Guatemala, 5 March 2010. During the 36 years of internal armed conflict that took place in Guatemala, rape was widespread, massively and systematically committed by government agents as part of the counterinsurgency policy. It was used as an instrument of war and a tool to generate terror, violating human rights and international humanitarian law. It was widespread during the massacres and in most cases the precursor of death.

The Commission for Historical Clarification (CHC), recognizing that "the figures on rape are underestimated ... in relation to other human rights violations ..." recorded 1465 acts of rape, of which 285 cases could be documented. 99% of these acts of violence were directed against women, the vast majority of them indigenous (80%).

The Court of Conscience On Sexual Violence against Women during the Internal Armed Conflict is a political act whereby women who survived sexual violence during the internal armed conflict break the silence and tell their stories (as yet unknown), to ensure that this never happens again.

Similarly, it offers an opportunity for the expression of expert opinions through which more can be learned about the causes, effects and proposed approaches on the issue of sexual violence in the context of internal armed conflict.

This conscientious statement is of an ethical and political nature; hopefully it can shed light on the effects of sexual violence on the lives of women and the continuum of violence today. This alternative and healing statement, issued by persons whose moral authority is recognized by women, identifies various ways of approaching rape and possibilities of providing justice, reparation and assurances that this will not happen again.

Within this framework and the campaign of the United Nations Secretary General “Unite to End Violence Against Women", the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) supported a meeting of the Court of Conscience, which was held in Guatemala on 4 and 5 March.

Event Activities
The first day, 4 March, nine women broke the silence and told their stories. On 5 March, experts presented their views to explain the causes, effects and forms of sexual violence during the internal armed conflict. Moreover, women acting as Conscientious Judges issued a conscientious ruling which was then signed by the Witnesses of Honor.

This event of international significance was organized by the National Union of Guatemalan Women (UNAMG), the Community Studies and Psychosocial Action Team (ECAP), the National Widows’ Coordinator of Guatemala (CONAVIGUA), "Women Transforming the World" (MTM) and La Cuerda, with the support of various embassies in Guatemala, including those of Costa Rica, France, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden, as well as United Nations agencies, including the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) office in Guatemala and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR).

“Impunity is always an invitation to repetition of the crimes. Crimes that are not punished are repeated sooner or later. We can say that of the crimes committed during the armed conflict and we can say it about the most common crimes. I repeat this every day: if 6451 murders are committed and 231 are punished, there are more than 6000 murderers out there who are free and ready to go on killing. Exactly the same thing happens with the crimes of armed conflict. If those who committed such abuses during the conflict have not been punished, they are free and continue to abuse.” Commissioner Carlos Castresana