Document #1111752
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Please find attached several documents that
refer to three Guatemalan Human Rights Commissions. One of the
Commissions is affiliated to the Congress of Guatemala; another is
a non-governmental organization that went into exile and, based in
Mexico, had branch offices in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Spain and
Montreal; the other Commission is also non-governmental and is
based in Washington, DC. The attached sections of a Human Rights
Internet directory provide information on the three Commissions.
The attached back-page of a GHRC publication provides details on
the latter commission's mandate and other information (GHRC
Update 28 July 1995)
The Mexico-based Commission reportedly
relocated in Guatemala earlier in 1995 (ibid., 3). One of its
members received a telephone threat and was warned he was being
kept under surveillance (ibid.). Please consult the cited and
attached document for additional details. Information on the
current address and effectiveness of this Commission's activities
could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
Guatemala Human Rights Update. 28
July 1995. Washington, DC: Guatemala Human Rights
Commission/USA.
Barry, Tom. 1992. Guatemala: A
Country Guide. Albuquerque, N. Mex.: The Inter-Hemispheric
Education Resource Center, pp. 38-40, 306-07.
Guatemala Human Rights Update. 28
July 1995. Washington, DC: Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
(GHRC), pp. 3, back-page.
Human Rights Internet
Reporter-Special Issue: Human Rights Directory: Latin America and
the Caribbean. January 1990. Laurie S. Wiseberg et al.
Massachussets/Santiago: Human Rights Internet/Programa de Derechos
Humanos de la Academia de Humanismo Cristiano, pp. 304-05, 312-13,
316.