
Guatemala Declaration
Women Survivors of Genocide and Sexual Violence
Gathered in Santa María Nebaj, on 24 February 2023, we Ixil, Q'eqchi'es, Poqomchi'es, Achi'es and mestizo women unite our voices to dignify all the victims of the Internal Armed Conflict in Guatemala, which deeply affected our lives.
Considering that our lives and our bodies were used as a weapon of war, that we were tortured, thousands disappeared, that we suffered sexual violence, that we were stripped of our lands, and that this has affected the lives of new generations of girls and young people to this day due to the strong breakdown of the social, cultural and political fabric of our peoples and that we have lived for more than 40 years in pain and suffering, where entire communities were dispossessed of their lands, being occupied by military detachments and military areas not only for training but also as clandestine detention and disappearance centres and finally as clandestine cemeteries, burying women, men, adolescents and children in mass graves, places that were used for torture and sexual violence against women in different territories and where they were forced to work as forced labourers.