Guatemala Metropolis, Guatemala – With chants of “this pro-life authorities doesn’t worth our lives”, lots of of individuals in the course of the weekend converged on the Guatemalan Congress to point out their indignation at a brand new legislation they are saying threatens the rights of ladies and members of the LGBTQ group.
On March 8, whereas lots of have been commemorating Worldwide Girls’s Day, Guatemala’s conservative-controlled Congress accepted the “Safety of Life and Household” legislation in a 101-8 vote. There are 160 seats in Congress.
The laws labels LGBTQ individuals “irregular” and prohibits the prosecution of anybody who carries out a hate crime in opposition to the group. It declares a household as one involving a married man and lady, outlaws same-sex marriage, and restricts the flexibility of colleges or different academic establishments to supply inclusive sexual schooling exterior of the nuclear household.
Abortion is already unlawful in Guatemala – with the one exception being if a being pregnant threatens the mom’s life – however the legislation additionally will increase the penalty for girls who endure the process, whether or not induced by a health care provider or as a result of a miscarriage.
“With the rise in these restrictive insurance policies and authorized initiatives, they put the LGBT+ inhabitants and ladies in a state of affairs of excessive threat,” Homero Fuentes, a 33-year-old activist with LGBTQ rights group Visibles, instructed Al Jazeera.
“These [initiatives and laws] permit hate speech to proceed to be promoted,” he mentioned. “This materialises in a state of affairs of discrimination, of violence, and to the purpose of [violent] crimes.”
Conservative nation
A day after the legislation was accepted, Guatemala’s conservative President Alejandro Giammattei held a ceremony to declare the Central American nation “the pro-life capital of Iberoamerica”. Congress had already declared March 9 “the day to rejoice household and life”.
Guatemala is a religiously conservative nation that has largely resisted or undermined efforts to undertake progressive laws.
The legislation was initially proposed in 2017 by Congressman Anibal Rojas Espino of the conservative VIVA Celebration. His proposal obtained a substantial amount of assist from Evangelical Christians and was accompanied by 29,000 signatures from backers of the initiative.
But many parts of the present laws – together with parts that probably threaten constitutional rights in Guatemala – led its earlier supporters, together with the conservative Household Issues Affiliation, to boost concerns this time round.
Amid that widespread condemnation, together with from worldwide human rights teams, Giammattei on March 10 threatened to veto the legislation, urging Congress to shelve it as an alternative of forcing him to exert that presidential energy.
Forward of Giammattei’s announcement, the opposition issued an official objection to dam the laws from reaching the presidency, arguing that it violated the nation’s structure and worldwide conventions. The legislation will come underneath overview Tuesday.
“It’s a regressive legislation in each sense,” Ligia Hernandez, a congresswoman with the opposition Movimiento Semilla (Seed Motion), instructed Al Jazeera. “It impacts many individuals on this nation. They’ll use this legislation to criminalise ladies, and to incite hatred.”
Sense of worry
Claudia Rosales, who works with the Sexual and Reproductive Rights Consortium, a coalition of NGOs, mentioned the legislation has worsened a sense of worry that already prevailed amongst ladies in Guatemala.
In 2021, greater than 80 p.c of all assault complaints that ladies lodged with the general public prosecutor’s workplace went uninvestigated, every day newspaper Prensa Libre reported.
The nation additionally recorded 709 femicides final 12 months, based on information from the Mutual Assist Group, recognized by the Spanish acronym GAM. The Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman’s workplace additionally documented not less than 32 killings of members of the LGBTQ group in 2021, and not less than 9 killings for the reason that starting of 2022.
“I don’t really feel protected as a girl,” Rosales instructed Al Jazeera throughout a protest in opposition to the legislation exterior of Congress on March 10.
“[Guatemala] doesn’t defend ladies’s lives,” she mentioned. “And the day one thing occurs to us, the justice system doesn’t wish to give an sufficient, efficient, and immediate response to the issues we face.”
Regional developments
Guatemala’s legislation runs counter to a so-called “Inexperienced Wave” within the wider Latin America area in favour of decriminalising abortion, whereas marriage equality rights even have been witnessed in some international locations, equivalent to Chile. It additionally comes because the Giammattei administration has sought to develop nearer with US Republican lawmakers.
“We’re completely defending what little rights we’ve got,” Ada Valenzuela, director of the Nationwide Union of Guatemalan Girls, instructed Al Jazeera concerning the prevailing environment within the nation.
“Girls in Guatemala we face a brand new inquisition,” she mentioned. “It’s one which impacts us all.”
However backlash in opposition to the legislation, in addition to Giammattei’s veto risk, pushed the president of Guatemala’s Congress, Shirley Rivera, to say lawmakers would examine whether or not it’s constitutional.
The laws will come up for additional debate on Tuesday, whereas extra protests have been referred to as for that very same day, as advocates say their struggle is much from over – even when this specific model of the legislation is in the end halted.
Hernandez, the opposition politician, warned: “It may very well be reborn at any time [under a new name].”
