of Guatemalans Abroad (2015). Data capture services are provided to facilitate the issuance of personal identification documents at 10 Guatemalan consulates in the United States of America and at the Embassy of Spain. Between 2017 and October 2021, the data captured led to the issuance of 273,545 personal identification documents.

149.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its consular network abroad, provides consular identification services such as the issuance of passports, Guatemalan consular identification cards (only in the United States), proof of life certificates, special travel passes, travel and passport authorizations for minors, as well as civil registry processes (birth, marriage and death registrations) and personal identification documents, in conjunction with the National Registry Office.

150.Through the migrant services hotline, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has fielded 3.4 million calls between 2017 and 2020. In 2021, from January to the end of October, the call centre handled a total of 603,619 calls in Spanish (601,820), English (811) and eight Mayan languages (988): Ki’che, Q’eqchi’, Mam, Kaqchikel, Q’anjob’al, Poqomchi’, Ixil and Acateco. Of the total number of calls handled, 378,129 callers were men, and 225,490 callers were women.

151.A technical committee was established to expedite the delivery of passports and personal identification documents abroad (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guatemalan Migration Institute and National Registry Office) through Guatemalan consulates in the United States. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Guatemalan Migration Institute intend to establish new printing centres, in line with the Agreement on Inter‑institutional Cooperation, in order to issue passports to Guatemalans abroad, identifying four locations in the United States. Follow-up meetings have been held on the establishment of a single data capture station, to be completed in 2021, with a view to streamlining the processing of personal identification documents and Guatemalan consular identification cards.

152.With regard to actions to reduce the fines imposed on non-filers due to late registration and/or returnees from the United States, information on services and on procedures and paperwork required to obtain identification is provided through the Returnee Welcome Centre of the Air Force of Guatemala. Informational materials are distributed, and national identification number assignment services are provided. In addition, information on registrable events is entered into the system, identity information queries are handled, and data capture services are provided in support of requests to waive the personal identification document issuance fee.

XI.Article 10. Education

153.In 2018, the Ministry of Education established the competency certification system, a set of standards and procedures aimed at recognizing and certifying the knowledge, abilities, skills and competencies of people who perform trades and occupations learned throughout life, such as loom weaving, backstrap weaving, oil painting, beekeeping, artisanal fishing, home electrical wiring and masonry. As at September 2019, 1,144 people had received such certificates (298 men and 846women).

154.Between 2017 and 2021, the Ministry of Education enrolled 267,971 students (36per cent men and 64 per cent women) through the Directorate General of Non‑formal Education, with increased participation of women in non-formal education.

155.In 2019, the Ministry regulated the admission of students to the National Programme for Alternative Education and authorized its curriculum. The Ministry is implementing free virtual courses for the general public and its own personnel. It has also obtained 5,000 licences for courses related to technology, English, management, communication and economics.

156.In 2019, the Ministry established the “Stay Here” training centre in Santa María Visitación, Sololá. The centre offers technical and formal training for adolescents who are returnees or who are at risk of migrating, and provides tools and opportunities for employment and self-employment in their departments of origin. It also provides non‑formal and accelerated education.

157.“I Learn at Home and in Class” is the educational strategy for student learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy helps students at every educational level to learn through a mediated process, using television, radio and mass circulation print media, as well as video, audio and printed material. As at July 2021, the Ministry of Education had provided two learning modules and one reinforcement module for the primary level (4.4 million provided), and two learning modules for the lower secondary level (653,114 provided). The Ministry has developed a virtual platform that offers guidance and virtual libraries under a hybrid learning system whereby teachers work through modules, with more content for learning at home and in schools.

158.The national education system has established a comprehensive coronavirus prevention, response and recovery plan, aimed at promoting pandemic prevention, response and recovery. It has also developed a protocol for a safe return to learning environments, and has provided training to help teachers of non-formal education programmes to support distance-learning students.

159.The Directorate General for Intercultural Bilingual Education has provided self-learning guides, reading material and educational modules in Mayan languages for the pre-primary and primary levels. Those materials benefited 954,099 students in 2020 and 1.04 million students in 2021. Forty-eight per cent of beneficiaries were indigenous girls.

160.During the period 2017–2020, the net coverage rate increased by 3.1 per cent at the primary level and by 0.5 per cent at the lower and upper secondary levels (see table 3).

161.In 2020, 98.5 per cent of primary school girls moved up to the next grade and 90.3 per cent of upper secondary school girls graduated.

162.In order to increase the number of women who can read and write, between 2017 and 2020, the National Literacy Committee promoted 177,470 women and 66,869 men to the next level, in the Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna and Xincan languages. The National Literacy Committee and the National Council for Persons with Disabilities have coordinated the hiring of personnel to provide literacy training for visually impaired persons (see table 4).

163.In 2020, the Ministry of Education established the School Insurance Programme, a health insurance scheme covering children, adolescents and women with disabilities in official special education schools.

164.Through its grant programme for students with disabilities, the Ministry of Education provides support to the public sector, particularly to girls and young women. It granted 7,650 such grants between 2019 and 2021.

165.The Ministry of Social Development has implemented a higher education grant programme in order to help youth between the ages of 16 and 28 living in poverty or extreme poverty to continue their education until they have completed higher education, by providing them with conditional cash transfers. Between 2017 and 2021, the programme benefited 3,571 women, with an investment of 6.1 million quetzales.

166.Enhanced efforts have been made to promote assistance for children and adolescents in official schools through school feeding. Between 2017 and 2021, there was a gradual increase in the budgetary allocation for school feeding. In 2021, the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala approved Decree No. 12-2021, amending Decree No. 16-2017 (School Feeding Act), establishing the School Feeding Programme. Decree No. 12-2021 provides for daily minimum allocations of 4 quetzales for nursery education, 6 quetzales for pre-primary and primary education, and 4 quetzales for secondary education for the fiscal year 2023.

167.During the COVID-19 pandemic, in accordance with Ministerial Decision No. 1522-2021, the Government continued to provide food for students enrolled in official schools at the pre-primary and primary levels, on school days. In 2021, the Government made five food deliveries benefiting 2.6 million students, with expenditure of 1.3 million quetzales.

168.Between 2017 and 2019, the Government implemented 3,624 activities relating to educational infrastructure, performing minor renovations in school buildings nationwide. In 2020 and 2021, it carried out 1,392 initiatives aimed at ensuring access to water and sanitation services and 310 initiatives relating to infrastructure as a result of tropical depressions Eta and Iota.

169.In 2019, the Guatemalan Fund for Indigenous Development provided 79 schools with technological equipment, including culturally sensitive applications for primary, lower secondary and upper secondary school children and adolescents. In 2019, it spent 7.6 million quetzales, benefiting 15,993 students (8,285 men and 7,708 women), and in 2020, it spent 88,000 quetzales.

170.With regard to mechanisms for reporting and monitoring cases of violence in schools, the Government has provided capacity-building assistance and support to the professionals serving on the departmental commissions for monitoring cases of violence of the 26 departmental directorates of education. The Government has also provided training on institutional regulations for a comprehensive approach to cases identified in the education system and on inter-agency coordination processes for reporting and referral.

171.Ministerial Decision No.1500-2019 (Disciplinary Regulations for Ministry of Education Personnel) establishes as just cause for dismissal the commission of acts identified in Decree No. 22-2003 (Act on the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents), such as the ill-treatment of children and adolescents, physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment and emotional abuse.

172.Ministry of Education regulations provide for the separation of persons who are included in the National Registry of Sex Offenders and have a history as a sex offender. In such cases, the Ministry initiates disciplinary proceedings for just cause dismissal, as it considers the commission of offences against sexual freedom and inviolability as serious or very serious misconduct.

173.In 2017, the Presidential Commission on Discrimination and Racism against Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala developed a manual for the prevention of racism and discrimination in primary schools, with the aim of implementing Decree No. 81‑2002 (Act on the Promotion of Education against Discrimination). The goal of the manual is to contribute to the development of skills aimed at fostering harmonious coexistence, in order to prevent discrimination. The Presidential Commission has provided anti-discrimination training to children and adolescents, principals, supervisors and teachers.

174.The Ministry of Education has provided primary school girls with 8,000 copies of learning materials focused on comprehensive sexuality education from an intercultural perspective, and with 6,000 copies of texts concerning affective relationships and sexuality. It has also designed instructional guides for teachers, as well as comics aimed at helping students to make informed decisions about their life plans.

XII. Article 11. Employment

175.The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is implementing the 2017–2032 national policy for decent employment, whose priority areas and guiding principles include gender equity, with the aim of ensuring that women have access to fairly paid and productive work under conditions that ensure respect for their freedom, security and human dignity.

176.In 2018, Decree No. 20-2018 (Act on Strengthening Entrepreneurship) was adopted. It enabled entrepreneurs to advance their own development and become business owners who create jobs and contribute to economic growth through their work.

177.According to the 2017–2019 national employment and income survey, for women the overall rate of labour force participation declined by 1 per cent, the rate of employment in the informal sector declined by 5.4 per cent, the unemployment rate declined by 0.6 per cent, the underemployment rate declined by 5.2 per cent, and wages increased by 381 quetzales (see table 5).

178.In 2017, women represented 28.8 per cent of employers in the non-agricultural sector and 11.8 per cent of employers in the agricultural sector; in 2019, those figures were 30.1 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.

179.Owing to COVID-19, the national employment and income survey was not carried out in 2020, and the 2021 survey is being planned.

180.In 2021, in order promote access to employment for women and other vulnerable groups, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, through the National Employment Service, held the first job fair for persons with disabilities, where 2,227 jobs were offered by 57 companies. The Ministry also held a job fair for young people with the participation of 150 companies nationwide. A job fair for women will be held in November 2021.

181.The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, through the Unit for the Protection of Working Adolescents, held lectures on the labour rights and obligations of such adolescents. A total of 28,074 adolescents participated in the lectures between 2017 and August 2021.

182.The Ministry of Social Development, through the Artisan Social Grant Programme, provides training, through conditional cash transfers, in order to help adults, particularly women in rural and marginal urban areas who live in poverty or extreme poverty, who have a disability or who are unemployed, to develop knowledge, skills and abilities. During the period 2017–2021, the Programme benefited 29,776 women, with an investment of 34.7 million quetzales.

183.The First Job Social Grant Programme promotes the integration into the formal labour market of young people aged 18 to 29 who are unemployed and live in poverty or extreme poverty, by providing them with temporary employment as apprentices. The criteria for the Programme have been updated to give priority to women, single mothers, indigenous peoples, people living in rural areas, and persons with disabilities. During the period 2017–2021, the Programme benefited 926 women, with an investment of 9.1 million quetzales. Owing to COVID-19, the Programme was not implemented in 2020.

184.The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, through the Technical Training for Employment Programme, provides training in order to help vulnerable young people and adults to improve their skills and competencies so that they are prepared to enter the labour market or to become self-employed. During the period 2017–2019, the Programme benefited 10,525 women, and between 2020 and August 2021, it benefited 852 women.

185.In 2019, the Board of Directors of the Guatemalan Social Security Institute instructed management to review the Special Programme for the Protection of Domestic Workers in order to develop a comprehensive proposal for the inclusion of domestic workers and, with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO), to conduct a comprehensive study of the Programme’s performance, including its current status, the number of times it has been promoted, and its implementation. As at June 2021, the number of participants enrolled in the Programme was 502; of that total, 26 were up to date with their payments, 412 were in arrears and 64 were not making the required payments.

186.With regard to the ratification of ILO Convention No. 189, in 2017 the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala held its second reading of the Convention, pending its approval on third reading.

187.The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has established a specific committee to prepare regulations for the implementation of ILO Convention No. 189, pending approval of the Convention by the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala. The National Office for Women’s Affairs and the Working Women Section have helped organized women domestic workers with lobbying and activities in support of approval.

188.Since 2011, sections on time use have been included in the national survey on living conditions and the national employment and income survey. This has made it possible to establish a satellite account for unpaid work in Guatemalan households. In 2019, women performed an average of 33.3 hours of unpaid work per week, a reduction of 4 hours compared with 2017. By contrast, men performed an average of 10.3 hours of unpaid work in 2019, an increase of 0.4 hours compared with 2017. According to data disaggregated by population group, Xinca women performed 36.4 hours of unpaid work per week. Food preparation, childcare and house cleaning are the most representative activities for women, accounting for 29.1 per cent, 18.8 per cent and 16.5 per cent of all unpaid work, respectively.

189.According to the satellite account for unpaid work in Guatemalan households prepared in 2017, unpaid work represents 18.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Of all activities reported, 87.4 per cent are performed by women. In order to harmonize measurement with international standards, in 2019 the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean helped Guatemala to refine its measurement of Sustainable Development Goal indicator 5.4.1, “Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work”.

190.In order to reduce the caregiving burden on women with children and adolescents, the Government has strengthened the Community Day-Care Centres Programme, under the auspices of the First Lady’s Social Work Secretariat. The Programme promotes community participation and inter-agency coordination in order to ensure comprehensive care for children under 7 years of age whose mothers work. In 2020, as a result of COVID-19, the Government suspended in-person activities under the Programme and instead delivered food to the families of the beneficiaries. The Programme had benefited 13,715 children as at 31 August 2021, compared with 12,886 in 2017, an increase of almost 900.

191.In order to detect and eradicate child labour, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has developed targeted operations aimed at eliminating the worst forms of child labour in their various manifestations. The Ministry has established a procedure for the implementation of ILO Convention No. 138 concerning the minimum age for admission to employment. The Ministry has also conducted an evaluation of the 2016–2020 Road Map to Make Guatemala a Country Free of Child Labour and its Worst Forms, whose results have served as the basis for the development of the 2021–2032 National Plan and Strategy for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour. In addition, the Office of the Inspector-General of Labour has carried out operations in neighbourhood stores, workshops and places in which explosive and pyrotechnic substances and items are manufactured and handled. During the period 2017–2021, the Office conducted 9,274 inspections in order to eradicate child labour and detect unsuitable working conditions.

192.In 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security implemented the Unprompted Inspections Plan in order to ensure respect for the labour rights of women working in the industrial, commercial and services sectors in departments throughout the country. Such inspections were carried out in 611 companies, in which 2,893 women are employed. This initiative was taken as a result of complaints received by the Office of the Inspector-General of Labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, which totalled 21,323 during the period 2017–2021. The Office received the highest number of complaints during the period 2017–2019, with a total of 15,814.

193.Sexual violence in the workplace was addressed through the approval of Decree No. 22-2017 (Act on the National Registry of Sex Offenders). The goal was to prohibit offenders included in the Registry from working with children and adolescents. In 2019, women deputies introduced bill No. 5658 (Act against Street Harassment and Other Forms of Violence against Women), which provides for the addition of a paragraph (ñ) on workplace violence to article 3 of Decree No. 22-2008 (Act against Femicide and Other Forms of Violence against Women).

194.In 2017, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security presented a protocol for addressing and preventing workplace harassment against women working in the public and private sectors, in order to promote a culture of reporting and high-quality support, as well as a response strategy for addressing sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace and, in coordination with the Presidential Secretariat for Women, a guide for a comprehensive approach to bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace in government institutions. The Ministry has also established a technical coordination committee on working women in order to address issues related to ILO Convention No. 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work.

195.The Public Prosecution Service has approved the protocol for addressing cases of sexual harassment in the workplace, which has been disseminated through in‑person and virtual workshops on the platform of the Training Unit of the Public Prosecution Service, with the participation of personnel from offices responsible for investigating and punishing cases.

196.The technical secretariat of the National Security Council has developed a guide for the preservation of an environment free of harassment, discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment in the offices of the National Security Council.

197.The judiciary has approved a protocol for preventing, addressing and punishing sexual harassment and bullying, providing for the prevention, comprehensive handling and punishment of sexual harassment and bullying. The protocol has been shared with judicial officials and administrative assistants. The judiciary has also implemented an internal campaign in order to prevent bullying and sexual harassment. In addition, it has held workshops and virtual courses with the participation of 346 people involved in addressing and punishing bullying and sexual harassment.

198.In 2020, the National Institute of Forests approved the Institutional Protocol for the Promotion of Spaces Free of Violence and Discrimination in the Workplace, and the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources approved a protocol for addressing cases of bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace and a related assistance road map. In November 2021, the National Civil Service Office approved the Protocol for the Promotion of Violence-Free Spaces in the National Civil Service Office.

199.As an example of the measures taken by the Government to counteract the effects of COVID-19, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, through Governmental Decision No. 79-2020, has approved supplementary standards to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, and has verified compliance with compulsory sanitary measures in the workplace, giving priority to workplaces with a greater proportion of women employees. A total of 992 manufacturing companies and 765 shops have been inspected, and 965 complaints of non-compliance have been addressed.

200.The National Employment Service has provided job counselling services for women who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic because they had taken up unpaid work during lockdown. From January to August 2021, the Service provided job counselling to 6,983 women in order to facilitate their integration into the labour market, and provided counselling to 96 women with disabilities.

XIII.Article 12. Health

201.Public spending on health and social assistance increased by 5,548.4 million quetzales between 2017 and 2021 (see table 6).

202.Owing to the effects of COVID-19, the Guatemalan Social Security Institute recorded a 3.67 per cent decrease in contributions between the fiscal years 2019 and 2020, equivalent to 504.6 million quetzales, with contributions for 2020 standing at 13,231.2 million quetzales.

203.In 2017, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare reorganized health care throughout the country in order to obtain information on access to services at the three levels of care. It gathered information on the services provided, the geographic access of communities and urban and rural localities, population and housing, access routes and conditions, and distances from communities to health services.

204.In 2019, the Guatemalan Social Security Institute approved a preventive social security policy and an institutional code of ethics in order to support participants and beneficiaries. The Institute has authorized the elimination of the use of the Electronic Work Certificate as a means of verifying entitlements under the social security scheme in order to accelerate service.

205.With the aim of reducing maternal mortality, in 2020 the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare approved the 2021–2025 action plan for the national policy on midwives of the four peoples of Guatemala, in order to fulfil the objectives and implement the provisions of the policy. The Ministry has coordinated the provision of assistance with natural vertical childbirth with the national programmes for reproductive health and for traditional and alternative medicine, strengthening cultural sensitivity. It also approved guidelines for the coordination of work with midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

206.There were 21,319 traditional midwives in the national health services in 2019 and 20,804 in 2020. The Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare has distributed basic supplies to 21,000 midwives in order to improve home births. It has also provided training to assist health services personnel in implementing guidelines and manuals on maternal and newborn care, in order to facilitate home births (85 per cent in 2019, 77 per cent in 2020 and 7 per cent in 2021).

207.In 2017, the Guatemalan Social Security Institute signed an agreement with the Liga de la Leche Materna de Guatemala (Breastfeeding League of Guatemala) in order to promote breastfeeding among members and their families, and to strengthen prevention and health promotion programmes.

208.The Secretariat of Food and Nutrition Security has approved the Great National Crusade against Malnutrition, focused on children under 5 years of age, preschool children and schoolchildren, women of childbearing age, the rural and indigenous population, and people living in poverty and extreme poverty. This initiative addresses gender equity and cultural sensitivity from a cross-cutting perspective, in order to strengthen planning and budgeting mechanisms through the implementation of internal activities, plans, programmes, projects and instruments in the institutions involved, with a view to promoting and improving nutrition in the country.

209.An initiative has been launched to provide NutriNiños fortified food supplements to children, starting at 6 months of age. As at July 2021, the initiative had benefited 176,141 girls and 172,023 boys.

210.In 2020, the Secretariat of Food and Nutrition Security provided assistance to 163 acutely malnourished children. It coordinates with the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare in order to transfer such children to nutritional recovery centres. It has carried out 833 home visits in accordance with the Response Protocol for Ensuring the Right to Health, Integrity and Life of Acutely Malnourished Children in the Case of a Lack of Consent for Medical and Nutritional Treatment.

211.In 2021, the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security approved the revised annual operating plan for food and nutrition security for 2021, with a budget of 5,125.6 million quetzales, in order to reduce the food and nutrition insecurity of families affected by seasonal hunger and tropical storms Eta and Iota.

212.In 2020, an implementation rate of 83.1 per cent, equivalent to 747.9 million quetzales, was recorded under the Seasonal Hunger Assistance Plan, representing the combined expenditure of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Education, the Secretariat of Food and Nutrition Security, and the First Lady’s Social Work Secretariat,.

213.During COVID-19, active search brigades were established to assist acutely malnourished children, providing children under 5 years of age with treatment and counselling. The food management function under the National Response Plan was activated. Under the COVID-19 Food Support and Prevention Programme, the Secretariat of Food and Nutrition Security coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food, the Ministry of Social Development and the National Committee for Disaster Reduction in order to provide 1.1 million food rations to affected families.

214.The Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare has improved health care by transferring 2.5 million quetzales for the development of “friendly spaces”, in which comprehensive sexuality education is offered. The Ministry has provided technical support in order to help 50 adolescent leaders of “friendly spaces” in 11 districts in the department of El Progreso to address topics relating to comprehensive sexuality education.

215.Under the “Prevention through Education” agreement, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare has provided training for health-care personnel and has provided comprehensive sexuality education to adolescents and young people as part of the “friendly spaces” strategy of health districts. The Ministry has also designed a guide to comprehensive sexuality education using popular language, and, in 2019, implemented a campaign relating to comprehensive sexuality education, pregnancy prevention, life planning, violence and gender equity.

216.In 2021, virtual workshops on the National Contraceptive Guide for Adolescents were conducted for the departments of Jutiapa, Totonicapán, San Marcos and Huehuetenango, with the participation of 307 adolescents, and four departmental roundtables on the National Plan to Prevent Pregnancies in Adolescents and Young Women in Guatemala were established in Quiché, Jutiapa, Quetzaltenango and Chiquimula, as well as one municipal roundtable in Morales, Izabal. Contraceptive methods for adolescents were distributed in 43 “friendly spaces”.

217.In 2018, 344,348 human papillomavirus vaccines were administered to girls aged 10 to 12, in order to prevent cervical cancer.

218.Between 2020 and 2021, 273 Responsible Paternity and Maternity networks and 234 Responsible Paternity and Maternity schools were established, with the participation of 66,640 people. A total of 20 diploma courses were taught, with the participation of 806 people, and 28,171 promotional and communication events were held, benefiting 1.6 million people (see table 7).

219.The Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare is in the process of updating the 2017–2021 National Strategic Plan for the Prevention, Management and Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV and AIDS. In 2021, the Ministry approved supplementary guidelines to the Guide for the Use of Antiretroviral Drugs in Persons with HIV and their Prophylactic Application and the 2021–2024 National Plan for the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B. In 2021, efforts have been focused on vaccination against COVID-19.

220.In 2021, a total of 7,153 women with HIV were taking antiretroviral treatment. There has been a downward trend in the number of new cases of women with HIV, with a total of 441 having been recorded in 2017, compared with 382 in 2020 (see table 8).

221.The number of deaths from HIV decreased by 27 between 2017 and 2019 (see table 9).

222.Since 2019, the Government has been conducting initiatives related to comprehensive sexuality education, such as performing screening tests for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and distributing condoms and lubricants, for the benefit of the entire population, with a focus on vulnerable groups. Those who receive positive test results are referred to the comprehensive care units of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare. In 2021, hepatitis C screening was implemented through the development of a hepatitis B and C guide, and the violence protocol aimed at addressing sexually transmitted infections, HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and C was updated.

223.In 2020, the Government developed a georeferenced map identifying community-level providers of prenatal monitoring services that promote or perform prenatal monitoring, screening for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B, and rights advocacy in 16 priority health areas.

224.With regard to assistance for persons with HIV, treatment was provided to 21,321 women and girls between 2019 and 2021 (see table 10). As a result of COVID‑19, the Government has strengthened its international partnerships in order to facilitate at-home delivery of antiretroviral drugs to persons with HIV.

225.In 2020, the Guatemalan Social Security Institute signed a letter of understanding with IntraHealth International in order to provide technical assistance for the implementation of strategies and methodologies focused on improving the delivery of health services for HIV care and treatment, facilitating at-home delivery of medicine to vulnerable participants and beneficiaries.

226.The Guatemalan Social Security Institute has established health programmes related to sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, women of childbearing age, and acute flaccid paralysis.

227.Between 2019 and April 2021, the Public Prosecution Service received nine complaints from persons discriminated against for being HIV positive.

XIV.Article 13. Other areas of economic and social life

228.In order to increase tax revenue, the Government has taken steps to improve tax governance. Since 2018, it has been implementing the Online Electronic Invoicing System, improving customs control in order to combat fraud and smuggling, facilitating internal tax settlement processes and strengthening audit processes.

229.In 2020, because of COVID-19, tax revenue fell to 60,279.4 million quetzales, 2,314.2 million quetzales lower than in 2019, equivalent to a tax burden of 10.1 per cent of GDP. It is estimated that tax revenue in 2021 will reach 64,027.7 million quetzales, an improvement compared with 2020. In addition to the drop in tax revenue, during the reporting period public finances faced challenges as a result of the reform of the Tax Update Act, whereby the tax rate for special invoices was amended, and as a result of the implementation of the Central American Single Customs Declaration form.

230.Despite the adverse situation with respect to tax revenue, social expenditure improved during the period 2017–2020, increasing from 6.6 per cent of GDP in 2017 to 7.0 per cent in 2020. This increase was a result of steps taken by the Government to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. The increase in social expenditure was financed by public debt.

231.In order to reduce poverty and strengthen the economic empowerment of women, in May 2018 bill No. 5452 was introduced; it provides for the approval of the Women’s Economic Development Act, aimed at promoting the economic development of women, facilitating access to economic and productive resources and technical and technological services, and advancing and implementing productive initiatives and projects for the economic empowerment of women in Guatemala. The goal is to give priority to women living in conditions of vulnerability, exclusion, marginalization, poverty and extreme poverty, through government policies and programmes. The Congress of the Republic of Guatemala held its first reading of the bill on 28 April 2021.

232.The Presidential Secretariat for Women has developed a strategic agenda for the economic empowerment of women, setting forth planning guidelines to assist entities in implementing activities to promote women’s rights. This agenda is linked to the regional agenda for the economic empowerment of rural women of the Council of Ministers of Women’s Affairs of Central America and the Dominican Republic of the Central American Integration System, and includes activities to promote access to credit and marketing.

233.In 2021, the Presidential Secretariat for Women joined the Special Cabinet for Women, the highest body for decision-making in the area of economic development, with proposals for the economic empowerment of women.

234.Through the Special Cabinet for Women, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security coordinates employment opportunities in the central Government with municipalities that promote policies for the comprehensive development of women, and with people who work with municipal training and education centres.

235.Women’s involvement in productive organizations has been promoted through the School Feeding Programme of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food, in which they participate as suppliers in order to increase their income. During the period 2017–2021, 41 per cent of suppliers were women, who have developed capacities in the diversification of agricultural production, partnerships and production linkages. Guatemala has also implemented the Family Farming Programme for the Strengthening of the Peasant Economy, mainly targeted at people at risk of food insecurity and poverty, by providing agricultural goods and supplies. During the period 2017–2021, the Programme benefited 487,780 women.

236.In order to counteract the effects of the pandemic, in 2020 the Ministry of Social Development established the COVID-19 Food Support and Prevention Programme for vulnerable individuals and families, which benefited 555,275 women between 2020 and 2021.

237.Under the “Bono Social” (Social Bonus) programme, the Government promotes access to health and education services for children living in poverty and extreme poverty, providing allowances of 500 quetzales per family in the departments with the highest incidence of poverty (Huehuetenango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz, Chiquimula, Totonicapán, San Marcos, Sololá, Baja Verapaz, Jalapa and Jutiapa) and 300 quetzales in the other departments. These allowances are provided periodically, subject to the fulfilment of shared responsibilities and the availability of budgetary and financial resources.

238.The “Bono Social” (Social Bonus) programme benefited approximately 150,000 women in 2017 and 2018, and 125,000 women per year in 2019 and 2020; as at 31 August 2021, it had benefited 98,455 women. A total of 1,035 million quetzales were invested in the programme during the period 2017–2021.

239.The Life programme promotes access to health-care services for pregnant girls and adolescents and mothers under 14 years of age who are victims of sexual violence and whose cases have been prosecuted. Under the programme, the Government provides conditional cash transfers to enable mothers and their children to attend medical appointments on a regular basis. In April 2021, the Government initiated a pilot plan to visit girls and adolescents in central Guatemala in order to assess progress and risks, and to review compliance with the relevant conditions. During the period 2018–2021, the Life programme benefited 538 women, with an investment of 4.14 million quetzales.

240.The “Bono Familia” (Family Bonus) programme is one of the programmes being implemented by the Government in order to counteract the effects of COVID-19, protect vulnerable families, including single mothers, and help families with malnourished children. The programme has benefited 1.48 million women, with an investment of 3,300.7 million quetzales.

241.The Government has also granted temporary economic assistance to individuals and families affected by COVID-19, and has provided 1,000 quetzales to individuals and families who are poor, vulnerable or who are part of the informal economy, covering 88,832 informal traders, including women.

242.Under the Programme for Older Persons of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Government helps older persons who live in poverty or extreme poverty, or who have disabilities, to fulfil their minimum basic needs by providing a monthly economic allowance. The Programme benefited 58,763 women in 2017 and 62,261 women in 2021.

243.In order to improve mechanisms for monitoring, evaluating and analysing social development programmes, the Ministry of Social Development is developing a gender-sensitive social registry of households within the parameters of the Multidimensional Poverty Index. Such a registry will enable the Ministry to gather detailed information in order to evaluate national social protection programmes and to collect data in order to assess their impact on the population, particularly women. This project is being implemented by the United Nations system with a budget of $850,000.

244.Through the national statistical system, the Government has promoted the collection of sex-disaggregated statistics relating to financial inclusion and access to credit. As at December 2020, statistical data showed that women have limited access to the financial system, and that, when they do have such access, they generally receive financing in lower amounts and under more onerous conditions (interest rates) than men, despite having a lower default rate.

245.Of every 10 loans granted by banks, approximately 4 were for women. The interest rate applied to women increased from 20.8 per cent in 2017 to 21.2 per cent by 2020, while that for men increased from 19.1 per cent to 19.4 per cent over the same period. The default rate for women declined from 2.6 per cent in 2017 to 1.8 per cent in 2020, while that for men decreased from 3.8 per cent to 2.6 per cent over the same period. Sex-disaggregated statistics relating to life insurance coverage show that 4 out of every 10 people with individual life insurance coverage are women, while 3 out of every 10 people with group life insurance coverage are women.

246.Under the Women’s Project of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Government is providing training and technical assistance to groups of women artisans located in priority municipalities, in order to help them to develop a potential market offering. The project benefited 3,021 women in 2019, 3,289 in 2020 and 1,970 as at 30 August 2021.

247.Through the Fund for the Development of Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, during the period 2017–2021, loans in the amount of 759.9 million quetzales were granted to owners of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises who have limited access to credit for the financing of productive projects. Of that total, 35.1 per cent was granted to women.

248.In 2021, according to the Guatemalan Social Security Institute, there were 462,802 working women receiving social security benefits, representing an increase of 30,821 from 2017. The department of Guatemala recorded the highest number (277,510), representing 60.8 per cent (see table 11).

XV. Article 14. Rural women

249.In 2018, the Land Fund approved the Operational Manual for the Policy to Facilitate Access to Ownership of Land and Other Productive Assets for Peasant, Mayan, Xinca, Garifuna and Mestizo Women. The Manual sets forth the conceptual framework, methodological guidelines and technical tools for staff capacity-building and the empowerment of rural women.

250.The Programme for the Development of Sustainable Agrarian Communities promotes participation in the formulation of community development plans. From 2019 to April 2021, the Programme benefited 2,978 families, 769 of which had women heads of household. Seven agrarian communities received technical assistance for the implementation of 23 productive subprojects managed and carried out by women and 4 by women and men.

251.Under the State Land Regularization and Allocation Programme, the Government provides peasant families with legal certainty regarding land, granting titles to applicants and their spouses. Between 2019 and 2020, the Government regularized and allocated State land to 5,749 heads of household, with 8,590 families covered, including applicants and their spouses, in order to protect the nuclear family (the decision is issued in the name of both). Fifty-four percent of beneficiaries were women.

252.Under the Land Lease Programme, the Government grants loans and subsidies to help indigenous and non-indigenous peasant families who are landless or have insufficient land and live in poverty to rent land, with or without an option to purchase. The purpose is to develop agricultural, forestry or hydrobiological projects focused on production, particularly of basic grains. From January 2019 to April 2021, the Programme benefited 37,961 families, 30,847 of which had women heads of household.

253.The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food is empowering women by providing them with training and technical guidance in the implementation of best practices and the use of agricultural products, and by providing them with supplies in order to improve household finances. Between 2017 and 2021, 60.9 per cent (538,014) of the beneficiaries of the various activities implemented under the Ministry’s institutional programmes were women, while 39.1 per cent (346,015) were men.

254.With regard to progress in the protection of the rights of indigenous women, between 2017 and 2021 the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources provided 24,465 women with formal and non-formal socioenvironmental education.

255.The 2018–2023 culturally sensitive gender equity strategy of the National Council for Protected Areas promotes the incorporation of equity considerations into technical studies of coastal marine areas and into technical guidelines for the updating of master plans.

256.Between 2018 and 2020, the National Institute of Forests invested 429 million quetzales in the forestry incentives programmes Probosque and the Incentives Programme for Owners of Small Tracts of Land Suitable for Forestry or Agroforestry, in order to benefit rural women. In 2019, the Institute updated the Implementing Regulation of the Act on Forestry Incentives for Owners of Small Tracts of Land Suitable for Forestry or Agroforestry.

257.Between 2018 and 2021, the National Institute of Forests provided training to teachers from official schools through six modules relating to forestry education, so as to ensure that primary school girls have access to such education.

258.In 2019, the Government established a thematic committee on indigenous peoples of the Special Social Development Cabinet, in order to coordinate and integrate institutional efforts to protect the rights of indigenous people and reduce equality and equity gaps, in accordance with current national and international law.

259.In order to generate information on the situation of indigenous women, in 2018 the Office for the Defence of Indigenous Women’s Rights developed the Profile of Mayan, Garifuna and Xinca Women: Human Development Inequalities and Gaps, which contains information related to health, education and standard of living.

260.The Regulations on Environmental Evaluation, Control and Monitoring and the amendments thereto stipulate that the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources must inform the public before approving social and environmental impact studies. In accordance with the pro homine principle, the Regulations provide that, if women are not included in the development of the environmental assessment and are the population most affected, the situation shall be evaluated and the process shall be revised before the project is approved. The Ministry of the Environmental and Natural Resources provides copies of environmental assessments upon request.

261.The 2015–2020 Environmental Policy on Gender of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources and the 2021–2025 Institutional Policy for Gender Equity and its implementation plan provide for the development of a gender-sensitive methodological guide for public participation in social and environmental impact studies.

262.The Government included the category “Afrodescendant/Creole/Afromestizo” in the tenth national population census and the seventh national housing census, both conducted in 2018, contributing to the implementation of the objectives of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015–2024), in observance of which various ministries have carried out activities to recognize people of African descent.

263.Since 2018, the Presidential Commission on Discrimination and Racism against Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala, in coordination with the Presidential Secretariat for Women, has updated the Agenda for Garifuna Women and Women of African Descent, whose purpose is to promote the development and leadership of Garifuna women and women of African descent in Guatemala, as well as their access to fundamental rights, and to fulfil the aims of the International Decade for People of African Descent.

264.Bill No. 5398 (Act on the National Day of Recognition and Affirmative Action for Garifuna Women and Women of African Descent), which received a favourable opinion from the Culture Committee on 10 May 2018, is aimed at establishing 25 July as the annual National Day of Recognition and Affirmative Action for Garifuna Women and Women of African Descent.

XVI.Article 15. Equality before the law

265.The Migration Institute of Guatemala has approved regulations for the effective implementation of the Migration Code, including the General Implementing Regulations of the Migration Code (2019), aimed at developing the provisions and ensuring the appropriate implementation of the Migration Code, the Internal Organic Regulations of the Migration Institute of Guatemala, aimed at establishing the organizational structure, responsibilities and coordination mechanisms of the Migration Institute, as well as regulations related to refugee status, visas and residency. According to data from the Decentralized Integrated Government Accounting System, the Migration Institute of Guatemala had an allocated budget of 172 million quetzales in 2021 and 108.2 million quetzales in 2020.

266.Guidelines for helping and protecting women in the context of migration, containing recommended steps for assisting migrant women throughout the migration process, were presented at the Regional Conference on Migration in 2018. The Conference has held three regional congresses on women in migration contexts, focused on issues related to development, labour migration, trafficking in persons, human rights, violence against women, empowerment, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

267.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the consular network, provides protection by collaborating with local authorities in cases related to trafficking in persons and women temporary workers, detainees and returnees. The Ministry provides assistance to people who are vulnerable or require hospitalization, or who are seeking to regularize their migration status or to return to their country of origin, as well as facilitating repatriation in the event of deaths resulting from migration. The Ministry also conducts informational campaigns to help migrant women to claim their rights and to avoid becoming victims of human rights violations. Between 2017 and October 2021, the Ministry supported a total of 2.2 million women through consular services provided abroad.

268.In 2018, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs implemented a consular protection model for migrant children and adolescents, aimed at promoting respect for and upholding the principle of the best interests of the child, family reunification, due process and access to protection measures.

269.The Social Welfare Secretariat assists unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents during reception, family reunification and return to their communities of origin. The shelters Casa Nuestras Raíces Quetzaltenango and Casa Nuestras Raíces Guatemala provide services and care for unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents (repatriated and in transit). During the period 2017–2021, the Social Welfare Secretariat assisted 23,203 children and adolescents, 14,212 of whom were girls. Of that total, 10 per cent were under 13 years of age, 86 per cent were 14 to 17 years of age, and 4 per cent were legal adults.

270.Bill No. 5537 (Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents Who Are Transferred Outside the Country’s Borders without Legal Migration Documentation) received a favourable opinion and was introduced for consideration in September 2019.

271.In 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Air Force of Guatemala signed an agreement to provide support to returned migrants and established the Migrant Assistance Window, aimed at providing job counselling, intermediation, training, and technical and professional capacity-building. As at August 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security had assisted 289 returned migrants. Of that total, it had followed up with 102 people (60 per cent men and 40 per cent women) who were registered on the “Your Job” web portal, a site bringing together employers and job seekers.

272.In June 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security held the first job fair for returned migrants, with the participation of 59 companies seeking to fill 3,022 vacancies.

273.Guatemala has signed three labour migration agreements: the Agreement on Cooperation in Labour Matters between the Government of the Republic of Guatemala and the Government of the United Mexican States, the Agreement between the Republic of Guatemala and Belize on a Seasonal Workers Programme, and the Agreement between the Republic of Guatemala and the United States of America concerning Temporary Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Worker Programs.

274.In May 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security established the Programme for Temporary Work Abroad in order to help Guatemalans find decent jobs on the international labour market through orderly and safe migration. Under the Programme, as at September 2021, a total of 78 women (11 Mayan and 67 mestizo) had travelled to the United States, and a total of 44 women (4 Mayan, 38 mestizo and 2 Xinca) had travelled to Canada.

275.According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, between 2017 and October 2021 a total of 43,477 workers participated in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program under the auspices of the Government of Canada. Under a similar programme, a total of 724 individuals travelled to the United States between January and October 2021.

276.Temporary labour migration to southern Mexico is limited to four border States (Chiapas, Campeche, Tabasco and Quintana Roo) and requires a Border Worker Visitor Card. Between 2018 and 2020, a total of 24,378 temporary workers from Guatemala, 3,305 of whom were women (14 per cent), migrated to southern Mexico, and in 2021, 2,799 workers, just over 10 per cent of whom were women, travelled to the area.

277.Employment at the destination consists of agricultural work, mainly the cultivation of papayas, bananas and coffee. The consular missions in Canada and Mexico provide consular assistance, support and protection to Guatemalans within their districts.

278.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, verifies the fulfilment of contractual conditions, housing standards and respect for human rights and provides emergency assistance and legal advice, through periodic visits to farms and plantations. Between 2017 and October 2021, the Government conducted 260 assistance initiatives in workplaces and 504 visits to farms, where it provided support to 24,509 Guatemalans. It also provided 370 counselling sessions on legal and banking-related matters and provided court accompaniment services for 27 individuals and hospital accompaniment services for 472 individuals with health problems.

279.Guatemala has made efforts to reduce overcrowding and promote non-custodial alternatives by processing the cases of 1,481 people in 2020 and by processing 345 applications for early release from women in 2021. Judges are responsible for granting such requests.

280.With regard to ensuring the health, nutrition and hygiene of women detainees, the Government has developed health-care programmes that are being implemented by specialized personnel (gynaecologists and paediatricians) in the Santa Teresa Preventive Detention Centre for Women in zone 18 and in the Women’s Counselling Centre in Fraijanes. Medical and nursing personnel coordinate with local health centres in order to organize events and campaigns to support women and children.

281.In September 2020, the Directorate General for the Penitentiary System set up a hotline for reporting corruption (1533), in order to prevent the entry of illicit items into prisons and the potential escape of detainees.

282.Guatemala has incorporated women into the Office of the Inspector of the Directorate General for the Penitentiary System in order to ensure that there are specialized personnel to collect information and interview women detainees. The Government has also established internal policies and procedures to follow up on gender-related complaints, contributing to the protection of women detainees. It received a total of 12 complaints in 2020 and has so far received no complaints in 2021.

283.The Social Welfare Secretariat has implemented and updated administrative tools (manuals, protocols, letters of understanding and agreements) in order to improve the assistance provided to adolescents held in juvenile detention centres. Between 2017 and May 2021, 3,498 people were held in such centres. Of that total, 481, or 13.8 per cent, were women. The annual budgetary allocation for the centres was 39.2 million quetzales in 2017 and 2018, and has been 33.5 million quetzales since 2019.

XVII.Article 16. Marriage and family relations

284.With regard to the prohibition on marriage for minors under 18 years of age, the Supreme Court of Justice, in its decision No. 52-2018, abolished the power to consider requests to authorize marriages for minors under 18 years of age, and the related decision-making procedure.

285.In cases of undeclared de facto unions entered into by children and adolescents, courts specializing in children and adolescents stipulate the measures necessary to ensure best interests, monitor compliance with those measures and certify cases of non-compliance before the Public Prosecution Service for investigation.

286.With regard to specialized training, the judiciary has provided training on child marriage for more than 380 justices of the peace and first instance judges, 150 members of technical teams and more than 300 judicial support personnel in order to assist them in their consideration of Civil Code reform.

287.The National Registry of Persons helps to reduce the underregistration of marriages by raising awareness of the requirement to provide a detailed notarial certificate and a certified copy of the marriage certificate. The Registry also distributes information on the negative consequences of a failure to submit the notarial certificate and disseminates registration criteria in order to facilitate compliance with the relevant requirements, mainly concerning the ban on authorizing marriages for children and adolescents.

288.The National Registry of Persons coordinates with the Association of Lawyers and Notaries of Guatemala in order to raise awareness of the consequences of non‑compliance with laws concerning the prohibition of marriage for children and adolescents. The Association of Lawyers and Notaries has disseminated the notarial marriage certificate form in order to minimize the omission of the certificate and the underregistration of marriages.

289.The National Registry of Persons has conducted awareness-raising initiatives for ministers of religion, municipal personnel, community leaders, civil registrars and the general public. From 2017 to August 2021, the Registry conducted 119 awareness-raising initiatives nationwide, with the participation of 1,232 women and 1,117 men, providing them with information on the prevention of the underregistration of marriages and the ban on early marriages. In 2020 and 2021, activities were carried out in a virtual format.

290.With regard to prevention and awareness of child and adolescent pregnancies, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, under the Prosperous Neighbourhood project, coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior and the municipality of Guatemala, holds monthly health fairs during which it provides information on men’s and women’s health at all stages of life. The Government has also implemented a campaign for the prevention of sexual violence and child and adolescent pregnancies by disseminating materials such as videos, advertisements, banners and posters.

291.After evaluating the 2013–2017 National Plan to Prevent Pregnancies in Adolescents and Young Women in Guatemala, the National Council on Youth reformulated the Plan for the period 2018–2022. The Plan promotes a coordinated intersectoral response among those responsible for the prevention of adolescent pregnancies, contributing to the comprehensive development and life opportunities of young people through a holistic approach. The Government has prepared 3,500 manuals for adolescents aimed at reducing pregnancies.

XVIII. Statistical data

292.In 2017, Guatemala developed a diploma course entitled “Human rights: Statistics from the Perspective of Gender and Population Group”, in order to build the capacities of public servants. In 2018, Guatemala established the Committee of Women Users of the Coordination Office for Cross-Cutting Statistics on Gender and Population Group in order to update information collection methods by incorporating a gender perspective, giving priority to social development programmes.

293.The National Institute of Statistics has strengthened the data collection and analysis capacities of the National System of Information on Violence against Women. During the period 2017–2019, the National Institute of Statistics published statistics on violence against women based on the information provided by the institutions within the System. It also provided technical training and information to those institutions, and is designing a computer platform for storing and sending statistical information.

294.Through the Coordination Office for Cross-Cutting Statistics on Gender and Population Group, the Government provided technical assistance in order to incorporate a gender and population group perspective into the tenth national population census and the seventh national housing census, both conducted in 2018, with the goal of obtaining information on the condition and status of women by collecting sex-disaggregated data concerning home ownership, technology use, unpaid work, school dropout rates, absence from the labour market owing to causes such as pregnancy, self-identification with population groups, linguistic community, persons with disabilities, and children aged 10 or older who have been pregnant.