Confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: The challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office

This paper analyzes the development of legal mechanisms and micro-level institutional reforms aimed at consolidating the rights of indigenous peoples in post-conflict Guatemala. The research is based on prolonged fieldwork carried out with the Office of the Defender of Indigenous Peoples' Right...

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Autor Principal: Brett R.
Formato: Artículo (Article)
Lenguaje:Inglés (English)
Publicado: 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/22736
https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2011.568612
id ir-10336-22736
recordtype dspace
spelling ir-10336-227362022-05-02T12:37:14Z Confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: The challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office Brett R. Human rights Indigenous population Institutional reform Marginalization Peace process Racism Social exclusion Guatemala [central america] This paper analyzes the development of legal mechanisms and micro-level institutional reforms aimed at consolidating the rights of indigenous peoples in post-conflict Guatemala. The research is based on prolonged fieldwork carried out with the Office of the Defender of Indigenous Peoples' Rights of the Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (PDH), established in 1998. The paper argues that the establishment of state institutions and institutional reforms oriented towards the protection of indigenous peoples' rights since the end of hostilities in Guatemala's internal armed conflict in 1996 represent important advances, although they occurred within a broader context in which the peace process failed to tackle structural inequalities effectively or enduringly. On the surface, the PDH and related reforms appear to provide indigenous people with unprecedented access to forms of legal redress for human rights violations, including both individual and collective rights. However, given the structural, interpersonal and institutional racism that plagues Guatemalan state and society, such measures remain little more than symbolic, as inadequate funding, racist attitudes within PDH mid- to high-level functionaries, and a lack of institutional will to train functionaries to understand, identify and process systematic violations of indigenous peoples' rights sufficiently impede the effective addressing of profound structural inequalities. The norms and behavior within state institutions and the attitudes of state functionaries operating from within Guatemala's post-conflict multicultural state are today, then, shaped by more subtle forms of exclusion and marginalization of indigenous populations, leading us to question the impact of institutional change on transformations in the political culture. © 2011 Oxford Department of International Development. 2011 2020-05-25T23:57:45Z info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 14699966 13600818 https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/22736 https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2011.568612 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess application/pdf instname:Universidad del Rosario
institution EdocUR - Universidad del Rosario
collection DSpace
language Inglés (English)
topic Human rights
Indigenous population
Institutional reform
Marginalization
Peace process
Racism
Social exclusion
Guatemala [central america]
spellingShingle Human rights
Indigenous population
Institutional reform
Marginalization
Peace process
Racism
Social exclusion
Guatemala [central america]
Brett R.
Confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: The challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office
description This paper analyzes the development of legal mechanisms and micro-level institutional reforms aimed at consolidating the rights of indigenous peoples in post-conflict Guatemala. The research is based on prolonged fieldwork carried out with the Office of the Defender of Indigenous Peoples' Rights of the Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (PDH), established in 1998. The paper argues that the establishment of state institutions and institutional reforms oriented towards the protection of indigenous peoples' rights since the end of hostilities in Guatemala's internal armed conflict in 1996 represent important advances, although they occurred within a broader context in which the peace process failed to tackle structural inequalities effectively or enduringly. On the surface, the PDH and related reforms appear to provide indigenous people with unprecedented access to forms of legal redress for human rights violations, including both individual and collective rights. However, given the structural, interpersonal and institutional racism that plagues Guatemalan state and society, such measures remain little more than symbolic, as inadequate funding, racist attitudes within PDH mid- to high-level functionaries, and a lack of institutional will to train functionaries to understand, identify and process systematic violations of indigenous peoples' rights sufficiently impede the effective addressing of profound structural inequalities. The norms and behavior within state institutions and the attitudes of state functionaries operating from within Guatemala's post-conflict multicultural state are today, then, shaped by more subtle forms of exclusion and marginalization of indigenous populations, leading us to question the impact of institutional change on transformations in the political culture. © 2011 Oxford Department of International Development.
format Artículo (Article)
author Brett R.
author_facet Brett R.
author_sort Brett R.
title Confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: The challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office
title_short Confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: The challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office
title_full Confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: The challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office
title_fullStr Confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: The challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office
title_full_unstemmed Confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: The challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office
title_sort confronting racism from within the guatemalan state: the challenges faced by the defender of indigenous rights of guatemala's human rights ombudsman's office
publishDate 2011
url https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/22736
https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2011.568612
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