PBI-Guatemala observes International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women march in Guatemala City

On December 9, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project published their most recent Monthly Information Package.

In it, PBI-Guatemala notes: “On November 25, we observed the March for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women which left the Human Rights Plaza in front of the Supreme Court of Justice and travelled to Zone 1 of Guatemala City.”

This past October, Sandra Cuffe reported in Al Jazeera: “More than 200 women were killed in the first eight months of this year in the Central American nation, and more than 3,000 women and girls have been killed since 2015, according to human rights groups tracking government statistics. The overwhelming majority of the cases remain unsolved.”

And on November 25, Daily Sabah posted photos of a vigil at Constitution Square in Guatemala City the evening before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. That article notes: “According to the Guatemalan Women’s Group, to date, 444 women have been murdered in 2020.”

The United Nations has further noted that globally the crisis of femicide is worsening.

The UN reports: “Since the outbreak of COVID-19, emerging data and reports from those on the front lines, have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified.”

In this country, the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability has stated that a woman or girl was killed every 2.5 days on average in Canada last year.

Furthermore, the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls determined that “state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies” are in part responsible for the thousands of Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing in Canada which the report names a genocide.

As we previously noted here, PBI-Colombia accompanied a march against femicide in Yondó, Antioquia on November 25, as did PBI-Mexico in Mexico City.

PBI-Canada is committed to a vision of a world free of violence. We stand in solidarity with women impacted by gender-based violence and with all who strive to end femicide, discrimination, harassment, and hate.