Bairbre de Brún (GUE/NGL), author. –

(The speaker spoke Irish)

During the 1980s and 1990s, Guatemala was constantly in the international news. Three decades of conflict and a decade-long peace process ensured that people all over the world, including those here in the European Parliament, remained informed. Colleagues have mentioned some of the stark figures from that period: 200 000 people killed, thousands more displaced, entire villages and communities destroyed forever. The Government’s own investigation confirmed that 93% of all killings were the responsibility of the Government’s own armed forces.

The military dictatorship of Rios Montt in the early 1980s was singled out as one of the conflict’s most brutal periods. There was great optimism after the signing of the peace agreements but, ten years later, the reality has changed very little for people in that country, where 80% of the population live in poverty. Ten years on, not only have the perpetrators of the policy of genocide carried out in the 1980s not been prosecuted, they continue to play prominent roles in public life. The victims and survivors of the conflict have received neither adequate financial support nor recognition of their suffering. Indeed, the vast majority of the disappeared have not been found. Many of those displaced have yet to be returned to their original homes.

I welcome the demand in the resolution, which seeks the support of the Government of Guatemala, the other Central American governments, the Spanish Government and the Government of the United States, for the European order of detention to be facilitated, with reference to the international order of detention, so that those mentioned in the warrant issued on 7 July 2005 – all of whom are charged with crimes of genocide, including Rios Montt – can be brought to justice.

I would also urge Members to be cognisant of the fact that very little has changed for people. For the majority of Guatemalans, conditions today differ little from those of 1996. The peace dispensation promised a demilitarisation of society and much-needed land and tax reform, the aim of which was to build a more just and equal society. Surely today we should remember that, even if Guatemala is not so often in the news, and we should continue to demand and press for an equal and just society.

I therefore welcome and stress the resolution’s commitment to the principle of universal justice and the protection of human rights. Our experience in Ireland has taught us that peace can only be built on justice and respect for the rights of all.