Project profile — Strengthening the Rights of Indigenous and Other Discriminated Women in Guatemala

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased exercise of international human rights standards, especially women’s rights standards, by Indigenous and other disadvantaged women; (2) increased inclusive, accountable, and gender responsive governance by state actors in favour of Indigenous and other disadvantaged women; and (3) enhanced gender equality integration by OHCHR and other non-state actors in support of Indigenous and other disadvantaged women.

Results achieved as of March 2022 include: (1) facilitated the direct participation of 386 women in three strategic disputes. These included indigenous midwives, indigenous weavers, mothers and guardians of teenage victims of a fire in a state-run children's home); (2) the preparation of a legislative proposal by indigenous women on collective intellectual property rights. The proposal was reviewed by international experts from the World Intellectual Property Organization for presentation to Congress by the National Movement of Indigenous Mayan Weavers; (3) the launch of a social media campaign, involving Guatemalan celebrities and influencers, to end violence against women. The campaign reached 18,515 followers on Facebook, 14,400 Instagram accounts, and generated 1,602 likes on Twitter; (4) trained 527 representatives (306 of them women) from nine state institutions. The training focused on international human rights norms and standards for Indigenous women and women's rights; (5) assisted 162 representatives from 27 non-state entities (including 111 women) to support Indigenous and other discriminated women in promoting and protecting their rights; and (6) Assisted the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Guatemala in strengthening its gender mainstreaming, as evidenced by the office's selection in the Gender Accreditation Program of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).