Historical Clarification Commission

In 1994 Guatemala's Commission for Historical Clarification - La Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico (CEH) - was created as a response to the thousands of atrocities and human rights violations committed during the decades long civil war that began in 1962 and ended in the late 1990s with United Nations-facilitated peace accords.[1] The commission operated under a two-year mandate, from 1997 to 1999, and employed three commissioners: one Guatemalan man, one male non-national, and one Mayan woman.[2] The mandate of the commission was not to judge but to clarify the past with "objectivity, equity and impartiality."[3]

Among other things, the commission revealed that over 200,000 people were killed or disappeared during the conflict and attributed 93% of the violations to state forces and related paramilitary groups.[4] The commission noted that during the conflict the distinction between combatant and non-combatant was not respected and as a result many children, priests, indigenous leaders, and innocent women and men were killed.[5] The CEH aimed to instill national harmony, promote peace, foster a culture of mutual respect regarding human rights, and preserve the memory of the conflict's victims.[6]

  1. ^ Mersky, Marcie (March 7, 2005). Human Rights In Negotiating Peace Agreements: Guatemala (PDF). Belfast: The International Council on Human Rights Policy. p. 3. Archived from the original on August 8, 2008.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ United States Institute of Peace. "Truth Commission: Guatemala". United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  3. ^ Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) (1999). Guatemala: Memory of silence. Guatemala City: Historical Clarification Commission. p. 11.
  4. ^ Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) (1999). Guatemala: Memory of silence. Guatemala City: Historical Clarification Commission. pp. 17–23.
  5. ^ Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) (1999). Guatemala: Memory of silence. Guatemala City: Historical Clarification Commission. pp. 11–69.
  6. ^ Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) (1999). Guatemala: Memory of silence. Guatemala City: Historical Clarification Commission. pp. 11–15.