Guatemala passes anti-femicide law
Guatemala City - April 2008
On April 9, 2008 the Guatemalan government passed the Anti-Femicide Law, a monumental piece of legislation which formally penalizes violence against women. Femicide is defined as gender-specific killings on a mass scale, targeting women and often involving some form of sexual assault.
The new law was brought about by national and international pressure to take action against the indiscriminate killing of women in Guatemala. Since 1999, more than 2,000 women have been murdered in this country of 13 million. Over the last three years, more women have been killed on average each year than during Guatemala’s 30-year civil war.
Women’s groups and human rights groups hailed the new law as a major achievement and an historic moment in the fight for equality and justice in a country where machista culture is strong and impunity for perpetrators of violence often reigns supreme.
One of the most exciting aspects of this legislation is that a woman’s right to control her fertility is formally protected. It is now considered a sexually violent crime to deny a woman the use of a natural or hormonal family planning method. This component of the law is especially important to WINGS’ work as our staff deals with the subject of family planning on a daily basis. We find that many Guatemalan women do not actively take control of their reproduction because, among other reasons, they are not sufficiently aware of their rights to demand family planning services. In a 2005 barrier analysis conducted by WINGS, 25% of women cited partner disapproval as a reason for not using a family planning method.
While much remains to be done in terms of raising awareness about the rights and protections outlined in the anti-femicide law and ensuring adequate implementation and enforcement of the law’s provisions, WINGS is pleased that there is now formidable legal backing for the work that we do.